Huckabee says he won't run for president | News

By ANDREW DeMILLO

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Saturday he won't seek the Republican presidential nomination, choosing to stick with a lucrative career as a television and radio personality over a race that would be both costly and caustic.

Huckabee, the winner of the 2008 Iowa caucuses, said on his Fox News Channel show. "All the factors say go, but my heart says no."

Huckabee's decision further muddies the GOP field as the Republican Party seeks a challenger for President Barack Obama.

A prominent social conservative, he ranks high in national popularity polls. And, had he run, he would have been a serious contender for the party nod with instant support among Christian evangelicals who dominate the Iowa caucuses and the early South Carolina primary.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Photo courtesy Flickr user Greg Skidmore.