« Previous Entry | Main | Next Entry »

Posted: July 12, 2007 5:58 PM
Huckabee Attends Historically Democratic Education Forum
Email This

Presidential hopeful former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee made a habit of bucking Republican trends over the past week.

First, he showed up at the National Education Association convention in Philadelphia on July 5 — the only Republican presidential candidate in memory to attend the event. The former governor told the crowd he had a long record of breaking with tradition. “I got 49 percent of the African American vote in my election for governor in 1998. Find another Republican who’s done that.”

While there, he promoted art and music in school curricula and praised public education. He cited his own children’s public school education “[from] kindergarten through the 12th grade” as proof of his commitment to it. Though he reportedly provided little detail on what a Huckabee presidency would mean for education funding or policy, the crowd still gave him a standing ovation.

On Monday, Huckabee weighed in on the Iraq war debate, telling NBC’s Matt Lauer on ‘The Today Show’ that the administration may need to increase — not decrease — American troops ahead of any withdrawal plan. His comments came days after several key Republicans, including Sens. Pete Domenici of New Mexico and Richard Lugar of Indiana suggested it might be time to consider drawing back.

“We have to make a decision,” Huckabee said. “Do we either pull them out, or do [we] put whatever is necessary to make sure we don’t leave an even bigger mess than we started with?”

He also called for the Iraqi people and their neighbors to do more. “I think the real answer is putting more pressure on the people of the region. We need some more help from the Saudis, the Kuwaitis, the Jordanian, the Turks. We should not be going this alone. This is their neighborhood, not ours. … If it all goes south, they’re going to get scorched before we do.”

Asked about his consistently low poll numbers, Huckabee was optimistic. “This is a marathon, not a sprint,” he said, noting the election was 18 months away.

He planned to head to Iowa later in the week to campaign ahead of the Aug. 11 straw poll in Ames.