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TechnoratiPressure is mounting from the GOP rank for contender Mike Huckabee to quit the race. But instead of relenting to his party’s wishes, the chronic underdog said he is more determined than ever to continue campaigning until a candidate has gained the needed number of delegates to be the nominee.
(Photo: AP Images / Danny Johnston)Republican presidential hopeful former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee leaves a news conference after watching election returns in Little Rock, Ark., Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008.
"As a kid growing up, I always lived with the idea of what I couldn't do. And it only motivated me," Huckabee said, according to the Los Angeles Times on Sunday.
While campaigning across Wisconsin last week, the former Arkansas governor shared about the constant discouragement he received growing up.
As a teenager he was told he couldn’t be elected a class officer; as an overweight young man he finished a marathon walk despite the odds; and as a poor student whose parents did not even complete high school, he worked his way through college in just 2 ½ years.
"And I think that's what a lot of people don't understand about me,” Huckabee said. “When people . . . try to push me out and discourage me, it just creates in me a steely resolve to say, 'Nope, not gonna do it.'"
He added, "I'm yet to have one of my supporters tell me it's time to quit, not one. We are still seeing dramatic traffic to my website, new donors every day. They are saying, 'Don't quit, you are speaking for us.'"
But members of his party are outright calling him to quit the race, saying that his presence is lowering the chances of the GOP to win the White House. Critics argue that the sooner Huckabee leaves, the sooner presumed nominee John McCain can start preparing for the general election, which includes the difficult task of uniting the fractured GOP.
Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who endorsed McCain last week, is among those urging Huckabee to step aside for the good of the party.
Meanwhile, an unnamed top GOP official said, "We're getting pretty frustrated with his (Huckabee’s) campaign," according to U.S. News & World Report. "He can't win. Like [McCain campaign manager] Rick Davis said, he'd have to win 125 percent or more of the remaining delegates, and that's not good math for him."
Huckabee has 217 delegates compared to McCain’s 830 delegates, according to CNN. A Republican candidate needs 1,191 delegates to secure the nomination.
But McCain has been respectful of his chief rival’s decision to stay in the race, although he expressed that he would prefer for Huckabee to quit as soon as possible.
“Of course I’d like for him to withdraw today. It would be much easier,” McCain said, according to CBS News. “But I respect…his right to continue in this race just as long as he wants to."
Huckabee’s critics have questioned his motives for staying in the race despite the mathematical impossibility of winning the party’s nomination. They wonder if Huckabee has aspiration to host a talk show, is positioning himself for a vice presidential offer, or preparing to run again for the White House in 2012 by staying in the race so long.
But the Republican contender said what keeps him in the race is to give a voice to conservative voters who are not sold on McCain, and to fulfill the wish of his supporters who have urged him not to give up.
"I think it's awesome he is not worrying about offending the Republican Party; he is thinking about us," said Karan Johnson of Platteville, Wis., to the L.A. Times. "It's about the people's voices right here in this room and in Ohio and in Texas. They should still have a say.
"I believe God has a plan for this man's life," Johnson, who’s a Christian, added. “And I think it's to go all the way to the White House."
Last week, the McCain campaign announced that former president George H.W. Bush will endorse the Arizona senator this week.
The Republican candidates will compete in Wisconsin and Washington on Tuesday.
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