In regards to the race for the GOP nomination, Mike Huckabee said that the worst thing that can happen is for any candidate in the party to become the de facto nominee who would be ignored while the Democrats have the state for themselves for the next several months.
“So instead of asking me to get out, the Republicans ought to be begging me to stay in so that we still have a contest going on – something you guys ought to be watching,” said Mike Huckabee after a hastily arranged news conference after his landslide victory in Kansas.
He then added: “Because you know and I know if I were to drop out today, nobody would be paying attention to any Republican until the Obama-Hillary race is settled.”
Huckabee further explained that the GOP would be a weak party if it cannot handle competition.
In that regard, Huckabee said: “If competition in the marketplace is what creates a strong economy, wouldn’t competition in the political marketplace create a stronger political environment in which to function. It, to me, is an absolute defiance of the basic, most essential Republican principle – that we are somehow better off if we just don’t have any competition.”
Huckabee was asked what he would say to GOP members who are telling him to drop out. He would answer that question with another question.
Out loud, Huckabee would wonder by saying: “How big is this supposed to be? It’s not big enough for me and all these wonderful people voting for me in places like Kansas and Tennessee and Georgia and West Virginia and Arkansas and Alabama. And just how small are we going to make this tent? Fact is, if they’re going to shut out the voters in 27 states who haven’t voted yet, how big of a tent are we going to have. So it really seems like some of these folks in leadership are in a panic mode. If they are in a point in the party where they cannot handle competition and cannot handle different ideas that go against the establishment and they want to control the message, we’re in real trouble.”
Huckabee said that McCain is a grown ma and they would be able to create competition without being mean-spirited and negative.
“We might teach the Democrats something,” Huckabee said. He added: “Here’s a contrast. The two most civil Republicans are still in the race. And the two most uncivil Democrats who have fought the hardest are still in the race. That may be shaping up or what’s ahead in November.”
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