Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is “moving toward” announcing his second bid for president Friday night, claiming that he will be better funded than in his 2008 run and that he stands out as the most-experienced of the nearly 20 candidates considering a bid.
“I think that there is a real challenge today in the dysfunctional environment of government as it is in Washington and clearly one of the reasons that I’m considering, contemplating and moving toward a decision,” he told a small group of reporters Friday morning.
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Huckabee said he will announce his plans, either to run or when he will officially announce, on Fox where he had a TV show for years. He said he will reveal the news on “Special Report with Bret Baier,” the highly-acclaimed newshour.
Mike Huckabee. AP Photo
“I’ll give you a little tip. If you will watch Bret Baier tonight there will be an indication on when an announcement will be forthcoming,” Huckabee teased, adding that he was asked by Fox to “come on and do it.”
Huckabee has held his top rating in several political polls and is expected to do well in the early states, including the Iowa caucus.
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He pledged to make Washington work again: “Bringing the art of governing and the understanding of how to govern. Never compromising your core values or principle, but recognizing that good government is not saying, ‘I get everything I want all the time.'”
Huckabee expects to raise more money and faster than in 2008 when he was the runner-up to Arizona Sen. John McCain.
“Things will be different,” he said of the 2016 race. Key among them: “There will be a lot more financial support.”
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Huckabee played up his years of experience as governor of Arkansas and how he worked with Democratic legislative majorities to get “90 percent” of his agenda passed. He also bragged on beating the vast Clinton machine in elections. Bill Clinton was a long-serving governor before Huckabee.
“Every race I ran was essentially against the Clinton political machine,” he said, suggesting that he could defeat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s machine too.
Huckabee, who recently authored the top-selling book God, Guns, Grits and Gravy, promised to look out for the poor and middle class and pay special attention to the middle of the country that politicians often fly over.
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Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
