Fox News Wants Huckabee to Make a Decision

Reuters
Elspeth Reeve 445 Views Apr 27, 2011

Fox News is pushing Mike Huckabee to hurry up and decide whether he's going to run for president again. The network already suspended two likely candidates, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, for their electoral ambitions, but it's waiting on Sarah Palin and Huckabee to make up their minds. The Daily Beast's Howard Kurtz reports that Fox has planned a meeting sometime soon to talk the issue over. "It's getting uncomfortable," a Fox source told Kurtz.

How is it getting uncomfortable? The former Arkansas governor is the keynote speaker at a National Rifle Association event in Pittsburgh this weekend, and he's met with Donald Trump as he listens to potential campaign donors. But Huckabee denies it's crunch time: "No pressure at all. Fox has been very understanding and they know and I know that if I take steps to be a candidate (ask for money, support, or set up a committee), then I will step aside. That's been understood from the beginning," he told Kurtz via email.

Recently Huckabee battled fallen Fox star Glenn Beck over whether Huckabee is too "progressive" to be a good GOP candidate. The term "Nazi" was thrown around. Nevertheless, Huckabee polls well among conservative Republican primary voters. But the Republican has taken so long to decide because of one major factor: money. He makes $500,000 a year hosting his weekend show for Fox. "If I run, I walk away from a pretty good income," he's said.

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