Romney: An old fan of Huckabee
’08 Competitor Once Praised Huckabee
By Aaron Sadler
Stephens Washington Bureau • asadler@stephensmedia.com
WASHINGTON — It’s interesting to see what two years and a suddenly heated presidential race can do to one man’s opinion of another.
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is certainly not as strong a supporter of rival Mike Huckabee as he was in 2005, when the two men were governors of Massachusetts and Arkansas, respectively.
Romney and Huckabee are engaged in a tight battle for the GOP nomination in Iowa. Caucuses there are less than a month away.
The two have battled over Huckabee’s positions on immigration and taxes, as well as Romney’s alleged flip-flopping on social issues.
And with a 2005 assessment of Huckabee in which he said the man would “make a fine president,” it appears Romney opened himself to more flip-flop accusations.
The Arkansas News Bureau reported in August 2005 that Romney said Huckabee would have the support of many Massachusetts Republicans if the Arkansan were to run for president in 2008.
While at the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion for a meeting about health care, Romney demurred when asked whether a presidential race was in his future but had nice things to say about his host.
“Who knows what the future will hold?” Romney said in 2005. “Most likely, we’ll all stay as governors or find other offices, but we need to make sure that we have a strong person who can take the baton from President Bush, and Gov. Huckabee is certainly one of those individuals. He’d make a fine president.”
Last week, though, Romney spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said Huckabee is “out of step with the American people.”
The state’s budget grew from $6 billion to $16 billion on Huckabee’s watch as he implemented a variety of tax hikes, Gitcho said.
“Gov. Romney has always had respect for Gov. Huckabee. However, Gov. Huckabee’s policies are the wrong approach for America right now,” she said.
Both men finished their gubernatorial terms in January and have been on the presidential campaign trail almost nonstop since then.
For much of the year, Romney led polling in Iowa and he won the critical Iowa Straw Poll in August. But in recent weeks, Huckabee emerged as the frontrunner in some polls.
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