Defeated in Florida, Huckabee promises victories elsewhere

Mike Huckabee looks to have come in a disappointing fourth in Florida's Republican primary, but he's hoping to get help for his campaign from Super Tuesday states.

Published January 30, 2008 5:55AM (EST)

Ever since his victory in the Iowa caucuses, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's campaign has been in a tailspin. And Huckabee didn't get any help from his poor showing in Florida's Republican primary Tuesday. With 98 percent of precincts in at the time of this post, Huckabee appears to have finished fourth in a field of five, beating only Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

But in his concession speech, Huckabee did his best to sound optimistic. Speaking from Missouri -- like other candidates in similar situations this election cycle, he hadn't stuck around in Florida for his loss to be confirmed -- Huckabee told supporters, "We're all aware that the situation in Florida is that we're going to be in a position looking at either third or fourth. Now, for those of you that think I should be discouraged, let me just remind you that going into tonight, we were second in delegate count and, more importantly, we're playing all nine innings of this ballgame."

Huckabee also promised victories in states still to come. "I want to, again, express my thanks to ... [supporters] who have just helped us have great confidence that between now and seven days from now, there's going to be something that we'll all be shouting about.

"And it won't just be a Missouri victory, but also, that same night, there'll be one in Georgia and Alabama and Tennessee, and there'll be one in Arkansas and Oklahoma, and maybe a few other places that people aren't even expecting it to happen."


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

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