Mike Huckabee: That South Carolina Report is an Absolute Lie

Are potential opponents of Mike Huckabee trying to push him into the race? Are they afraid of the platform that he has hosting his own radio/cable program? Are they worried about how Huckabee is able to showcase his policy ideas each week contrasting it with President Obama's own failed policies? Do they not like that Mike Huckabee has access to media where he can shoot down the lies being told about him and get out the truth?

It is rather interesting that bloggers and DC insiders want Mike Huckabee to officially declare his intentions on whether or not he will run in 2012. Lest they forget Mike Huckabee has already done that, he clearly stated that it would be his race his pace, that he would miss the first set of debates, that he would prayfully consider a run, and that he would declare his intentions in the summer. Yet they keep pushing for an answer and this week we saw operatives pushing false information. Wesley Donohue, a former worker for Mitt Romney's 2008 campaign was the one who jumped the shark. Starting a story stating that anyomous players told him that Mike Huckabee released his 2008 South Carolina supporters to go work for other campaigns. Donohue-who now works for Gingrich-stands by his story while not releasing any names of those so called informants. Erick Erickson of Redstate was one of the first to actively promote this on twitter.  Matt Drudge-a supporter of Romney's in 2008, linked to the story by selectively placing "Huckabee Out of Race?" right next to the royal wedding pictures of Kate Middleton in her beautiful dress. Perhaps Drudge is worried that Mike Huckabee will be the next one to sit on the Republican throne. To shed light on the whole bizarre story, Mike Huckabee cuts to the chase on the Willis Report and tells the viewers that the story is a flat out lie.

There you have it, Mike Huckabee again says he is still considering a run and will announce his intentions this summer.

Huckabee supporter, GrannyT researched this week's "Huckabee is out activity" and reported as follows: 

Examining the “Huckabee Isn’t Running” Rumors

There have been rumors that Gov. Mike Huckabee won’t be running for President in the 2012 election cycle. I’m writing this to examine a few of those rumors.

Rumor #1: Huckabee has decided not to run and has released his South Carolina Team.
That rumor was squashed almost as soon as the so called story was “leaked”. Many reputable sites had updates on their stories immediately after posting them. One of Huckabee’s key supporters and part of the 2008 Huckabee Team in South Carolina posted the debunking of that rumor on Facebook.
An article posted yesterday evening has a few more quotes from South Carolina former Governor Beasley, Mike Huckabee 2012 Run Looking More Likely, Key Supporter Says
Rumor #2: Huckabee can’t raise money and can’t run a campaign without it.
Huckabee has voiced his concerns for fundraising; so we know that can be a real issue. It has been reported that he has talked to possible financial backers.

Huckabee recently presided over a series of meetings with financial backers in New York — where he hosts his popular television show on Fox News — in an attempt to ascertain whether he could generate the resources he would need to persuade him to set aside his comfortable private life in order to spend more than a year on the campaign grind.
According to aides, the takeaway was positive.

I know many of us not so wealthy supporters have been saving in hopes of him running again. So, if Huckabee is getting any kind of interest from some of the more wealthy donors he won’t have near the lack of money he did in 2008. Also, Huckabee still has an army of volunteer grassroots supporters as well as Team Huck that is getting set up across the country. How much money are all of us volunteers worth?
Rumor #3: Huckabee is making good money and building a mansion he won’t want to walk away from.
Even Huckabee admits that his good paying jobs and mansion will have to be part of his decision. But, those of us that know and love Gov. Huckabee know he’s been through that decision before and didn’t let money and a nice house stop him.
From page 5 of Huckabee’s book, From Hope to Higher Ground: My Vision for Restoring America’s Greatness:

By now, Janet and I had achieved a level of comfort neither of us had ever dreamed. We were both thirty-six years old, had three children, a good dog, and lived in a nice five-bedroom home with a pool on a cul-de-sac.
I vividly remember the long walk in the neighborhood we took one winter night. We decided that if we indeed were put on earth to become “comfortable,” then we had hit the target. Ours was an enviable life in many ways, but as we walked and talked and prayed, we decided that the purpose for being on earth is not our personal comfort but to strive to make the world better for our children than when we found it.

I know that book was written a while ago before he started the project of building a new home. So, I’ll include a quote from an article posted this week by KATV in Arkansas, On the Road with Huckabee:

But, it’s Huckabee’s prolonged decision that could be making his biggest employer a little anxious. A report this week claims Fox executives are questioning whether they should have Huckabee on the payroll, while his platform is being used to help his Presidential aspirations. Huckabee was quoted in the report that Fox is not pressuring him to make a decision. His comments to us, suggest if things line up the way he wants, he’s in.
“If I thought I could serve my country, and make this country great again, and help get it back on track by giving it leadership, yeah, I’d do it in a heart beat. I just have to be able to visualize a path to the finish line, and believe that I can do more than the platform that i do have, and it’s a significant one, and i’m not oblivious to that.”

Rumor #4: Huckabee needs to jump in now or it will be too late and his supporters will go elsewhere.
There aren’t many Huckabee supporters that are shopping around for other candidates. Huckabee is still polling very well in polls even with the numerous rumors that he won’t be running again flying around. Many of us are volunteering and working on our own as well as with other volunteers doing whatever we can to prepare to make a Huckabee campaign launch successful if he decides to run again. Huckabee does not have the name recognition problem or the unelectable label he had in the 2008 season. He has repeatedly said he’ll make his decision this summer. In the last video I saw where he discussed when this summer – he said, “Probably June.” Rumor is that is when his FOXNEWS contract is up. Maybe he wants to use the remaining time to think as well as to fulfill his contract commitment.
Here are a few quotes from Huckabee ‘asking folks to keep their powder dry,’ adviser says:

Mike Campbell, who chaired Huckabee’s South Carolina campaign in 2008, told CNN that he called his former boss after a South Carolina blog erroneously claimed that Huckabee had decided against running again in 2012.
The report quickly shot around the web Wednesday and forced Huckabee’s team to knock down the rumor.
Campbell called the blog item “a bunch of bull” but said he decided to call Huckabee anyway.
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Asked about his presidential intentions, the former Arkansas governor told Campbell, “I am weighing it very heavily and I am considering it as seriously as I have ever been.”
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Campbell said Huckabee can afford to wait longer than other candidates to enter the race because he has an existing network of supporters in key states ready to help him again, putting him in a “great position” to win the nomination.

Huckabee has said that the last election cycle was too long and people were getting bored with it before it was over. What is wrong with getting things started a little later than last time and being more in tune with previous elections? Do people forget that Ronald Reagan kept his media jobs and didn’t announce until November?
June is NOT too late for Huckabee!
Rumor #5: Huckabee isn’t running he’s just leading people on to sell books and keep viewers.
Quote from On the Road with Huckabee:

“It’s not a decision i’m ready to make yet. I’m getting closer and closer. I’m not playing a game with anyone. I think some people think, oh, he knows what he’s going to do, he’s just playing. I’m very mindful of what it takes to run for president,” Huckabee said.

I’ve read and heard from numerous places that it’s starting to look and sound more like Huckabee is “leaning towards” running again. An article posted on the Washington Examiner last night says:

These days, among the people who have known and worked with Huckabee, there is a growing sense that he’s leaning toward another run for the White House.

Update: I just found another article that was posted today that goes along with this blog article. Check out Huckabee Seems Likely To Run

Mr. Huckabee is the de facto front-runner for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. More precisely, he is the only candidate in the race (so far) who commands the support of the party's social conservative base and its most important region (the South).  So what he does or does not do will have a big impact on what happens after he makes known his decision.