Palin, Huckabee and yesterday's elections

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Posted: November 4, 2009 - 1:22 pm

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From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. --

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's role in several East Coast elections got a lot of attention in recent weeks, especially when she threw her support behind a third-party conservative candidate over the Republican in the NY-23 congressional seat. (The Democrat, Bill Owens, won the race.)

Here's what Palin had to say (on Facebook, of course) about the defeat of the candidate she backed, Doug Hoffman: "The race for New York’s 23rd District is not over, just postponed until 2010. The issues of this election have always centered on the economy – on the need for fiscal restraint, smaller government, and policies that encourage jobs. In 2010, these issues will be even more crucial to the electorate. I commend Doug Hoffman and all the other underdog candidates who have the courage to put themselves out there and run against the odds."

Another "underdog candidate," Mike Huckabee, had a few words, too, about the NY-23 seat. Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who ran unsuccessfully for the GOP presidential nomination last year, spoke with reporters this morning in Washington at a breakfast roundtable hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

Huckabee (who did not support anyone in the NY race) had these thoughts: "If people believe that the way to sort of get the attention of Washington is through third party candidacies, I hope they will rethink that because typically what a third-party candidacy does is ensure the election of the one you liked the least in the first place. I just hope that that will become more and more clear to the political participants because whether we like it or not we have a two-party system."

And as for potential 2012 rival Palin and her decision to endorse Hoffman, Huckabee wouldn't bite: "It's her right, there were a number of Republicans who did. It apparently didn’t seem to have a big impact on the ultimate outcome."

As for who he sees as a GOP frontrunner three years out from the next presidential election: "I don’t think there really is one and any of the polls right now are meaningless...It's like speculating who's going to be the best actor next year when we don’t even know what the movies are."

Huckabee said he himself hasn't yet focused on whether he’ll run in 2012. He's got a gig on FOX and (like Palin) a new book out, the feel-good "A Simple Christmas," which he insisted this morning has "no ulterior motive" behind it in terms of positioning him for a future run.

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