POLK CITY, Iowa – On Sunday, well-known reality TV star Jim Bob Duggar of TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting” hopped on board the Santorum-for-President bandwagon quite literally, driving to Iowa with a dozen of his children in a bus emblazoned with the words “Rick Santorum for President” on the side.

Duggar, a former Mike Huckabee supporter, had this to say about the 2008 election:

“The mistake we made was the whole political candidate field was splintered last time. A lot of Christians throughout the United States were supporting Fred Thompson and several other people. We don’t need to make the same mistake.”

Regarding his choice to throw his support behind Santorum, who is seeing new life in the polls, Duggar said:

“We’re calling on the Christian people throughout the United States to get behind Rick Santorum now, and don’t splinter the vote, get behind a true conservative with a proven track record.”

After coming in at the bottom of nearly every poll since the beginning of his campaign, Santorum found himself quickly rising in the polls after placing third in the all-important Des Moines Register poll Saturday night. Now the challenge is attaining an outright win Tuesday, giving him all the credibility he’d need for a national campaign.

“We have the momentum here,” he told the crowd. “I don’t know what we’re going to finish. It was really funny — David Gregory said to me on ‘Meet the Press,’ ‘Now, do you have to finish first?’ I said, ‘A week ago, two weeks ago, your reporter was asking me if I’m getting out of the race! Now all of a sudden you’re going to say I have to finish first?’ This is the craziness of the media.”

Though Romney still leads the Iowa polls (for now), Santorum is becoming a force to be reckoned with in conservative circles. The public support of reality TV star Duggar may be having exactly the effect he intended – though the conservative base is still quite splintered for now.

Do you think Duggar’s support will boost/has boosted Santorum’s White-House-Hopes?

“19 Kids and Counting” Star Trucks With Santorum Now is a post from: The Inquisitr

Mike Huckabee announced last night on his radio show that he will not be seeking the Republican presidential nomination in the 2012 election.

The former governor of Arkansas conceded he believed he’d have been “a fine president,” but ultimately felt that the move was not right for him. Speaking to Fox News’ Chris Wallace, Huckabee mused:

“It really came down for me to a very personal, a very intimate, and as I explained last night, a spiritual decision,” Huckabee said during an appearance on Fox, where he has his own show.

“You look at the political possibilities – frankly I don’t know that I’ll have a better chance, but I don’t rule anything out for the long-term future,” he said. “But I just somehow believed deep within me that it wasn’t the right time, it wasn’t meant to be.”

Huckabee declined to endorse any one candidate just yet, but did comment on Mitt Romney:

“There’s been a lot of talk about Mitt Romney and me, and we don’t socialize together, we’re not close in personal ways,” Huckabee said. “But I want to make it very clear today – if Mitt Romney is the nominee for our party, I will support him because I believe Mitt Romney would be a better president of the United States than Barack Obama on any day. Whether he is my first choice, I will support him if he is our nominee, and he very well may be.”

Huckabee out for 2012 election is a post from: The Inquisitr

As governor of Arkansas in 2000, Mike Huckabee granted clemency to a prisoner, one of 1,033 during his ten years in office.

Lacking a crystal ball, Huckabee commuted a 95-year sentence in the case of Maurice Clemmons, the man suspected of the brutal execution style slaying of four police officers yesterday morning at a Washington state coffee shop. (Huckabee opted for clemency because Clemmons was only 17 at the time of his crimes.) And it isn’t the first time Huckabee has been at the center of such a controversy- he also granted clemency to a convicted rapist who later raped and murdered another woman.

While the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the officers is tragic, Huckabee hardly tried to help the young offender (who had just paid bail on a child rape case earlier this month) in hopes he would one day commit a string of murders that would come back to haunt the former Arkansas governor. Criminals like Clemmons will undoubtedly be given the odd opportunity to slide through cracks, and blaming Huckabee for trying to give someone a second chance is misguided and pointless. Indeed, the facts of the case appeared much different at the time of the commutation, when a teenager faced nearly a century in prison for some non-violent crimes- in contrast to the man who walked free on bail after allegedly committing a violent act against a child.

However, the DuMond case (the rapist who murdered a woman after Huckabee’s pardon) didn’t cause lasting damage to Huckabee, according to a poll earlier this month:

A USA Today/Gallup poll released earlier this month found that 71 percent of Republicans would “seriously consider” voting for Huckabee in 2012. By contrast, 65 percent said they would seriously consider voting for Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin, and 60 percent said they would seriously consider voting for Newt Gingrich.

It should also be noted that Huckabee didn’t pardon Clemmons- his release required parole board approval. So while Huckabee was instrumental in securing freedom for Clemmons, it wasn’t a one-man decision. And during the intervening years, the system has seen Clemmons slip through their grasp again, with administrative screw ups leaving the increasingly anti-social man free to commit further crimes.

Personally, I think everyone should get off Mike Huckabee’s balls about this one. Disagree with his policies or political history, but there are probably very few people who feel as culpable or saddened by this case right now as Mike Huckabee. The fact also remains that this situation could happen to anyone in office who commutes a sentence or pardons a prisoner- Huckabee was just unlucky here.

Huckabee released a statement on his blog about the tragedy and the case of Maurice Clemmons, full text below:

The senseless and savage execution of police officers in Washington State has saddened the nation, and early reports indicate that a person of interest is a repeat offender who once lived in Arkansas and was wanted on outstanding warrants here and in Washington State. The murder of any individual is a profound tragedy, but the murder of a police officer is the worst of all murders in that it is an assault on every citizen and the laws we live within.

Should he be found to be responsible for this horrible tragedy, it will be the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington State. He was recommended for and received a commutation of his original sentence from 1990, this commutation made him parole eligible and he was then paroled by the parole board once they determined he met the conditions at that time. He was arrested later for parole violation and taken back to prison to serve his full term, but prosecutors dropped the charges that would have held him. It appears that he has continued to have a string of criminal and psychotic behavior but was not kept incarcerated by either state. This is a horrible and tragic event and if found and convicted the offender should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. Our thoughts and prayers are and should be with the families of those honorable, brave, and heroic police officers.

Huckabee under fire for commuting sentence of man who killed 4 cops is a post from: The Inquisitr

Failed 2008 Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has launched Huck PAC, a grassroots organization that aims to support conservative candidates throughout the United States.

Huckabee says the goal is to identify volunteers nationwide, organize into local groups in every U.S. county and then assist Huck Pac endorsed candidates. Huck PAC will be “begin recruiting leadership in every state and county….[with a goal to] have at least one Huck PAC group leader in every county in the nation by the end of 2009.”

Huckabee says that the group is aiming to help locally because America “needs conservative leadership now more than ever. Important issues are at stake: tax reform, controlling spending, the 2nd Amendment, sanctity of life, traditional marriage and much more.”

Huckabee volunteers previously assisted in the re-election of Saxby Chambliss in the Georgia run-off election.

While Huckabee’s desire to help conservative candidates isn’t surprising, the group of this nature, run by Huckabee would appear to be an early play for the 2012 Presidential Elections. It’s smart politics as well: keep your base involved and always in touch, ready to move once the Primary season begins in 2011. Whether Huckabee is the right guy next time around is certainly open to debate: on one hand running a hard line conservative against Obama would be an interesting move, and yet Huckabee does have one strong card to play: he is eminently likable in person, particularly on television.

Mike Huckabee Launches Huck PAC. Another Tilt in 2012? is a post from: The Inquisitr