Mike Huckabee Launches 'A Simple Government"
Feb. 24, 2011--Former Gov. Mike Huckabee launched his new book, "A Simple Government," in a newsmaker event at the National Press Club.  Huckabee answered the question he said he is being asked "not once, not ten times, but a hundred times: are you going to run for president?"  A number of observers and pundits have recently suggested that Huckabee, who is enjoying his television career, might not make another run for president; for example just yesterday Howard Kurtz penned a column "Five Reasons Mike Huckabee Isn't Running for President" in The Daily Beast (+).  Huckabee said running for president "is very much an option that I am considering, and I'm seriously and genuinely contemplating it."  He said how the book fares will figure into his calculations, discussed other factors weighing into his considerations, and noted that Bill Clinton had not launched his succesful campaign until October 1991.

"This is an attempt on my part to say here I stand.  Here's what I believe.  And the question that you probably want to ask is: are you going to run?  The question that I have for America is: do you think this message resonates with you?  If it does, that gives me a whole lot more encouragement to go put myself through the sausage grinder of the campaign."  more

Huckabee's book tour takes him to 13 states, mostly in the South, over two weeks; he will be starting in the key state of Iowa on Feb. 27 and also making stops in South Carolina, but no New Hampshire stops are currently scheduled.