LOOK/LISTEN: Huckabee, Jindal kick off race for 2012
Before November 2008 even ended, Iowa saw two visits from men seen as potential contenders for the 2012 Republican nomination. See below for photos, audio and stories from visits by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and current Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.
Although Republican Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has already been tabbed by some observers as a top potential 2012 presidential candidate, Jindal said he wasn't at the Iowa Family Policy Center banquet Saturday night to speak about politics.
"After the last two years of non-stop political campaigning, if you did come tonight hoping to hear a political speech, you might want to consider enrolling in some kind of recovery program," Jindal said. "America needs to take a break from politics. We have a new president-elect, our country has substantial challenges, and it's time for us to work together on solutions."
Jindal argued that the gains made by Democrats in the last two election cycles did not reflect a change in the country's attitudes but a disenchantment with the way Republicans had governed. In the minds of many voters, he said, Republicans had become the party of "big-government spending and earmarks, the party of corruption in Washington and the party of Wall Street and big corporations."
"What the voters did both in 2006 and in this year ... they fired the Republicans in Congress and they fired us with cause," Jindal said. "Let's be honest about that."
Former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee launched his national book tour in Iowa on Thursday, prompting supporters and pundits alike to wonder out loud if the former governor of Arkansas plans to make another run for the White House.
Huckabee appeared first Thursday afternoon in Cedar Rapids before making his Des Moines-area stop. The man who won the Republican Party's Iowa caucuses earlier this year launched a new book called "Do The Right Thing: Inside the Movement That's Bringing Common Sense Back to America" with a prologue titled "I Love Iowa."
As people waited to have their books signed, talk turned to Huckabee's prospects for the future. About an hour into the line that wrapped entirely around the flat screen TV section all the way to the eye care department of the Windsor Heights Sam's Club, a woman walked behind the former presidential candidate-turned-author holding a homemade "Huckabee In 2012" sign.
As another supporter pointed to the sign and asked what Huckabee thought of it, the former governor laughed and said, "Hand me that book" and continued signing copies.
posted by Administrator @ 5:45 PM
