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Mike Huckabee ends Fox show to explore 2016 White House bid
Former Arkansas governor wants to “openly talk with potential donors and supporters”
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitcs.com editor
WASHINGTON (CFP) — Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has bowed out of his long-running Saturday evening talk show on the Fox News Channel to explore a 2016 presidential bid.
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee
In a January 4 Facebook post, Huckabee said “continued chatter” about a possible White House run “has put Fox News into a position that is not fair to them.”
“As much as I have loved doing the show, I love my country more, and feel that it may be time for me to leave a zone of comfort to engage in the conflicts that have almost destroyed the bedrock foundations of America,” he said.
Huckabee said he will not make a final decision on whether to run until late spring.
Huckabee’s Fox show debuted in September 2008, just six months after he ended his unsuccessful campaign for the GOP presidential nomination. In 2012, Huckabee decided to stick with his show rather than run for the White House again.
He called the show “the ride of a lifetime, and I have never had so much fun in my life.”
The Fox News Channel has a policy of not employing announced political candidates as hosts or commentators, which has forced a number of high-profile Republicans off the air in recent years, including Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Scott Brown.
Huckabee, 59, a Baptist pastor, served as Arkansas governor from 1996 to 2007. With strong support from social conservatives, he won the Iowa caucuses in 2008 and took seven other primaries, mostly in the South, before conceding to the eventual nominee, U.S. Senator John McCain.
Huckabee is one of eight Southerners — seven Republicans and one Democrat — considering a White House bid in 2008.
Among the potential Southern GOP candidates are former Florida Governor Jeb Bush; U.S. Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida; and Governors Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Rick Perry of Texas.
On the Democratic side, former U.S. Senator Jim Webb of Virginia has already launched an exploratory committee for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination — a race that’s expected to be dominated by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a former first lady of Arkansas.
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush officially exploring White House bid
Bush to establish leadership pack and begin traveling the country in January
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor
MIAMI (CFP) — Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush will “actively explore” the possibility of seeking the White House in 2016 — the clearest indication yet that he will try to follow his father and brother into the Oval Office.
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush
In an announcement posted on his Facebook page December 16, Bush said he decided to explore a Republican presidential bid after talking about it with his family over Thanksgiving.
“As a result of these conversations and thoughtful consideration of the kind of strong leadership I think America needs, I have decided to actively explore the possibility of running for president of the United States,” Bush said.
He also said he would establish a leadership PAC in January “that will help me facilitate conservations with citizens across America to discuss the most critical challenges facing our exceptional nation.”
Bush, 61, served as governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is the son of former President George H.W. Bush and the brother of former President George W. Bush.
He had been mentioned as a possible GOP presidential contender in both 2008 and 2012 but opted out of both of those races.
Should he run, Bush will face what’s likely to be a crowded Republican field, with possibly five other Southerners in the mix.
Among the potential Southern GOP candidates are U.S. Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida; and Governors Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Rick Perry of Texas.
On the Democratic side, former U.S. Senator Jim Webb of Virginia has already launched an exploratory committee for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination — a race that’s expected to be dominated by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a former first lady of Arkansas.
Former U.S. Senator Jim Webb opens presidential exploratory committee
Virginian is the first Democrat to make a move toward a nomination fight with Hillary Clinton
By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor
BURKE, Virginia (CFP) — Former U.S. Senator Jim Webb has launched an exploratory committee for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination — a race that’s expected to be dominated by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Former U.S. Senator Jim Webb
“We desperately need to fix our country and to reinforce the values that have sustained us, many of which have fallen by the wayside in the nasty debates of the last several years,” Webb said in an open letter published on his committee’s website.
“I look forward to listening and talking with more people in the coming months as I decide whether or not to run.”
Webb is the first Southerner in either party to make a move toward a presidential bid. However, at least six Southern Republicans are considering running, including U.S. Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida; Governors Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Rick Perry of Texas; and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.
Webb, 68, served as a Marine combat officer in Vietnam and was navy secretary during the Reagan administration. In 2006, he ran for the U.S. Senate and rode that year’s Democratic wave to a victory incumbent GOP U.S. Senator George Allen, which gave Democrats control over the upper chamber.
However, he opted not to seek re-election in 2012 after serving a single term.
While Webb was considered a Democratic moderate in the Senate, his exploratory committee announcement hinted that he may be planning to run against Clinton as an economic populist, noting that “the disparities between those at the very top and the rest of our society have only grown larger since the economic crash of late 2008 and early 2009.”
Webb also acknowledged that he faces “what many commentators see as nearly impossible odds” in securing the Democratic nomination.
“We are starting with very little funding and no full-time staff, but I’ve been here before,” he said. “In February 2006, I announced for the Senate only nine months before the election against an entrenched incumbent. We had no money and no staff. We were more than 30 points behind in the polls.”
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal to decide on White House bid in first half of 2015
Jindal would be the first Indian-American to pursue the presidency
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor
BATON ROUGE (CFP) — Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is “praying” about whether to seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and will make a final decision in the first half of next year.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal
“I haven’t made that decision,” Jindal said in a interview with NBC’s Meet The Press on November 16. “If I were to run for president, it’s because I believe in our country. The American dream is at jeopardy.”
“This president has defined the American dream as more dependence on the government. We need to restore the American dream, so it’s more about opportunity and growth and not redistribution.”
Jindal, 43, is in his second term as governor. Prior to being elected, he served in the U.S. House and was an assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the administration of George W. Bush.
If he runs for the White House, Jindal would be the first Indian-American to pursue the office. No Louisianan has won the presidency since Zachary Taylor in 1848.
Jindal is one of a slew of potential Southern Republican presidential candidates in 2016, a list that includes U.S. Senators Rand Paul of Texas, Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas; Texas Governor Rick Perry; and former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida.
Wife of “Kissing Congressman” cuts testimonial campaign ad
Kelly McAllister says her husband, U.S. Rep. Vance McAllister, “owns up to his mistakes”
MONROE, Louisiana (CFP) — The wife of embattled U.S. Rep. Vance McAllister is appearing in a new television as the Louisiana Republican battles to keep his seat after an embarrassing video surfaced last April showing him kissing a female staffer.
U.S. Rep. Vance McAllister
“A man’s character is based on how many times he gets back up and stands again,” Kelly McAllister says in the ad. “I’m blessed to have a husband who owns up to his mistakes, never gives up, always fighting for the good people of Louisiana.”
McAllister himself opens the video, saying that “life is filled with ups and downs.”
McAllister, 40, a Christian conservative and father of five, was elected to the 5th District seat in a special election last November in his first bid for political office. After the video surfaced, he announced he would not seek re-election, but he later changed his mind and filed to run again.
To go back to Washington, he will have to defeat five Republicans and a Democrat who have filed to run against him, including Monroe Mayor Jamie Mayo, the Democrat, and former Republican U.S. Rep. Clyde Holloway, a member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission.
The crowded field could help McAllister because of Louisiana’s unique jungle primary system. All seven candidates run in the same race in November, with the top two vote-getters facing each other in a runoff in December if nobody wins a majority.
Both Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and Roger Villere, chairman of the Louisiana Republican Party, called on McAllister to resign after the video surfaced, but he refused.
Click here to watch the commercial.
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