Texas Gov. Perry Asks Huckabee to Drop Out

(CBS)

From CBS News' Joy Lin:

COLLEGE PARK, MD. -- Gov. Rick Perry. R-Texas, who has endorsed John McCain, called Mike Huckabee on Friday asking him to drop out of the race, according to a senior Huckabee campaign aide. Huckabee declined Perry's request.

Huckabee had asked for Perry's support earlier in the election cycle and Perry had said he would support Huckabee if he thought he could win but decided to support Rudy Giuliani instead. When Giuliani dropped out last month, Perry switched his allegiance to McCain.

Earlier today in Washington, D.C. after delivering a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, Huckabee told reporters that staying in the race is good for the Republican Party.

"I'd like to think the Republican Party is mature enough, big enough, and smart enough that it actually knows competition brings excellence. And the lack of competiton brings mediocrity," Huckabee said.

"You know the old proverb is as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. The fact is no boxer is ever prepared to go into the ring if he's never sparred."

"If we're really serious about taking it all the way to November, we better have a candidate who's truly battle-tested. So this nonsense about how I should step aside and have a cakewalk all the way to the election, that's crazy. Unless they were all to step aside and let me have a cakewalk, then that would be a fine thing. But otherwise, I can see no value in that at all."

[ih2005]

Compare Mr. HUCKABEE, who has GOVERNED with common-sense ideas ( http://*******.com/govhealthfairtax ) to Mr. MCCAIN ( http://*****.com/straighttalk ) and it''s clear that McCain is an "old boy" member of THE SENATE CLUB who has essentially done little to preserve the voice of the working American.

Compare Huckabee''s visionary FAIRTAX ( http://*****.com/nextrung ) to McCain''s interest in the current tax system - IRS-oppressive to wage-earning families ( http://*******.com/irsmisconduct ) - it''s pretty easy to see who will lead us OUT of TAX SLAVERY ( http://*****.com/taxburden ) - $265 billion annual tax code compliance costs representing 5 billion wasted hours, annually.

[wise_merlin]

Call me crazy, but I''d rather have someone running our economy who majored in math.

[twister61]

SOONER THAN LATER..ALL OF YOU WILL REALIZE THAT YOU THREW OUT THE ONLY TRUE CONSERVATIVE LEFT IN YOUR PARTY..MITT ROMNEY!YOU FOOLS!NOW,OBAMA "HUSSEIN" WILL WIN AND THE ENEMY WILL BE IN THE WHITE HOUSE!WAKE UP!OBAMA IN THE ANT-CHRIST PEOPLE!

[marinepatriot]

Everyday Americans, living in everyday homes and driving everyday cars pick Governor Mike Huckabee to be President.

We do not want Mccain. (maybe we should ask Governor Perry to step down)

Talk radio and media tried to convince Americans to vote for Romney in order to stop Mccain.

Romney robo-called by the millions to try and trick voters into thinking Huckabee had DROPPED OUT of the race prior to Super Tuesday. That was unethical and our Republican party should have stood up for the people of America.

You can see the proof here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
Jk6IJS3QN34

That initially damaged Huckabee but we the people are still fighting hard. We WANT HUCKABEE!!!!

Please, if you are in any upcoming State, take to the street to wave Huckabee signs, contribute on his website, and get out and vote! No exceptions. If we stay united we can still have Huckabee as President.

Huckabee just won Kansas 60% to Mccains 24% and we can get these results in all of the remaining States.

WE LIKE MIKE!

[jonsid2]

I think the miracle Huck is looking for might be the one where old man McCain starts suffering from too much excitement, clutches his chest and you know the rest of the story. Didn''t I read somewhere that McCain is taking a cholesterol lowering drug and is on aspirin therapy? Huck''s no dummy. He might just be wsiting ''till Mac has the big one.

[krisd999-2009]

Today Ron Paul was the winner in my county (Clark,WA)Our PCO put down Huckabee, but later put a ?. Another delegate thought he would be for McCain but is reconsidering. His number one issue is the falling value of his pension. He can only buy 65% of what he could 5 years ago. That is what Ron Paul is talking about with the Federal Reserve and return to gold to take this criminal system out that in effect is secretly changing what a pound of stuff means. Don''t assume McCain will get the delegates after the county and state conventions are over. At this point the caucuses are just a straw poll. There can be big changes a month from now as people learn about the looming wipe out of you life''s savings and pensions. Financing 1 trillion in spending overseas, hundreds of billions in bank bailouts, the huge interest rate increases on the way will come out of your savings as stealth inflation.

[samthetvcat]

I guess as an Evangelical minister and with Southern Baptists having that political agenda, Huckabee and his supporters must believe him staying in and them voting for him helps them spread their interpretation of God''s word and strengthens their political clout (?)

But how many of the votes that are going to Huckabee now are actually just people wanting to humiliate McCain and his cronies like this Texas Governor who believe everybody needs to hold their nose and rally behind the presumptive nominee?

Let''s not give this wing of Christianity more sway than they really hold . . . :(

[wango2007-2009]

The Governor of Texas is off base. Many Republicans don''t want McCain.

McCain is so old he may not make ot either. Let Huckabee run.

[finepix2008]

What if Huckabee does really well in the delegates... can he prevent McCain from securing needed 1191? Then that means a brokered convention right? Perfect, get the Party base together, get their collective wits about them and nominate by acclamation Mitt Romney the ONLY Republican who has the leadership, character and proven track record to run circles around either Dem nominee. Go Huckabee!!

[skicolorado2-2009]

Bush is rallying around McCain because Bush is adamant about passing Amnysty and him and Perry want to build a 15 lane highway through Texas to Mexico. Bush is working over time on the North American Union and Bush came out against Romney. We have had all these fakes jokers from Ron Paul to Huckabee to McCain in this election and the true American spokesman never was able to get traction soon enough. I.E. Romney. Frankly, I am pretty pissed about how this has turned out altogether.