Carolina on His Mind: Huckabee Heads South

GREENVILLE, S.C., Jan. 9, 2008 — -- A smiling, admittedly chubbier Mike Huckabee returned to Southern terrain for the first time since his underdog victory in the Iowa caucuses and third-place showing in New Hampshire, feeling good about his chances in the Palmetto State, which on Jan. 19 will be the first Southern state to hold a presidential primary campaign.

"Certainly there's a deep connection I have with people in the South," said the former governor of Arkansas. "There's a greater familiarity."

Campaign Headed South

Huckabee's stunning Iowa victory Jan. 3 — largely because of the support of his fellow evangelicals, who made up 60 percent of GOP caucus goers — was followed by a third-place finish Tuesday night in New Hampshire, behind Huckabee nemesis and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and, in first place, Arizona Sen. John McCain.

Exit polls indicated that McCain and Huckabee were essentially tied among evangelicals in New Hampshire. A reporter pointed out to Huckabee that that trend cannot continue in South Carolina if he wants to win here.

"Probably won't," he said with a smile.

"Anybody is going to get a bump out of winning," said Huckabee, who only a few weeks ago was polling in sixth place in the Granite State. "But I think my bump is that I came in ahead of Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, both of whom should have had far better numbers. And I mean Rudy's been there a lot longer, he's certainly a more known quantity than me in New Hampshire, had a big organization, had a lot of really key high-profile people behind him."

Spectator in Clinton-Obama Grudge Match

Huckabee admitted he spent some of his time in the Live Free or Die state watching the showdown between Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Barack Obama, D-Ill.

"I thought it was a fascinating race to watch," he said, reminding reporters on his charter plane that when he was asked for a response to Clinton's teary response to a voter's question, he was sympathetic.

Today, a day after Clinton's win, he suggested that the episode had boosted Clinton's showing.

"I was asked about the emotional moment she had on Monday, and I said I didn't think it hurt her, I thought it, frankly we ought to cut her some slack," Huckabee said. "And I was right. I'm maybe one of the few people who saw it as what it was, a very in the moment thing. I think people want their leaders to show that they are human. They're not so robotic and so programmed that they are devoid of any emotion, they're not so robotic and so programmed that they are devoid of any emotion."

While also suggesting his former fellow Arkansan "had an incredible organization," Huckabee said Clinton's moist eyes helped her win. "A lot of people thought it hurt her and I didn't. I thought it may remind people that she's not just a very programmed person."

Asked whether he was planning on crying on the campaign trail, Huckabee laughed and said, "Probably, in a few minutes."

Huck's Challenge Ahead

Whether he is driven to tears remains to be seen, but Huckabee faces some challenges in the days ahead.

He plans on competing in the Michigan primary against Romney and McCain; his campaign says it has purchased TV time, hoping his message of faith and populism will appeal to the state's evangelical voters, and the disenfranchised Reagan Democrats.

"We've been polling very well in Michigan," he said. "I think at first everybody just assumed Romney would own it," because Romney's father was a three-term governor of the state.

He is clearly expecting to be attacked by Romney, as he was in Iowa. And unlike in the Hawkeye State, voters don't seem to mind when politics down in South Carolina gets a little rough. Romney has on his campaign team one of the roughest political knife fighters South of the Mason-Dixon Line — Warren Tompkins.

"I've always said we reserve the right to get the truth out about my record," Huckabee said. "The truth doesn't hurt me. Distortions do." He added that he thinks "sometimes those kind of attacks get so shrill they turn people off."

He wouldn't discuss how he plans on responding when and if attacked. "I want you to have some mystery in this whole campaign," he said. "I don't want to tell you everything."

Huckabee and McCain had previously been in a sort of nonaggression pact as the former tried to defeat Romney in Iowa, the latter in New Hampshire. Huckabee said he thought their "mutual respect" would continue and suggested he would not attack McCain unless attacked first.

Asked whether McCain's argument of having greater experience in national security and military matters wouldn't resonate with voters, Huckabee cited two of the Democratic' contests' least successful candidates, who made similar arguments about experience.

"The idea that he's had longer experience -- ask Joe Biden and Chris Dodd what that did for them," Huckabee said. "There's not two more experienced people in terms of foreign policy and military background. But they took what, 1, 2 percent [in the Iowa caucuses]? Something like that."

Weighty Matters

Huckabee, once morbidly obese, lost 110 pounds a few years ago by eating better and exercising.

The campaign trail has not helped him with his weight, he said, admitting to having gained "probably about 10 or 12 pounds. That's as much from not getting my running in as anything."

His running for president, he said, is complicating his plans to run in the Boston Marathon.

"I am trying to just scream at the staff and say this is important, I've got to stay in training here," he said.