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Huckabee Drops Out
by The Associated Press
Posted: March 5, 2008 - 7:30 am ET
(Irving, Texas) Mike Huckabee bowed to reality
Tuesday and out of the Republican presidential race. "We kept the
faith," he told his end-of-the-road rally Tuesday after John McCain
clinched the nomination. "I'd rather lose an election than lose the
principles that got me into politics in the first place."
The genial conservative went out as he had campaigned all
along, with a quip: "It's time for us to hit the reset button."
Huckabee won the leadoff Iowa caucuses, making him a
sudden but short-lived sensation, and then seven other states: Alabama,
Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, West Virginia, Louisiana and Kansas. Meantime,
McCain piled up big victories on his way to winning the prize on Tuesday night.
The writing was on the wall for weeks, but the former
Arkansas governor hung on until McCain secured the necessary delegates.
"We started this effort with very little recognition
and virtually no resources," Huckabee told supporters. "We ended with
slightly more recognition and very few resources."
The crowd laughed. "But what a journey," he
said. "What a journey. A journey of a lifetime."
Huckabee rarely raised a negative word during the campaign
about McCain, a man he clearly likes, and he called him Tuesday night to
congratulate him.
Huckabee said he extended "my commitment to him and
to the party to do everything possible to unite our party, but more importantly
to unite our country."
Huckabee vowed: "We aren't going away completely. We
want to be a part of helping to keep the issues alive that have kept us in this
race."
An ordained Baptist minister, Huckabee spoke the language
of the pastors and preached in their megachurches. He compared abortion to
slavery and played up his opposition to gay marriage.
At breakfasts and large gatherings with national Christian
leaders, Huckabee urged pastors to use their address books and e-mail lists to
mobilize their flocks.
For a time, conservatives dissatisfied with McCain were
drawn to Huckabee, but the party began to unite behind the likely - and now
certain - nominee.
Huckabee displayed the common touch that came from a
meager childhood in a little rented house with a father who worked two jobs in
Hope, Ark., hometown of Bill Clinton.
He told working-class voters he understood their problems.
"When you grow up and life's a struggle, you have a
whole different understanding of what most people are going through," he
said in one ad. "Most Americans want their next president to remind them of
the guy they work with - not the guy who laid them off."
He played the bass guitar on the campaign stage, to rock
and roll classics like "Mustang Sally" or "Takin' Care of
Business."
In scoring largely Southern victories, Huckabee
demonstrated limited appeal outside of his religious conservative base.
He was also a near novice on world affairs, which became
evident after a few stumbles. At one point, he was caught unaware that the White
House had released a report saying Iran had halted its nuclear weapons program.
Throughout, he went easy on McCain - but not their common
rival Mitt Romney.
Huckabee said he was proud that he and McCain ran a civil
campaign. He told supporters in Columbia, S.C., the night he lost there,
"Even though I'd like the outcome to be just a little different, I had
rather be where I am, and have done it with honor, than to have won with the
dishonor of getting there by attacking somebody else."
©365Gay.com 2008
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