Another installment from the Fox News “12 in 2012” series they’re doing on all the potential Republican candidates in 2012. This installment covers former Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas.
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Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has been busy since finishing second to John McCain in the 2008 presidential primaries, including hosting a popular cable show on Fox News, talking about the news on the radio, starting a political action committee and writing three books.
“More people know me from Fox News Channel, than ever knew me from running for president,” Huckabee told Fox News’ Bret Baier.
His knack for communicating to middle America is paying off. He received the highest favorability rating among potential 2012 Republican contenders in a recent Associated Press poll — 49 percent.
He also came in second, with 22 percent, in the Values Voters Summit presidential straw poll in September and was named by likely GOP voters in an IowaRepublican.com poll as the favorite to win the Republican nomination.
Huckabee said the polling won’t be a factor in determining his decision on whether to run.
“I mean, you can’t base it on some opinion polls. That doesn’t put money in the bank, in your campaign. It doesn’t recruit volunteers up and down America,” he said.
“I’m not sure that Huckabee has the ability to raise the $10s or $100s of millions necessary to run a presidential campaign in 2012. Huckabee was not able to raise much of anything for 2008, and that’s what did him in,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.
If he was done in by cash, it wasn’t before Huckabee won eight states in the GOP primary, finishing with the highest number of delegates behind McCain.
Clearly according to the polls, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney are the overall front runners right now. However, I think the 2012 GOP field is going to be fairly wide open despite a few candidates with some early advantages.
