Mike Huckabee
Here is my first in a series of posts on who I believe is running for president in 2012 and who’s not. These posts will be based on what I’ve read and/or what has been imparted to me by a trusted inside source or two.
Nothing you will read will be scientific; however, nothing you will read will be dreamed-up or an outright lie for the sake of shock value. Note that I reserve the right to change my mind and correct my predictions. That said, my goal is to get it right the first time.
(For full disclosure, I’m a republican strategist who works closely with potential GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s PAC.)
Let’s begin.
Mike Huckabee – not running in 2012
The surest sign that former Arkansas Governor Mike Hukabee is “out” for 2012 is the mortgage on his $3.2 million Florida panhandle beach House. Sources tell me that the Huckabees put a very minimal payment down on this retirement mansion. Rather than preparing to be first lady, Mrs. Huckabee is busy drape shopping.
Call my crazy, but the Hucketer simply CAN’T give up his FOX contract and still afford this house. (Note that Huckabee has already secretly negotiated a Monday-Friday gig – if, that is, FOX can figure out which weeknight re-run they replace with Huckabee’s show.)
As a practical matter, Huckabee’s presidential ambitions died back in 2009 in a hail of bullets in a Seattle Starbucks. You can read the story here. Four dead cops because you, as governor, misjudged a felon’s faith conversion is a tough country ballad to sing to law-and-order primary voters.
Finally, and quite frankly, Huckabee’s only real shot for the GOP nomination would be if 2012 became an election centered around social conservative issues, period. Not going to happen – I don’t care how quickly the economy begins to heal, it’s going to be impossible for a full (or close to full) economic recovery to occur in the next 22 months. And until that recovery happens, you can be sure that Americans will be voting with their wallets and not simply their hearts.
These are just a few reasons why I believe Mike Hukabee is not running in 2012.
Sarah Lenti is the blogger behind NMPolitics.net’s The Savvy. E-mail her at sarah@nmpolitics.net.