Decision ‘08

Huckabee To Form Exploratory Committee

The social conservative wing of the party is about to get their best candidate:

Republican Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and a favorite of conservatives, will take the first step in a 2008 presidential bid, an official told The Associated Press on Friday.

Huckabee, 51, plans to file papers on Monday establishing an exploratory committee that will allow him to raise money and hire campaign staff, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting a formal announcement.

Huckabee faces difficult odds as he enters a crowded Republican field topped by better-known, better-funded candidates such as Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

All three have spent the last few months building their national campaign organizations, courting fundraisers and lining up grass-roots supporters in primary and caucus states. However, they also have records or positions on social or fiscal issues that don’t sit well with conservative voters - and that could give Huckabee an opening.

“My brand of conservatism is not an angry hostile brand. It’s one that says ‘conservative’ means we want to conserve the best of our culture, society, principles and values and pass them on,” the former Southern Baptist minister said last month.

I like Mike Huckabee; I think he’s a good man, and I think he’ll make a fine candidate. I think he faces daunting odds, to be sure, and I can’t put him in the top rank, but of the second tier, I think he’s got as good a chance as any…and if nothing else, he will force the other Republicans to pay attention to health care.

The best Huckabee blog has long been Mike Huckabee President 2008…give ‘em a visit, it’s the way a non-official candidate blog should be done…

3 Responses to “Huckabee To Form Exploratory Committee”

1 too many steves Says:
January 28th, 2007 at 6:16 am
Please pardon my ignorance, but is there some legal significance to “forming and exploratory committee”? Does doing so simply allow these folks to pay people with money they already have or subsequently raise without running afoul of campaign finance laws?
2 Mark Says:
January 28th, 2007 at 10:28 am
Basically, it’s a legal shell that lets the prospective candidate raise funds without the transparency requirements of a true candidacy, according to this short Wikipedia article…
3 BSR Says:
January 28th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Mark,

Long time no “e!” Thanks for the plug. Things are getting interesting now.

BSR