Does Mike Huckabee still want to be president? Has made lot of money — since bowing out in 2008

The Washington Post's Post Politics ^ | February 21, 2011 | Karen Tumulty

[2ndDivisionVet]

Anyone who thinks presidential ambition is an incurable condition hasn’t spent much time lately with Mike Huckabee.

The man who came in second in the 2008 GOP primary isn’t exactly ruling out another run in 2012. But he doesn’t sound all that eager to jump right back into the fray, either.

“I’m not one who thinks the future of the world is depending on whether I run for president,” the former Arkansas governor said in an interview.

The truth is, there were many things about the presidential campaign grind that Huckabee didn’t much like the last time around.

Don’t look for him in the early presidential debates, which begin just over two months from now, for instance. He doesn’t have fond memories of standing on those crowded stages during the last campaign, fighting for airtime and answering question after question about Iraq.

“We just rehashed the same stuff, over and over. I was bored with it,” Huckabee said. “It was the same tripe, and I found it just in­cred­ibly disgusting, and ultimately meaningless.”

Nor was he particularly sorry to have skipped this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, a traditional stop for GOP presidential contenders, which was underway even as he was giving this interview. “It’s a showcase of just people coming out to get more exposure,” he said.

So instead of throwing red meat to the conservative faithful, Huckabee was tucking into a breakfast of eggs and butter-slathered pancakes at a trendy New York hotel overlooking Times Square. His much discussed diet — he famously lost more than 100 pounds after being diagnosed with diabetes in 2003 and wrote a book about eating right — is apparently on hiatus....

[2ndDivisionVet]

As everyone knows who didn't sign up here yesterday, I don't favor Mike Huckabee, but try to imagine her reporting that breakfast meeting that way with President Clinton, Michelle Obama or some other Democrat with health issues or a weight problem.

[Cicero]

His much discussed diet — he famously lost more than 100 pounds after being diagnosed with diabetes in 2003 and wrote a book about eating right — is apparently on hiatus....

Actually, there was some talk at the time that he had an operation to remove a section of intestine, which was how he lost weight.

Easier than dieting.

[RichInOC]

It’s not whether he wants to. I think he does. It’s whether a guy with a Dukakis clemency problem worse than Mike Dukakis’ has a realistic chance of winning.

[chicagolady]

LEST WE FORGET!!!!

Phyllis Schlafly herself was even more direct. The President and Founder of Eagle Forum said this about Governor Huckabee: “He destroyed the conservative movement in Arkansas, and left the Republican Party a shambles.”

She went on to say, “Yet some of the same evangelicals who sold us on George W. Bush as a ‘compassionate conservative’ are now trying to sell us on Mike Huckabee.”

[Old Retired Army Guy]

If he were running, he would be losing weight and not eating breakfasts like that. I remember the line from Haley Barbour which went “If I suddenly start losing a lot of weight, I am either running for President or dying of Cancer”. I noticed that Newt has been getting slimmer lately.

[Vendome]

He shouldn’t want to be.

Only a handful of dipsticks will support him and barely more will support Romney or Huntsman.

[ex-snook]

Just doing the Huck-A-Buck.

[Cheetahcat]

What suckabee wants does not matter,It is what we want that matters.

[Friendofgeorge]

Sarah has a figure to die for!!!

[Triton42]

I’m surprised Huckabee had such negative things to say about the primary debates. Sure it wasn’t easy for candidates to fight for airtime on such a crowded stage, but still: Huckabee made his candidacy in ‘07-’08 through his debate performances. Without those primary debates, he never would have won Iowa. Curious...