Huckabee on Sarah Palin, Other GOP "Rock Stars"
Palin, he told Katie Couric, is "a very charismatic person who is rock star status in the Republican Party." (watch at left.) He said he would vote for the former Alaska governor against President Obama, although "in the primary, it would depend on who else was running."
"I don't know that much about her job as governor, because she was coming into office as I was leaving," said Huckabee. "And so we didn't have a lot of cross over time where we interacted at the National Governor's Association, or Republican Governor's Association. But I think that she's not anywhere near the person that sometimes she's been portrayed to be – as completely lacking of any intellectual capacity."
Huckabee, a 2008 GOP presidential candidate and former Arkansas governor, is pushing a new book called "A Simple Christmas: Twelve Stories that Celebrate the True Holiday Spirit." A recent Gallup poll found that 71 percent of Republicans would seriously consider voting for him in 2012.
"That was higher than Mitt Romney or Sarah Palin," Couric noted during the 40-minute interview. She asked Huckabee who the Republicans with the "biggest political futures" are today.
"I think there are some names that you haven't heard," he said, after spelling out how he believes his party went off track. "People like Marco Rubio in Florida. I think he'll be a Republican contender for president someday." (Check out CBSNews.com's story on Rubio and his Senate battle here.)Huckabee went on to volunteer the names of Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who he said "has done a phenomenal job," and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who he called "probably the best political strategist in the country." He also said he likes Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and called Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal "brilliant."
As for Romney, Huckabee called him "very intelligent" but said that in the 2008 election he "was always looking for who he was wanting to be," something that did not serve him well.
Watch portions of the conversation above, and check out the whole thing here.
More blog posts on the interview:
• Huckabee: Once You Change Marriage, There is "No Limit"
• Huckabee: Obama Bow in Japan was "Offensive"
More video from the interview:
• Watch The Full Conversation
• Will Huckabee Run in 2012?
• Huckabee Disagrees with Bailouts
• Huckabee's Beef with Health Care
• Huckabee Criticizes Obama for Bowing
• Huckabee Defines Marriage
• Huckabee on Obama's Vision