Saturday, May 14, 2011

Huckabee Will Not Seek Republican Presidential Nomination

The New York Times reports that former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee announced on his Fox News program tonight that he will not seek the Republican nomination for President. (Video of Huckabee's announcement.) Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, said that his decision was ultimately a spiritual one, and that it was unthinkable for him to undertake a run "apart from an inner confidence that I was undertaking it with God’s full blessing." According to the Times report: "Had Mr. Huckabee entered the race, he would have been filling a perceptible void in the Republican field by becoming the presumed candidate of evangelicals, whose social issues have been largely swept aside as both parties focus most acutely on the economy and government spending."