With a new book coming out Tuesday and buzz building that he will make a second run at the White House in 2012, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Monday he is still contemplating the decision.
This is a very intense process, said Huckabee, looking at what appears to be a potentially crowded Republican field. Part of the reason Im taking my time is because I have been through this before.
Huckabee said his book tour will help him determine if there is both the organizational support and the financial resources available to make another presidential campaign. The former Arkansas governor, who moved to Florida in 2010, will be heading across the nation to promote A Simple Government, in which he invokes 12 ideas to reduce the size and scope of the federal government.
While he remains mum on whether or not he will take another shot at the Republican presidential nomination, Huckabees book tour will take him to early states that will be crucial in the contest. The former governor will be making six stops in Iowa, home of the first caucus and a state that Huckabee carried in 2008, and five appearances in South Carolina.
Huckabee will also be appearing in Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas, making more than 40 stops on his tour in February and March.
This book gives me the opportunity to take my message to the people instead of being one of 12 candidates on a debate stage, said Huckabee.
The former Arkansas governor said he enjoyed being on the campaign trail, touring the country and meeting voters.
I truly enjoy the day-to-day rhythm of the campaign, insists Huckabee, who added that he does not care for the laborious fund-raising process. Its not my forte, he added. Its not what I do best.
Speaking to the media Monday, Huckabee was asked about potential rivals for the Republican nomination.
While he had kind words for Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana, a possible rival for the Republican nomination who called for a truce on social issues, Huckabee insisted that both fiscal and social issues need to be addressed by whoever emerged from the GOP pack.
I believe conservatives can walk and chew gum at the same time, said Huckabee, insisting that Republicans can focus on both social issues and paving the way for economic recovery. Noting that he tackled the topic in his new book, Huckabee invoked the work of Daniel Patrick Moynihan in the 1960s showing a connection between social issues and economic ones. There is no way to disconnect social issues from the economic, insisted Huckabee.
Huckabee also rejected the notion as "absurd" that he is only going to jump in the race to take on former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, an old foe from 2008.
Calling him a close friend and the smartest political mind in America today, Huckabee defended Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, who has been criticized for his handling of a state license plate honoring Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest who was associated with the Ku Klux Klan after the war.
Huckabee said that he was not waiting for another candidate to emerge but added that there could be one option he could easily back -- former Gov. Jeb Bush.
If Jeb Bush runs, I would go and help him, insisted Huckabee. I love him and think the world of him.
Huckabee said if Florida holds an early primary in 2012, as it is now, he would campaign there despite criticism from the RNC and backers of early contests in Iowa and New Hampshire. But he added that he would not be surprised if efforts to move the primary back until later in the year proved successful.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
