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Huckabee Suicide Comment Is No Joke, Group Says

A joke told by Republican hopeful Mike Huckabee has drawn fire from a suicide-prevention organization, which says that the former Arkansas governor's crack about fundraising makes light of a serious issue.

In an interview on MSNBC, Huckabee said his rivals should be worried about how little support their lavish spending is buying them. "If I were some of these guys, I'd have to be sitting in a warm tub of water with razor blades," he said. Huckabee has been rising in polls in Iowa despite raising only $1 million in the last fundraising quarter.

He didn't get any laughs, however, from the National Hopeline Network, which runs a suicide-prevention hotline. "When a leading presidential candidate uses suicide and specifically means to do it as a joke, it is grossly irresponsible and is a disgrace," the group said in a statement, according to the Associated Press. "It also must be met with an immediate rebuke from the mental health community. This is no joking matter. Lives are at stake."

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