Former presidential candidate and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says that running for president in 2016 is a decision that is definitely on the table, but first he wants to see the GOP win the Senate in November.
"I'm trying not to be coy and to be as candid as possible," he told J.D. Hayworth on "America's Forum" on
NewsmaxTV Wednesday.
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"I've said very clearly that it is on the table," he said. "I have not made a decision, I don't want to and shouldn't."
At this point, the Arkansas Republican says that first he wants to "get through this election cycle."
"Sometime in the spring of next year I'll make a decision," he said, adding that he's pretty content with his "television gig" with Fox News, but "if another run is in the cards, I'm willing."
"In the meantime, as much as it'll be hard for people to believe, my genuine focus is making sure we don't muff this great opportunity we have in 2014," he said.
In the weeks leading up to the midterms, Huckabee says he is scheduled to campaign for GOP candidates all over the country.
"It is imperative that we move Harry Reid to the back of the room and get a Republican majority in the Senate," he contends. "
"I feel that one of the most urgent goals is to end his reign of error, which has been really creating what I call the roach motel of Washington," he said. "Legislation goes into his office, but it never ever comes out."
"Last count, there were 357 Republican passed House bills that have been moved to the Senate, but they haven't moved off Harry Reid's desk," he added.
As for the Republican Party, Huckabee did express some concern about the growing libertarian strain within the GOP.
"I respect the libertarian view," he told Newsmax.
"I don't always agree with some of the more extreme versions of it because it's unrealistic — it has this assumption that everybody is going to just do the right thing all the time," he explained.
"True, pure libertarianism is little more than economic Darwinism where it's dog eats dog and the big dog wins and the little dog dies and too bad for the little dog," he said.
"I don't think that's the Republican view and, frankly, it's not the American view," the former Arkansas governor added.
"We have a sense of which we want everybody to do better, we want government to get out of the way to accommodate people's successes and living the American dream, but we don't have an attitude that's cavalier towards people who are hurting and failing," he explained.
"I don't think we need big government to make that happen," he contends. "We need big hearts in our personal lives."
"I'm a little concerned about the libertarian movement when it gets to the place they say, 'we don't want to hear about these moral issues, all we want to do is focus on tax cuts and curtailing the role of government,'" Huckabee said.
"Great, but the quickest way to cut taxes and to curtail government is have a self-governing people that don't need so much government hanging over their heads," he added.
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