10:05 PM: Huckabee: "Staying in it to win it"
PEWAUKEE -- Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told about 500 at a rally today that he's continuing in the GOP presidential race because he intends to win.
"I'm staying in it to win it," Huckabee said to cheers, adding that if nobody gets the required amount of delegates "then we'll settle it at the convention like they did it in the old days and I'll take my chances there like anybody else."
A day after his loss in the Potomac primaries, Huckabee called upon those assembled to vote for him regardless of what the pundits say of his chances against John McCain.
"If you and your fellow citizens of Wisconsin will listen to your own convictions and principles, and not to the pundits, and go and vote for me on Tuesday," Huckabee said, "I can still be on my way to becoming the 44th president of the United States of America."
During his roughly 30-minute speech, Huckabee hit on bread-and-butter conservative principles like secure borders, strong national defense, lower taxes and the right to life.
The crowd, mostly middle-aged and older people, many whom brought their children, was energetic. They cheered often and shouted "we like Mike" at several points throughout his speech.
Huckabee received loud applause when he said America needs to secure its borders and promised to build a border fence within 18 months.
"It's not because we don't want people to come," Huckabee said. "But we want to know who they are; we want to know where they're going to be; we want to know what they're going to be doing when they get here."
He also received applause when he called for getting rid of the IRS and instituting a "fair tax" to replace the current system he said "chokes the life" out of businesses and people trying to get ahead.
"I want to be the president that nails the 'going out of business' sign on the IRS," Huckabee said.
Huckabee got perhaps his loudest applause of the night when he called for a constitutional amendment to protect human life.
He pointed to extraordinary efforts people go through to rescue each other from life threatening situations, regardless of the cost because "we value every human life."
"One of the things we cannot run away from in this country, what we cannot run away from in this party," Huckabee said, "is that every single human life has value whether it's an unborn child in the womb or it's an 80-year-old woman in a nursing home."
During his speech he also called for free trade that is based on fair trade, energy independence for the U.S. within 10 years and strengthening defense by increasing defense funding to 6 percent of gross domestic product spending as it was under President Ronald Reagan.
Supporters say he still has a chance
Despite McCain's lead, Huckabee supporters WisPolitics talked to felt he still has a chance to win.
Rick and Cathy Parker, of Pewaukee, 58 and 55, respectively, said they intend to vote for Huckabee on Tuesday and that he can still win.
Rick said he was impressed and motivated by Huckabee's speech, and pointed to Huckabee's position on taxes, abortion and support for veterans as issues he agreed with most.
Cathy said she was impressed by Huckabee's focus on the issues.
"He really addressed the issues, which I'm not hearing from any of the other candidates," she said. "They're too busy focusing on the negativity and backstabbing and trying to one-up each other."
Josh Legere, 31, of Milwaukee, said he likes Huckabee's position on moral issues, abortion and taxes. He said he felt Huckabee has a chance to win if people vote for who they support instead of who the media tell them can win.
"People hear Obama is winning and they vote for Obama," Legere said.
Legere's friend Andrew Hoffman, 33, of Waukegan Ill., voted for Mitt Romney during the primary, but expressed a bit of buyer's remorse after hearing Huckabee, saying he liked his position on defense spending and family values.
"If he gets his message out there, he stands a good chance of getting some votes," Hoffman said.
Wisconsin independent of "Beltway voters," Huckabee tells reporters
Speaking with reporters afterward, Huckabee said last night's losses don't foretell problems for his chances in Wisconsin.
"I think Wisconsin voters are going to act very independently of the (Washington, D.C.) Beltway voters," Huckabee said. "What we had last night was the people of the Beltway, who are clearly, I think, out of touch with a lot of folks in the rest of the Heartland."
Huckabee noted that he did well in rural Virginia, but poorly near the nation's capital.
"I've never had a Washington address. And I think that's a plus, not a minus in asking for the votes of the people in Wisconsin," he said.
Huckabee said he's not considering a vice presidential spot, and that it's unlikely it would even be offered to him.
Huckabee also defended a paid speaking engagement in the Cayman Islands that will take him off of the campaign trail for a day.
Huckabee said that unlike the other candidates in the race, who are all senators, he doesn't get paid from the taxpayers while he's campaigning and needs to earn his own money.
Huckabee noted that while he's been critical of the of the fact people use the banking system there for tax shelters, that he will be paying some 40 percent on the money he earns there, some of which will go to pay the salaries of the other candidates.
"I have to pay for their Senate salaries even when they're not on duty," Huckabee said.
-- By David Wise
Labels: 2008 spring primary