Huckabee Ready for ‘Intense’ Fight for Delegates

ABC News’ Kevin Chupka reports: During a press conference here in Little Rock, following the Potomac Primary results, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee spoke of his continued campaign persevering, despite a very disappointing day that saw chief political rival, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., sweep primaries in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

"The next several weeks are going to be the very intense weeks when a lot of delegates are at stake," Huckabee told reporters gathered in the lobby of a Little Rock office building. 

The makeshift setting for such a news conference echoes the folksy style that has gotten Huckabee this far in the race, but he has a Himalayan mountain left to climb.  As for his continued presence in a race that, by many accounts, seems all but locked up, Huckabee argues, "If there are these calls to say, ‘Let’s just call it off,’ well, that’s a disservice to the people in Texas, and Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, and Nebraska, and other states and territories who have yet to have that opportunity to vote."

As for the mathematics involved, Huckabee has, of late, said he’s not focused as much on math as he is on miracles.  The cold hard facts, however, depend on math — obtaining 1,191 delegates in order to secure the GOP nomination.  Huckabee admitted tonight that math is not on his side, but stressed that it doesn’t mean he can’t win the nomination.

"While it may be mathematically impossible to see how it could play out right now, I know this:  Right now, nobody has the 1,191 delegates.  And, therefore, it would be a little premature to quit until the game has actually come to a conclusion." 

While tonight didn’t produce the results Huckabee and his campaign may have hoped for, he was able to see the silver lining of a nail biter (at least for a while) in Virginia.

"What it does show, though, is that there is still a real sense in the Republican Party of a desire to have a choice, a desire to make sure that the voters who want a solid conservative, absolutely pro life candidate still exist."

Huckabee isn’t slowing down, either. He’ll campaign in Wisconsin over the next several days, and listed states like Texas, Ohio, North Carolina, Vermont and Rhode Island as possible stops over the next few weeks.