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Romney bows out; Huckabee vows to keep running GOP presidential race Friday, Feb 8, 2008 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Former Gov. Mike Huckabee said Thursday he would fight on for the Republican presidential nomination after rival Mitt Romney's stunning announcement he was leaving the race. Romney, once the Republican front-runner before his campaign began losing steam after he finished behind Huckabee in the Iowa caucuses, said he would suspend his campaign rather than forestall the GOP from launching a national campaign and make a Democratic victory more likely in November. Huckabee said he would press on. "I still believe that this thing is a long way from being settled, and now that the field is down to two, our chances are substantially improved," the former Arkansas governor told Fox News. Huckabee was in New York on Thursday for private meetings and to tape guest appearances on the nationally televised Tyra Banks Show and The Colbert Report, his campaign said. In a written statement issued later by the campaign, Huckabee said he was "committed to marching on." Huckabee acknowledged the sacrifices and dedication of Romney and his family and said he wished them well. "I am redoubled in my resolve to carry on my campaign in a civil, dignified manner," Huckabee said. "The issues that got me into this campaign - protecting life and traditional marriage, enacting the Fair Tax and border security - are going to keep me in this campaign. "As a true authentic, consistent, conservative, I have a vision to bring hope, opportunity and prosperity to all Americans, and I'd like to ask for and welcome the support of those who had previously been committed to Mitt." Huckabee planned campaign stops Friday in Kansas and was scheduled to speak Saturday in Washington, D.C., at the Conservative Political Action Conference just two days after Romney dropped out of the race there. In an address to the conference Thursday, Arizona Sen. John McCain congratulated Romney on an "energetic and dedicated campaign." He also congratulated Huckabee on his success on Super Tuesday and said Huckabee has "injected from time to time some much-needed humor into the race." McCain acknowledged that some of his stands have been unpopular with conservative Republicans - some in the audience booed when McCain mentioned immigration - but he stressed his determination to fight terrorism and achieve victory in Iraq. Romney's decision apparently hands the Republican nomination to McCain, whose victories in most of the Super Tuesday primaries left him with 707 of the 1,191 delegates needed to win the GOP nomination. Romney has 294 delegates, and by suspending his campaign rather than quitting the race outright, he maintains control of them to the GOP conviction this summer in St. Paul, Minn. Huckabee has 195 delegates. Political observers said with Romney out of the race, Huckabee gains new prominence but will have to plan his next steps carefully. "It puts the governor in an extremely sensitive but incredibly powerful position," Republican political consultant Bill Vickery of Little Rock said Thursday. If he stays in the race, Huckabee can continue gathering support for a future presidential bid or cement himself as a probable vice presidential pick, Vickery said. Huckabee has been generally complementary toward McCain throughout the campaign, promoting speculation that he is angling for a spot as McCain's running mate. "The downside is if he's seen as the spoiler to John McCain and ultimately hurting John McCain, to the Democrats' advantage," Vickery said. Romney's departure will make it difficult for Huckabee to go on, said Art English, a political science professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. "I think that does put pressure on him, in a sense, because Romney withdrew supposedly because the real enemy is Clinton and Obama," said English, a Democrat. Conservative Republicans have criticized McCain for what they saw as liberal positions on such issues as taxes and immigration. Huckabee has provoked conservatives' wrath on the same issues, which could pose a problem for a possible McCain-Huckabee ticket, English said. On the other hand, "Huckabee has the better evangelical credentials in certain states, so he could lay claim to that," he said. If Huckabee wants to run a competitive race against McCain, but also keep an eye toward a vice presidential spot, he faces an interesting challenge, according to English. "How do you now attack a guy that you've been very respectful to?" he said. Vickery said raising money, which has been a problem for Huckabee from the start, could be even more difficult for him with McCain as the presumptive nominee. But Vickery added, "He won five states on Super Tuesday and he did it with really no money, so he's defied convention throughout this campaign." Money has become a problem for Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton as well. The New York senator said this week she had loaned her campaign $5 million, and top aides confirmed that they had begun working without pay. Barack Obama, meanwhile, reported raising $32 million in January. The Illinois senator also said he expects to raise $30 million this month. Neither Democrat has emerged as a clear front-runner. Arkansas GOP Chairman Dennis Milligan, who has given Huckabee a personal endorsement, said he will continue to support Huckabee if the former governor stays in the race. But Milligan also said he believes it benefits the Republican Party to start unifying behind one candidate. "I personally like the fact that we're narrowing down, we're going to get our candidate, and that we're going to be able to get to work and get our message out," he said. "The Democrats, they're just continuing to go at it." |
