Huckabee: Disappointment in Iowa could lead him to reassess campaign

CORALVILLE — Continuing his month-long campaign across the state in anticipation of its first-in-the-nation caucuses next month, Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee on Tuesday made five stops in Eastern Iowa, reminding voters along the way of his surprise victory in the contest eight years ago.

'You have not just an opportunity, you almost have an obligation to do something that would be remarkable,' Huckabee told a crowd of more than two dozen people Tuesday in the American Legion Post in Coralville. 'And that's [to] change the trajectory of this election.'

The former Arkansas governor alluded to recent polls showing Donald Trump and Ted Cruz leading the pack among potential Republican nominees and dismal support for his campaign, saying the 'media heads in New York' think they have it all figured out.

'They know who's in, who's out, who's up, who's down,' he said. 'And you could really mess up their world by proving that they don't have a clue. Because they didn't four years ago. And they didn't eight years ago. And I'm hoping that you can prove that they don't this year either.'

If, however, Huckabee's caucus showing disappoints — despite holding 150 events across Iowa in January and touring all 99 counties this campaign season — the candidate said he will re-evaluate his options.

'If we were way down and just didn't get any traction here having given the effort, then we'd certainly have to reassess the whole situation,' he said. 'But I don't anticipate that we are going to have to do that.'

Following the Iowa caucuses Feb. 1, Huckabee said his campaign has a full schedule in South Carolina, as well as other states with early presidential primaries.

'We expect to go from here and keep moving,' he said.

During his appearance in Coralville on Tuesday, Huckabee praised Iowans for their ability to discern which candidates are actually qualified 'to sit at that desk and make decisions,' and he slammed President Barack Obama for being unqualified for the job.

'If I were president, I would repeal every single one of Obama's executive orders — every one,' Huckabee said. 'I know there may be some that probably are OK. We'd reinstate them if we thought they were.'

But, he said, executive orders can't legislate, and he quoted actor Clint Eastwood to make his point.

'A man has just got to know his limitations,' Huckabee said. 'Obama doesn't know he has limitations constitutionally on what he can do. So he issues executive orders that are illegal.'

With Obama scheduled to give his final State of the Union address just hours later, Huckabee gave his Tuesday afternoon crowd some foresight into what they might hear. Huckabee said Obama likely would have a refugee sitting in the gallery to exemplify the need to help with the Syrian refugee crisis, and he likely would point to a representative from the same-sex marriage movement.

Huckabee said Obama would leave a chair empty to represent the victims of gun violence. But, Huckabee said, he's not interested in any argument that attacks Americans' right to keep and bear arms.

'The president will try to make us all feel terrible that maybe we should disarm law-abiding persons, that the second amendment should be restricted,' he said.

'I don't think so.'

Because, Huckabee said, if someone breaks into his house at 2 a.m., he's still going to call 911.

'But I'll be calling them to tell them where to come pick up the carcass of the idiot who tried to break into my home at 2 o'clock in the morning, threatening me, my family, and my home,' he said. 'Folks, we have never been in a time where we can less depend upon somebody else to take care of us than we can to defend ourselves. And that's one of the reasons the founders gave us the right to protect ourselves.'

Huckabee went on to say that if Obama wants to save lives, he should address abortion.

'The president could do something that would save 4,000 lives a day,' he said. 'He could start taking care of the unborn children and protecting them, as I believe he should be constitutionally obligated to do.'

During Huckabee's meeting, he went around the room and shook every person's hand and then took questions from the audience, including from one man concerned about Social Security. Huckabee responded by outlining a 'fair tax' proposal that he said would replace all federal income, payroll, gift, and estate taxes with a single consumption tax on retail sales.

That, among other things, would prevent illegal immigrants from cheating the system, he said.

'Our current tax code punishes people who work to save, who invest and invest smartly, and leave something for their kids in the form of an inheritance, because we tax all those things,' he said.

Huckabee said dogs, apparently, are smarter than us, because they seem to better understand the 'common sense' principals of reward and consequence.

'If I'm the only person who's pushing the fair tax — if that matters to you — then I'm your guy,' he said. 'If it doesn't, if you like the current 77,000-page tax code and you like the IRS, keep what you got. Because that's what you'll have.'

When asked about his stance on gay marriage, Huckabee used marijuana and abortion as examples. He said political issues could be left up to states to decide; but, he said, some moral issues shouldn't have different standards depending on geographic location.

'I'm just convinced that there needs to be a sense of solid, consistent, principal-based attitudes when it comes to moral issues,' he said.