From The Road
February 3, 2008 3:13 PM

Huckabee "Offended" By Romney

By
Michelle Levi
Topics
Mike Huckabee
(CBS)
From CBS News' Joy Lin:

WOODSTOCK, GA – Will John McCain lock up the nomination on Super Tuesday? Not according to Mike Huckabee.

"I think he's being a little bit optimistic about what Tuesday's going to bring," Huckabee said.

"We plan on staying in until the last bell. When I hear people say that, I don't know if it's to great this mood out there that its presumptively over. Our voters don't feel that way."

That's as far as he would go in differing with McCain at this morning's press conference.

Asked why he was more critical of Romney than McCain, Huckabee said he "appreciated" how McCain recognizes him as a "worthy competitor and not as a nuisance."

"John McCain has not suggested that somehow he has a right to the nomination and I should quit because I'm in his way."

Huckabee said, by contrast, Romney is making the "suggestion that I ought to step aside and allow him to waltz to the nomination."

"Frankly I've been a little offended."

So what if most polls show him second in the South. Huckabee plans to "win several Southern states – not just one."

For encouragement, Huckabee said he looked to Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue's longshot win for "encouragement." Faced with an opponent that polled "20 points ahead" and had "spent far far more money than Sonny did," Perdue became the first Republican governor of the state since Reconstruction, Huckabee pointed out.

"Nobody thought Sonny even had a chance in Georgia. And the election came in and the people of Georgia had a very different idea than all the polls and the pundits did," said Huckabee.

A good friend of Huckabee's, Perdue had already scheduled to speak at his son's church in Tennessee but had called Huckabee to express his regrets.

Confronted with his own monolithic odds, Huckabee kept to boxing analogies today. "If this is a fifteen round fight, I'm planning to go fifteen rounds. And the only way you get me out of the fifteenth round is to knock me out before we get to the fifteenth round...its either a knockout or a decision, one or the other...I've spent a lifetime fighting until the clock ended to score enough to win and I don't plan to walk off the field now."

Proposed with the idea he might finish second in the South, Huckabee said, he'd prefer to be first but if they finished ahead of Romney, he would still be "challenging" and Romney would be a "a distant third."

"That's why I think it's absurd when Romney and his people are out there suggesting…my presence is taking votes from him," Huckabee said, raising his eyebrows in a look of disbelief for the cameras.

"My push back on that was, excuse me, his being in the race is taking votes away from me. Why is it that he gets to decide who takes votes from who. A vote for me is a vote for me. There are people who are voting for me that aren't going to vote for him. Period. So this nonsense about, well, I'm taking votes from him – what a presumptuous attitude to have. Is that people who…vote for me would automatically vote for him. I think that's totally wrong."

When Huckabee arrived to the event site – a public park – Huckabee looked at the venue and said, ""Running for president is a walk in the park."

Or not.

"I spent my whole life coming from the bottom to the top. I've never started at the top. I don't know what that feels like, don't know what that would be like. I know what it is to start at the bottom and move to the top and that is what this feels like. And it's a path I feel comfortable with and its a path I've tried before."

Huckabee also weighed on the Super Bowl when a reporter asked him "Giants or Pats?"

"Dallas Cowboys next year!" said Huckabee.

"When it comes to…a game with two northeastern teams, God bless them both, but I'm a Cowboys fan." Huckabee grinned. "Just gotta hope that one day: once again."

Add a Comment See all 43 Comments
by jonronix February 6, 2008 5:46 AM EST
Sorry, will someone delete all but one of my posts. It appeared that the publish button was not working because my post did not appear at the bottom of the page where I expected it.
Reply to this comment
by jonronix February 6, 2008 5:44 AM EST
If Mike Huckabee is sincere about becoming President, why does not attack McCain instead of Romney?
Reply to this comment
by jonronix February 6, 2008 5:34 AM EST
If Huckabee had any desire to be President, he would attack McCain instead of Romney.
Reply to this comment
by jonronix February 6, 2008 5:32 AM EST
If Huckabee had any desire to be President, he would attack McCain instead of Romney.
Reply to this comment
by reaganw2 February 4, 2008 11:50 PM EST
"I know many of you love Huckabee, but ROMNEY is conservative, has the deligates and is our only hope to stop liberal McCain before it is too late."
P-lease... Alabamabob1, Romney is conservative today. When he ran for gov of Mass. he was liberal. How could Rush and Hannity choose Romney? The smell of money! Romney stands for nothing except his money, family and Mormon tradition. And how can anyone say McCain is a liberal? Wow! McCain has a 100% right to life voting record in the Senate. That is a conservative record, not liberal.
Reply to this comment
by alabamabob1 February 4, 2008 5:52 PM EST
I know many of you love Huckabee, but ROMNEY is conservative, has the deligates and is our only hope to stop liberal McCain before it is too late. Please google these words: Levin - Mark - Romney - rally .......then read Mark Levin''s article "Rally for Romney before it is too late". See what you think. Otherwise, liberal McCain wins and conservatives lose (especially in the Supreme Court) Give it a read and see if you do not agree that we need to VOTE ROMNEY!!!!!
Reply to this comment
by xantiphi February 4, 2008 3:47 PM EST
Cont. from the Romney Haters Club

There lies the possibility that one of these hate club christians......could be elected to run this country, by people that don''t take the time to do their homework and research what each candidate has done, how they have voted in the past "from documented records"will give you an idea how they will vote in the future. Their past associations with criminals, I think is important to know, and a lot of other things.

I think choosing a president to lead this country should be done as carefull as choosing a heart surgeon.

Do you want the surgeon to have graduated at the top of his class or the bottom?

You have several surgeons to choose from they are each a different relegion, one is like your own, but he graduated medical school at the very bottom, he barely squeeked thru.....then they range up the scale to the top surgeon. Which do you want? I can gurantee when it comes to saving your life his religeon will not matter to you.

( Everybody''s life is involved in this country)

Reply to this comment
by xantiphi February 4, 2008 3:44 PM EST
I Hate Romney Club

Read all.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1709507,00.html?imw=Y

Check out Huckabee mocking and the conspiracy of the haters.


Reply to this comment
by well-spoken February 4, 2008 12:11 PM EST
Hi PasoFino2,

You are completely missing the point. A VOTE FOR HUCKABEE IS A VOTE FOR MCCAIN. At this point it is all about the nomination race .... Huckabee is staying in the race to pull voters away from Romney to McCain''s benefit. If the race were just Romney and McCain, a very large portion of the Huckabee supporters would vote Romney. Huckabee knows this and that is why he is staying in the race. So if he continues to pull votes away from Romney, McCain has a better chance to win.


Hillary and Obama do not benefit whatsoever in the nomination race by McCain remaining. (other than they will completely destroy McCain in the presidential election).

HUCKABEE SUPPORTERS, STOP LETTING "GOVENOR GRAFT" PAWN YOU ... HE IS USING YOU FOR HIS OWN PERSONAL BENEFIT.

If Huckabee truly cared about his supporters, he would have immediately bowed out after FL ... just like Guiliani did so that his supporters could rally around McCain
Reply to this comment
by pasofino2 February 4, 2008 4:03 AM EST
I disagree that a vote for Huckabee is a vote for McCain.

The majority of the people I talk to tell me that if McCain gets the nomination, they''ll vote for Hillary or Obama.

McCain won''t get Huckabee''s votes. Obama or Hillary will.

That''s my opinion, but why not ask Huckabee supporters, if McCain gets the nomination will you vote for him?
Reply to this comment
See all 43 Comments
.

Follow From The Road

Scroll Left
Scroll Right More »
CBS News on Facebook
  • Building You a Better Morning

  • CBS This Morning

    "CBS This Morning," anchored by Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Erica Hill, airs weekdays from 7 to 9 a.m. ET and at the same time in other time zones.
    Learn more...