Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee gave his thoughts on the 2012 Republican presidential candidates Sunday in an interview with WABC’s Aaron Klein. As the candidates continue to trade rankings in the national polls, Huckabee, who won the Iowa caucuses in his own election bid in 2008, spoke of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s chances of winning the primary. The former Republican presidential candidate urged conservative Republicans to support Romney because he believes the former Massachusetts Gov. has the best chance of defeating Barack Obama in 2012.
“Mitt Romney may not be their first choice, but Mitt Romney every day of the week and twice on Sunday is going to be a much more effective president for issues that they care about than Barack Obama,” Huckabee told Klein. “I think sometimes there is this anxiety within the Republican Party of who is the perfect candidate. The answer is there isn’t one,” the former Arkansas governor added.
Romney came in second behind Huckabee in the 2008 Iowa caucuses, largely because of Huckabee’s popularity among social conservatives in the state. A Bloomberg poll of likely Iowa voters last week showed a four way tie between Romney, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul. Huckabee’s popularity in Iowa could work in Romney’s favor as the countdown to the Iowa caucuses begins.
The former Arkansas governor urged Tea Party Republicans to throw their support behind Romney. “I think Republicans and conservatives and the Tea Party need to get behind him and say, ‘You may not be our first choice, but between you and Obama, I’ll vote 40 times to get you elected,” Huckabee said.
