Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, a surprise winner of the 2008 Iowa caucuses and considered by many pundits and pollsters as a leading contender for the GOP’s nomination this time around, declared that he will not be a candidate for president in 2012. He announced his decision during his Saturday night program from the Fox News studio in New York.
Saying that his decision was “a spiritual one,” one coming from his “inner heart,” Huckabee told his television audience that he wasn’t running. “I will not seek the Republican nomination for president this year,” he said.
Huckabee’s decision confirmed what many of his closest aides, including Republican strategist Ed Rollins, have been saying during the past twenty-four hours. Rollins, who managed Huckabee’s 2008 presidential campaign, believed that the former governor would have made a great president, but said yesterday that he didn’t think Huckabee had “the fire in the belly” to mount what undoubtedly would have been a grueling second campaign for the presidency.
It is widely believed that the former Arkansas governor-turned-talk show host, who was never a particularly strong fundraiser — his political action committee, Huck PAC, lagged far behind those of Mitt Romney and Minnesota’s Tim Pawlenty, among others — had serious reservations about his ability to raise enough money to compete effectively against President Obama in 2012.
Obama, who is not expected to have a serious challenger for the Democratic nomination, plans to raise a billion dollars in his campaign for re-election.
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