A Huck of a run
Posted: Wednesday, March 05, 2008 1:01 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
2008, Huckabee
From NBC/NJ’s Matthew Berger
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Huckabee celebrated the end of his presidential campaign by bowling water bottles down the aisle of his campaign plane.
Continuing a game that had been started the night before, Huckabee autographed a miniature water bottle and then bowled it down the aisle, trying to hit a full-sized bottle placed at the rear. He missed the first shot, but made the next two. Other staffers and media took turns as well as the plane took off from Dallas back to the former Arkansas governor’s home.
Speaking to reporters during the flight, Huckabee said the handwriting was indeed on the wall.
“Clearly, things didn't go our way tonight as we had hoped they would, but when the inevitable is staring you in the face, you accept it, and that's why I feel like it's time to realize we've made the best effort we can,” he said. “Did a heck of a run and done it I think on an amazing amount of resources. It will be a story that is talked about for a long time. Basically a dime to a dollar of what everybody else has had. And to have gone this far and outlasted so many others is a pretty remarkable story. Wish it had ended differently but, you know, it is what it is.”
He said he determined it was time to exit the race once he saw the exit polls from Texas and Ohio Tuesday.
“They weren’t close; Ohio and the other states weren’t close,” Huckabee said. “So it wasn’t like we thought, maybe this could go ’til one or two in the morning. It was pretty obvious; I’d been through a lot of elections before. I know when one’s on it’s way to being close and when one isn’t. This one wasn’t. So there wasn’t any point in sitting there, doing my fingernails all night, hoping something would change. It wasn’t going to.”
He reiterated that he was disappointed by the urgency from some in the Republican Party to anoint McCain as the nominee, saying he believed it “ought to be played to its conclusion.” He said that he pledged his support to McCain in a phone conversation Tuesday and would help him in the general-election campaign.
“Certainly I will do my very best to be helpful,” Huckabee said. “But you know, I would not try to impose myself on his campaign or be presumptuous or act like I should have a role because that's not my decision to make. He's got to look at his landscape out there ask who's gonna help him best, and I’ll respect those decisions.”
Huckabee also said he did not expect to be McCain’s running mate, but said the two agreed to visit in the days ahead. “The good thing is we have a cordial relationship so we're not gonna be strained when we sit down to visit,” he said. “It's not gonna be an uncomfortable or awkward situation whatsoever. That's something that's good for both of us.”
Reflecting on the campaign, he said the obvious high point was winning the Iowa caucuses. “I think obviously winning the Iowa caucus would be hard to beat because that was when so much of our campaign was validated,” he said. He said the negative turning point was losing the South Carolina primary. He said there was a perception in the media that they had to win the state, but the vote splits hurt his chances and gave McCain momentum. “He had indicated pretty much if he lost South Carolina, he'd be out, and ya know if we had won South Carolina, I think we'd be on the way to the nomination,” he said. “But that's what politics is about. If it was easy and everything about it was certain, a lot more people would probably be in it, ya just never know. I'm not bitter about it I just take it as, that's life.”
Huckabee said his future could be in music -- he particularly liked the idea of touring with the Rolling Stones, noting they needed a bass player -- or continuing on television.
“I’ll be at home tomorrow, if the phone rings, I’ll be willing to answer it since I, ya know, will be looking for viable means of support as of in the morning,” Huckabee said.
As the press left the plane, Huckabee and his wife Janet were there to shake each hand and thank them for their time. He posed for countless pictures with reporters and autographed press badges.
