No timetable for presidential decision, Huckabee says
Last updated Thursday, November 16, 2006 10:21 PM CST in News
By Doug Thompson
The Morning News
ROGERS -- Gov. Mike Huckabee, considering a run for president in 2008, said Thursday that fellow Republican John McCain's decision to form a presidential exploratory committee won't change his timetable for deciding whether to make the race.
"Let's face it: He hadn't thought of this last month," Huckabee told reporters after a luncheon speech to business leaders.
McCain, a U.S. senator from Arizona, formed an exploratory committee Wednesday.
Huckabee said Thursday he would not announce any definite plans until after he leaves office Jan. 9. However, his "Hope for America" political action committee will host a fund-raiser on Dec. 16 in Little Rock. The governor also will release a book, "From Hope to Higher Ground," expressing his views on national issues, after the first of the year and will start a promotional tour in January.
He said he would not form a presidential exploratory committee anytime soon.
"One of the disadvantages of declaring early is that there are huge restrictions on fund raising," the governor said.
McCain can accept Federal Election Commission restraints on corporate contributions because he's already a well-known, well-financed figure, Huckabee said.
"I don't think this is a surprise for anybody about Sen. McCain and the race is very, very wide open," Huckabee said. "This is the first presidential election since 1928 when no incumbent president or vice-president is in the race at all."
In his speech, Huckabee referred to his wife's 1975 operation to remove a tumor from her spinal cord, which he said could have left her paralyzed. The experience was frightening, but was a profound help in his service as a Baptist minister, the governor said.
"We walked the valley and we knew the path" when ministering to others who faced medical crises, he said.
Talking politics after his speech, Huckabee said the political "tsunami" that hit the Republican Party nationwide in the midterm elections hurt many undeserving candidates at the state and local level but eventually will be seen as a "cleansing moment."
"We didn't deserve to win that election. We had not done our job well with high government spending and corruption. It was an election that was hard to get excited about," he said.
The biggest lesson Republicans need to learn from the election, he said, is "how little we were able to accomplish before that."
Huckabee dismissed questions about recent disclosures that his and first lady Janet Huckabee's names appeared on department store gift registries just weeks before he leaves office.
He said he would work with governor-elect Mike Beebe and incoming first lady Ginger Beebe to make the transition as smooth as possible.
"That's very important to me," Huckabee said. "As you recall, my transition wasn't very smooth."
Huckabee ascended from lieutenant governor in 1996 after then-Gov. Jim Guy Tucker resigned under pressure following federal fraud and conspiracy convictions in the Whitewater investigation.
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Chuck Barrett wrote on Jan 29, 2007 11:54 AM: