‘Confident’ Huckabee opens Iowa headquarters

URBANDALE - Mike Huckabee assured roughly three dozen supporters that while he occasionally may say things that get him 'in trouble” with some people, he believes he is the right person to lead the country.

Huckabee's campaign officially opened its Iowa headquarters on Tuesday at a strip mall in this Des Moines suburb. The former Arkansas governor and winner of the 2008 Iowa Republican caucus pledged to fight for religious liberty in the wake of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage, and will provide the right kind of leadership as the nation's next leader.

'Sure, I'm going to be the one to say the outrageous things that will get me in trouble and make you question your sanity for having signed up to help me,” Huckabee said while praising his supporters. 'You're the reason that we are optimistic, hopeful, and frankly confident that we're going to be able to win this election.”

Huckabee this week was criticized by the National Alliance on Mental Illness for his use of the term schizophrenic to describe U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts' explanations for separate rulings last week.

'I come under fire for something every day, so it's not unusual. It's easy to offend people, and I'm sure I'll do it again,” Huckabee said.

'But it was no offense. It was simply a matter of trying to differentiate what was an incredibly diverse opinion delivered on Thursday and delivered on Friday.”

Huckabee is running in a vastly different GOP field than when he won the Iowa caucuses in 2008. But Mark Miller, of Clive, a longtime supporter, believes Huckabee can win again. He believes the crowded GOP field will thin over the coming months.

'I think Mike's got the right characteristics and the right work ethic to do it,” Miller said.