Huck Says "No" to Presidential Run in 2012

The big announcement was tonight. To be quite honest, I think most people weren't surprised with the fact that Huckabee has decided not to run for president this time around.

There's still time for him to run in 2016 if the environment is right for that. I'm sure that the decision was difficult for Huckabee to make, but one of the reasons I'm not surprised that he opted against running is the political climate in the country. Our country is very divided right now and while I think Mike would be a great unifier, the attacks that will come at him from the Club for Growth wing of the GOP will not be unifying. He claims that his decision is a "spiritual decision" and as a Christian, I believe him when he says that.

While you may be disappointed in his decision not to run, you should respect that his decision was made after lots of personal introspection and was not a decision that he made lightly.

Mike Huckabee Testing the Waters for 2012

When I heard that Mike Hukabee was getting ready to release another book, I knew that there would be a lot of speculation about this topic, so let's just get it out of the way now. Mike Huckabee is testing the waters and considering a run for president in 2012.

His book, titled "A Simple Government" is a play off of some of the previous books that he has written including "A Simple Christmas." Huckabee likes simplicity and I think that American's like simplicity too. Things that are simple tend to work a whole lot better than things that are complicated and crazy. I think that Mike's choice to run will largely depend on the mood that the country is in as this summer/fall come around. I certainly don't think that Mike Huckabee will run for president unless he feels he has a really good chance at getting elected.

With Obama's recent change of heart regarding same-sex marriage, there is certainly an area that Huckabee can capitalize on in pointing out the difference between his platform and Barack Obama. Huckabee, who has not been consistently conservative on fiscal policy, has the ability to woo social conservatives in a way that no other major politician can. Because most Americans do believe that marriage should be defined as between a man and a woman, this is definitly a winning issue for Mike Huckabee.

Will Mike Huckabee Run in 2012?

There's a of questions about whether or not Mike Huckabee will run for president in 2012. He's definetly got a lot going for him if he decides to win and I tend to think that he's got a good a chance as any of the current crop of Republican politicians at winning the nomination.

Of course whether or not he runs is up to him. But there are some signs that he's beginning to prepare for a run. According to the Blog, Mike Huckabee President, there's definitely some signs that Huckabee is going to run. Some of the things that they sight are his remaining very active in politics (which of course is quite true).

Whether or not Huckabee runs in 2012 is not a big deal. I hope he does run and if he does of course I'll support him. If he doesn't that is his own personal decision. He'd make a great president and I think that he could definitely help this country rectify some of the major problems that are only being made worse by the current set of politicians.

Is Huckabee without faults? That's like asking if he's human. Of course he has faults; I think sometimes that people hold politicians to a higher standard than they hold most people to. In fact, I think many people hold politicians to a nearly perfect standard. But of course politicians are people just like the rest of us and no matter how elite they act, they're really just as prone to fault and failure like the rest. However, Huckabee has been an effective leader for conservative causes and if he runs a solid campaign, I think he'll win the Republican nomination and the Presidency in 2012.

Huckabee 2012: Ready, Set Go!

I think that the likelihood of a President Huckabee in 2012 has now risen a ton. In fact, if Huckabee was a stock, and you could buy it, I would say "buy, buy, buy." The reasons are simple but the simple reason is really this, there was a red Republican wave that swept into Congress on Tuesday and that wave will almost definitely sweep the Senate and the Whitehouse in 2012. There is a growing sentiment in the country that Washington needs serious change. And while most of the 2008 GOP candidates spouted out mostly similar ideas for how that change should take place, Huckabee was one of the only ones that actually took a bold stand for change.

Huckabee was the only Candidate that advocated for the Fairtax, which is a forward thinking tax that stops taxing productivity. It is supposed to be revenue neutral, which could be debatable, but it could definitely be adjusted to a point where it would help address major problems such as the deficit and high unemployment.

Probably one of the biggest obstacles Huckabee will face will be the Tea Party and Sarah Palin who have been a rising and driving force in the Republican party. He has a strong support among some of these people as well, but the question will definitely be whether or not his support is strong enough to propel him to an Iowa victory and beyond.

I think that Huckabee has a really good chance at 2012 and the next few months will give us a better idea of whether he intends to run or not.

Huckabee Puts His Money Where His Mouth Is

Huckabee say's he's supporting candidates for 2010 and indeed he does. The following article from the Politico shows that he's given nearly a third of the money that his PAC has brought in to the candidates which he has endorsed. That of course does leave his PAC with some money to pay its employees and the other bills that come in. The article also points to a potential run in 2012 as the Governor starts working in some of the primary states.

In first-in-the-nation Iowa, where Huckabee won an upset in the 2008 nominating caucuses, Huck PAC sent $2,500 donations to Sen. Chuck Grassley and gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats, the conservative activist who lost the GOP primary to former Gov. Terry Branstad. Wes Enos, a state Senate candidate and Huckabee’s former Iowa political director, also got $500.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39754_Page2.html#ixzz0vjiBn3FZ

Of course Huckabee has never been a huge fund raiser since people like Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin seem to be able to consistently out raise him money wise. I'm not sure if that's a negative or a positive. While I have no distain for rich folks (unlike the current administration), it is indeed interesting to me that Huckabee brings in most of his cash from "smaller" donors, folks who don't necessarily have a lot to give but give what they can.

Huckabee’s committee took in $258,000 between April and the end of June, according to fundraising information obtained by POLITICO – slightly less than the $273,000 Huck PAC raised in the first three months of 2010.

Huckabee’s financial numbers put him behind several other possible 2012 candidates in the fundraising department: former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s PAC raised $866,000 over the same period. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney have not released updated fundraising information yet. but are expected to exceed Huckabee's total."

But if Huckabee isn’t leading the field in receipts, he’s still parceling out money at a rapid rate, giving $70,000 in the second quarter to candidates he endorsed. That means 27 percent of Huck PAC’s dollars ended up in the hands of politicians the former governor is supporting.

By comparison, Palin gave $87,500 out to candidates – just over 10 percent of the money she raised. In the first quarter of the year, Romney’s Free and Strong America PAC raised $1.6 million and donated $59,000.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39754.html#ixzz0vjgQ6GQf

A Fat Mike Huckabee: Will He Run Again?

Mike Huckabee has been a really big guy in the past. He has often told the story of how he lost weight in order to regain his health. However, there's been rumors circulating around the internet that Huckabee has become fat again. I don't know how true these rumors are, since he seems to be staying in pretty good shape on his show. Of course the idea is that a fat politician can run and succeed at getting in political office. But of course don't tell that to Chris Christy who is really a big guy but beat the incombent governor last year in New Jersey. Perhaps of course the real facts are that a governor who promises to trim the fat out of government is more in demand right now than a politician who is skinny and healthy.

Continuing on the Right

Gov. Huckabee didn't run a campaign... he started a movement! That movement is just starting and will continue to grow and if he chooses to run again in 2012, the movement will still be there. There will be others also who will pick up the banner of Faith, Family and Freedom and continue to press on.

Like Huckabee, we don't give up until the race is done. And this one is just starting now!