Hurley was responding to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that said gay men have higher rates of HIV and syphilis than the general population. Because of these figures, if the state allows gay men to get married they are “sanctioning self destructive behavior.”

Iowa Family Policy Center President Chuck Hurley speaking on the steps of the state Capitol earlier this year (photo by Jason Hancock/Iowa Independent).

“The Iowa Legislature outlawed smoking [in some public places] in an effort to improve health and reduce the medical costs that are often passed on to the state,” Hurley said. “The secondhand impacts of certain homosexual acts are arguably more destructive, and potentially more costly to society than smoking.”

The CDC report made it clear that “factors such as homophobia and stigma” can prevent gay men from seeking prevention, testing, and treatment services.

“There is no single or simple solution for reducing HIV and syphilis rates among gay and bisexual men,” said Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention. “We need intensified prevention efforts that are as diverse as the gay community itself. Solutions for young gay and bisexual men are especially critical, so that HIV does not inadvertently become a rite of passage for each new generation of gay men.”

Jordan Selha, executive director of the AIDS Project of Central Iowa, told The Des Moines Register that the CDC data is more evidence that additional resources are needed for prevention and tests.

Not so, says Hurley.

“Iowa lawmakers need to pay attention to hard facts and not be persuaded by emotion laden half-truths,” he said. “Because of their unwillingness to correct the error of last April’s Iowa Supreme Court opinion, the Iowa Legislature is responsible for sanctioning activities that will lead to dramatically higher rates of HIV and syphilis in Iowa.”

Hurley’s comments echo those made by WHO-AM radio host Jan Mickelson last month at an Iowa Family Policy Center fundraiser. Mickelson said that simply being gay shortens your life, a statement that is only backed up by widely discredited or misrepresented studies. Mickelson’s comments came during his introduction of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bob Vander Plaats, who were the featured speakers at the event.

Jan Mickelson

Mickelson was addressing a fundraiser for the Iowa Family Policy Center. The influential social conservative organization has formally endorsed Vander Plaats’ campaign and vowed to sit out the November election if he’s not the candidate.

“Personally, I think two guys pretending to be sexual mates are making a mistake,” he said. “More than that, they are violating the design of their bodies. More than that, they are sinning against their maker. More than that, they are likely to shorten their lives in this world and impair their destinies in the next.”

In opposing gay rights, many conservatives point to studies conducted by the Family Research Institute that contend that homosexual men have a life expectancy that is 20 years shorter than heterosexual men. The studies, however, have been overwhelmingly rejected, and as critics have repeatedly pointed out, the methods used were extremely flawed. They relied on obituaries published in gay newspapers over a 12 month period and compared them to obituaries from general circulation newspapers.

Many of the group’s studies were originally published in the journal Psychological Reports, which unlike many scientific journals, charges a fee to authors for publication and does not reject an article on the basis of a negative peer review.

Dr. Gregory Herek, a professor at the University of California-Davis, said the study was “a textbook example of the perils of using data from a convenience sample to generalize to an entire population,” concluding the research was “absolutely worthless for estimating the life expectancy of gay men and lesbians.”

John Karon of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was asked about it and pointed out the obvious: “You’re only getting the ages of those who die.” Gay men of the generation targeted by the youth-oriented gay press who do grow old would not be included in the study’s sample.

Conservatives also point to a study published in 1997 by the International Journal of Epidemiology as evidence of homosexuality shortening a person’s life span. In light of all the attention their study was receiving from anti-gay groups, the study’s authors felt compelled to speak out in order to keep “homophobic groups” from misinterpreting their research simply to restrict “the human rights of gay and bisexuals rather than promoting their health and well being.”

Mickelson quickly turned his attention to the current situation in Iowa, saying that because a “a liberal court, a liberal legislature and a liberal governor” are standing up for same-sex marriage, groups like the Iowa Family Policy Center, and candidates like Vander Plaats, must resist.

“I’m really up for it,” Mickelson said. “I’m really up for this ruckus.”

Vander Plaats has promised that, if elected governor, he will issue an executive order to overturn the Iowa Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage. Constitutional scholars, and even many of his fellow Republicans, have dismissed the idea as unconstitutional. Even Vander Plaats has admitted it would likely lead to his impeachment.

Conservative blogger Craig Robinson posted video of Mickelson’s speech.

Republican Bob Vander Plaats addresses the crowd after being endorsed by the Iowa Family Policy Center last month (photo by Jason Hancock/Iowa Independent).

The Sioux City Republican, who has garnered an endorsement and seemingly unprecedented loyalty from at least one influential conservative religious group based largely upon his stance against same-sex marriage, said candidly that, to him, “the vote on the issue is the secondary issue.”

His focus now, and if he becomes the next governor of Iowa, he said, will be to act within the authority of his office to hold the other branches of government to their boundaries as outlined in the state constitution.

“The primary issue is holding a court in check,” he said. “You have a court that over-stepped its bounds to legislate from the bench, execute from the bench and amend the constitution from the bench. If you continue to allow a Supreme Court to go in that fashion, every one of your freedoms are up for grabs. That’s when you hand off tyranny and not liberty to the next generation.”

Although Vander Plaats has repeatedly promised that, if elected as governor, he would sign an executive order to end same-sex marriage in the state, the example he chose to illustrate a branch of Iowa’s government acting outside of its role was the 2005 executive order signed by former Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack that reinstated voting rights for felons who had completed their sentences. But in using this example, Vander Plaats did not get the facts of the legal battle correct.

“Just like, if you guys will recall, Tom Vilsack issued an executive order to allow felons to vote. The governor doesn’t get to make that law. The legislature gets to make that law,” Vander Plaats said. After a brief pause to deflect an interruption by a reporter, he continued, “Steve King then sued the governor and won the issue on that, and he had to rescind that executive order.”

Although the executive order signed by Vilsack was legally challenged, the suit was filed and argued by Muscatine County Attorney Gary Allison. Roughly four months after the executive order had been signed, the court ruled that Vilsack possessed the authority to issue the order. The executive order was never rescinded, remains in effect and is included in constituency information on the current state Web site.  When asked by the Associated Press shortly after the decision whether he would appeal the court’s ruling upholding Vilsack’s executive order, Allison said, “The judge has the right to rule and we have the right to disagree with that ruling. But we respect the process in which the ruling was made.”

What Vander Plaats might have been referring to is the 2007 lawsuit King and others filed against the state in connection with the English-language law he introduced while serving in the state senate.

King’s complaint, which focused on several forms printed in foreign languages by the Iowa Secretary of State (an office held at the time of the lawsuit by Gov.-elect Chet Culver), was validated by the courts in April 2008. Michael Mauro, who was the Secretary of State-elect at the time the suit was filed, ultimately had to stop using the forms. No executive order, however, was a subject of that lawsuit.

Vander Plaats has faced criticism from constitutional scholars and members of his own party for advocating that a governor can and should issue an executive order in opposition to the Iowa Supreme Court’s ruling that struck down the legislature’s earlier definition of marriage.

The court-approved order signed by Vilsack, however, only sought to address an issue that had long been under the auspices of the executive branch. It was not written in an attempt to address or question a different branch of Iowa government.

“Although I believe that marriage is one man, one woman and the foundation of our society, the key issue is the separation of powers,” he said. “What you had on April 3 is a court that went out of its jurisdiction. When that happens, you need to have a governor that will institute his executive role and hold a court in check.”

In that respect, the Iowa Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage may not be the only incident where Vander Plaats, if he were governor, would flex the executive authority of his office to right a perceived wrong. Although he did not provide a specific example or issue when asked to do so, Vander Plaats made clear that he believed the executive branch should stand against any decision that it feels usurps the separation of powers.

“[R]egardless of whether I agree or disagree with that opinion, I need to make sure that the proper process is followed,” he said.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Des Moines last year promoting a book.

“Maybe Mr. Huckabee shouldn’t be raising money for an organization that says it won’t support the Republican nominee in Iowa,” said David Kochel, a veteran GOP strategist who has done consulting work for Branstad’s campaign for a fifth term as governor. He previously advised former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign.

Romney finished second to Huckabee in the Iowa Caucuses, a defeat that effectively sunk his presidential hopes.

Huckabee was in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines Wednesday stumping for Branstad’s chief rival for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, Bob Vander Plaats. Kochel’s objections focused on Huckabee keynoting a fundraiser for the Iowa Family Policy Center, the influential Christian organization who announced last month that they would only support Vander Plaats and would sit out the fall campaign if the GOP nominates Branstad.

Kochel said Huckabee’s trip may come back to haunt him if he decides to run for president again in 2012, saying that if Branstad becomes governor “Mr. Huckabee will regret having given his time raising money for a group like that. They are more interested in attacking Gov. Branstad than they are going after [incumbent Democratic] Gov. Culver who really, sincerely opposes their agenda.”

These statements are just the latest in an ongoing war of words surrounding the Iowa Family Policy Center’s anti-endorsement of Branstad. Immediately following their announcement, one Republican leader called the group a “jihadist sleeper cell of so-called GOP leaders” who are damaging the party. The Linn County Republican Central Committee went so far as to pass a resolution demanding gubernatorial candidates pledge to support the eventual nominee in order to receive any assistance from the party.

Vander Plaats was the only candidate to refuse to sign the pledge.

Huckabee is considered to be among a handful of Republicans considering a run for president. In a Des Moines Register Iowa Poll last November, he had the highest favorability ratings with conservative voters among possible 2012 candidates.

Dennis Goldford, a political science professor at Drake University, said it remains unclear if wading into the gubernatorial primary would hurt him if he did decides to run again.

“I always say, Democrats learn nothing, Republicans never forget,” he said. “So, Branstad folks will claim they will remember this, but who really knows whether we’ll be talking about this in a year.”

The Vander Plaats-Branstad rivalry is really a battle for the direction of the party, Goldford said, a fight that has been raging since Huckabee and Romney battled for the support of Iowans back in 2007. Vander Plaats and his chief adviser, Eric Woolson, worked for Huckabee. Many of Branstad’s key lieutenants worked for Romney.

“The moderate, fiscally conservative, business wing of the party has been saying for a long time that religious conservatives have run the party into a ditch,” Goldford said, adding: “The other side thinks the party loses because it has abandoned its principles, so they have to circle the wagons and burn the heretics.”

Ultimately, whether Huckabee runs for president again or not, he had very little to lose by jumping into the campaign.

“He shores up goodwill with a constituency that is very powerful in the caucuses,” Goldford said. “And the people who don’t like it probably already didn’t like him very much anyway.”

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bob Vander Plaats talk to the media in Cedar Rapids (photo by Lynda Waddington/Iowa Independent).

Huckabee, who won the 2008 Iowa presidential caucuses, will make several stops Wednesday on behalf of Bob Vander Plaats, a Sioux City businessman in the midst of a heated Republican gubernatorial primary. The Iowa Family Policy Center, an influential conservative religious organization, has made clear that as an organization it will not support any other candidate for governor besides Vander Plaats, and that it will encourage those who feel the same to stay home if another candidate wins the June primary.

“[T]hat’s not why I’m here. I’m not here to get in the middle of their (The Iowa Family Policy Center’s) business,” said Huckabee, noting that he and Terry Branstad, Iowa’s former governor now considered the front-runner for the Republican nomination, have long been friends.

“We not only served together as governors, but we were co-national chairs for the presidential election bid for Lamar Alexander at one time. We’ve been good friends during my many visits to Iowa. This is not about Terry Branstad. This is about the very strong, deep, personal relationship I have with Bob Vander Plaats, plus my confidence that he would be a great governor at this time in Iowa.”

Huckabee, who is the only Republican presidential candidate from recent years to foster and maintain an active political arm in Iowa, also downplayed any connection of his recent state visits to a 2012 bid of his own.

“I think it is too early. I know a lot of people are already laying out the tracks and getting all set, but I love what I’m doing,” he said, and noted the success of both his television show on the FOX cable network and his radio commentary series.

“This year I’m busy helping people like Bob,” he said. “I think it is a little getting ahead of the process when we are already trying to lay out what’s going to happen in 2012 [when] 2010 is the election cycle we have to focus upon. And, I’m not ruling anything out, but I’m not even going to start thinking about my position in 2012 until sometime in 2011. I understand that others are head-long and full-throttled. I get that. I don’t have the luxury of that because I’m totally consumed right now with what I already have to do.”

He added that his reasons for visiting the Hawkeye State are “not so much about what I’m going to do in the future, but a whole lot to do with what I’ve already done in the past” and the people he has come to know and respect in the state.

Following the press conference, held near the Eastern Iowa Airport, Huckabee and Vander Plaats traveled to a private fundraising event, and then appeared at an event hosted by the Iowa Family Policy Center in Des Moines. Huckabee will be back in Cedar Rapids tonight for a rally on behalf of Vander Plaats at the Marriott on Collins Road.

Romney is considered by many to be gearing up for another presidential run in 2012. He finished second in the 2008 Iowa Caucuses to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee after a long and brutal campaign. The loss derailed his presidential bid, and shortly after dropping out he endorsed the party’s eventual nominee, John McCain.

The Boston Phoenix, an alternative weekly in Romney’s home state, pointed to the GOP’s penchant for picking their next presidential candidates out of the fallen from previous years, pointing to Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, and McCain, as a good sign that their former governor is the party’s front runner.

Of the ‘08 losers, Romney best fits that mold. And he has been proving his party loyalty, first by campaigning faithfully for McCain against Obama, and then by raising money for candidates and party committees.

“Mitt Romney is ‘next’,” says Mike Dennehy, a political consultant in New Hampshire and senior policy advisor to McCain’s 2008 campaign.

Romney’s political action committee reported $1,125,375 cash on hand as of Dec. 31, beating out both Sarah Palin’s SarahPAC and Tim Pawlenty’s Freedom First PAC in cash available, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Huckabee will also be back in Iowa. He’s coming to Cedar Rapids next week to stump for Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bob Vander Plaats.

The details of the trip have not yet been made public, but Vander Plaats campaign manager Eric Woolsen told The Iowa Independent they will be released Monday night.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Des Moines in 2008 promoting a book.

According to Team Huck Iowa, the 2008 Iowa Caucus winner will visit Cedar Rapids and Des Moines.

The trip will mark the third Iowa visit for Huckabee since the 2008 caucuses and the second to campaign for Vander Plaats, who served as his Iowa campaign’s state chair. His visit should also once again stoke more presidential chatter, as Huckabee is considered by many to be a likely candidate in 2012.

A November Des Moines Register Iowa Poll found Huckabee with the highest favorability ratings among Hawkeye State Republicans of any rumored presidential aspirant.

Vander Plaats supporter and Christian radio host Steve Deace lobbed the first volley in an e-mail to conservative activists. He pointed to portions of Branstad’s record — such as tax increases during his tenure, earning an endorsement from teacher’s unions and his appointment of a lieutenant governor who supports same-sex marriage and abortion rights — and asked if they would ever consider supporting a “hypothetical candidate” with that kind of platform.

Deace got responses from numerious individuals, including former and current GOP candidates and the leaders of several of the state’s most influential conservative organizations.

Blogger and former Republican Party of Iowa Political Director Craig Robinson, a regular guest on Deace’s program who calls the radio host a “good man” and genuine friend, quickly fired back with a hypothetical of his own that criticized Vander Plaats’ record. He then took Vander Plaats supporters to task for blasting Branstad for doing things similar to another governor many of them once defended, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

I also would remind you, and a number of people on this e-mail chain (and my wife for that matter), that you guys voted for a candidate who was in favor of higher income taxes, higher sales taxes, higher gas taxes, higher grocery taxes, higher tobacco taxes, higher beer taxes, higher Internet taxes, and higher nursing home bed taxes.

You voted for a candidate who was the ONLY Republican to speak to the [National Education Association] and later receive their endorsement.

You voted for a candidate who called No Child Left Behind “the greatest education reform effort by the federal government in my lifetime.”

You voted for a candidate who supported amnesty and taxpayer-financed welfare and health care for illegal aliens.

What’s so ironic about your hypothetical question is that almost everything you take issue with in Branstad’s record are things that you either didn’t care about or chose to overlook in regards to Mike Huckabee. It looks like you have flip-flopped on these issues quicker than Mitt Romney ever could have.

Vander Plaats was Huckabee’s Iowa campaign director during the 2008 presidential caucus season, and Huckabee endorsed his gubernatorial bid last May. Many of the same groups and individuals who were active in the Huckabee presidential campaign are now supporting Vander Plaats. By the same token, many of Branstad’s supporters, including one-time chief of staff Doug Gross, were active in the campaign of Huckabee’s chief rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Branstad has been drawing fire from social and religious conservatives from the moment he announced he was interested in re-entering politics. A meeting with several social conservative leaders aimed at soothing their concerns ended up bolstering them, as details of a disappointed group ended up on several blogs. The back-and-forth culminated last month with state Rep. Kent Sorenson, R-Indianola, and the Iowa Family Policy Center announced that not only would they be endorsing Vander Plaats but that they would never support a Branstad candidacy.

In the aftermath, Vander Plaats refused to sign on to a loyalty oath passed by the Linn County Republican Party and also would not rule out a third-party run for governor should he be defeated in the primary.

Des Moines attorney Doug Gross

But over the last year Doug Gross has become one of the most polarizing figures in Iowa Republican politics. While still an influential figure, especially among the party’s elite, Gross has become public enemy No.1 for many grassroots conservatives and evangelical Christians.

The anger Gross has drawn in some political circles, when coupled with his longtime association with former Gov. Terry Branstad, is expected to become an issue in the 2010 gubernatorial primary, with one observer saying he could amount to a poison pill for the campaign.

“I don’t believe for a second he’s not involved in the Branstad campaign, but I think he’s keeping a low profile,” said Shane Vander Hart, a conservative blogger and member of the Polk County Republican Central Committee. “That’s probably a smart strategy for Terry Branstad. Doug’s burnt some bridges. He decided to more or less come out against social conservatism, so he’s going to be a drag on the campaign if he was publicly connected to it.”

The story of how Gross became such a controversial figure in conservative politics mirrors the tale of a party’s soul-searching journey towards redefining itself after years of electoral disasters.

Gross did not respond to repeated interview requests from The Iowa Independent.

‘A minority group within a minority party’

After 30 years in control of Terrace Hill, Republicans lost the governor’s mansion in 1998 to Democrat Tom Vilsack. By 2006, Democrats had not only held on to the executive branch, but managed to capture both legislative chambers.

In the fall of 2008, after another series of losses for Iowa Republicans, Gross embarked on a media tour, giving his prescription to fix the party. Gross called on the GOP to be more inclusive and focus less on social issues that are turning off a younger generation of voters.

During a November 2008 appearance on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press,” Gross said the Democrat’s huge voter registration edge and electoral success could be partially attributed to moderates fleeing the Republican Party of Iowa. The party will never be able to regain power, he said, if it continues to have “a litmus test associated with social issues for people in party leadership positions.”

“[Social conservatives] are an important part of our base,” Gross said. “We can’t win without them, but we can’t win only with them and we need to understand that and broaden the tent.”

A few weeks later, Gross did an interview with controversial Christian radio host Steve Deace. In a debate that got heated, Gross repeated his assertion that the party needed to broaden its appeal if it ever wanted to be in power and advance its agenda again.

“Social conservatives are a minority group within a minority party,” Gross told Deace. “If we aren’t broad enough the interests of social conservatives will never be in governance.”

The Republican Party, both nationally and in Iowa, has become perceived as the party of excessive bigotry, Gross said at the time, “whether that be bigotry associated with immigrants or gay rights. We are not that party and we should not be that party. It turns people off. We can be a party of tolerance and respect other people’s views and still further our values.”

Gross and his organization, the Iowa First Foundation, commissioned two polls early in 2009 that he said offers clear evidence that voters are more interested in candidates who focus on economic issues rather than social issues like same-sex marriage and abortion.

Social conservatives argue that line of thinking only alienates the party’s most loyal voters.

“We all know what Mr. Gross’ polls are going to say — that the Republican Party needs to free itself of Christian influence if it wants to win elections,” Deace said after the polling information was made public.”

Conservative backlash

In a blog post, Bryan English, spokesman for the influential social conservative group Iowa Family Policy Center, compared Gross to a “frat boy who has never been as popular or successful as his drinking buddies thought he was back in college.”

“He becomes increasingly irrelevant as time goes on, he continues to refuse to grow up, and people quit listening to how great things were ‘back in college,’” English said.

Conservative blogger Craig Robinson wrote in August that Gross represented one of the main obstacles in Branstad’s path to the 2010 GOP gubernatorial nomination.

“If Branstad does ultimately decide to run for governor, his association with Doug Gross is likely to cause a tremendous amount of grief in the early portion of the campaign,” he said.

Vander Hart told The Iowa Independent about a meeting he attended where Gross’s comments seemed out of line.

“I was at a conservative breakfast club meeting where he said we need to stop picking candidates that are pastors of fringe churches who home educate their children,” he said. “Here you have a huge base within the party that home educate, and then you have evangelicals who wonder what’s wrong with pastors running for office. It was a comment that was completely unnecessary.”

Afterwards, Vander Hart said he was tempted to introduce himself to Gross by saying, “Hi, I’m Shane and I’m a former pastor who home schools his kids.”

2010 on the horizon

Former Gov. Terry Branstad

One person who has known Gross for many years is Steve Grubbs.

Grubbs, a veteran Republican strategist and founder of the political consulting firm Victory Enterprises Inc., said it is strange for social conservatives to question Gross’ loyalty, since he has always has been strong on social issues.

“Doug is a conservative,” Grubbs said. “He was a conservative in 2002 when he ran in the Republican gubernatorial primary against my candidate, Steve Sukup, and he is still a conservative today.”

Because he is arguing for what he believes is the best interest of the party, it’s understandable that he would rub some the wrong way.

“It’s not a surprise, because Doug is challenging a deeply held belief,” Grubbs said. “When you do that there is going to be a strong reaction.”

The problem, according to Vander Hart, isn’t so much what Gross has been saying but how he’s been saying it.

“I understand he’s concerned about running Republicans who are electable, and that the economy needs to be front and center in the campaign,” he said. “I don’t think most people disagree with that. But there are ways to go about saying those things without alienating people, and unfortunately I don’t think he struck that balance.”

Ultimately, how much impact Gross has on the 2010 campaign is still up in the air. Branstad is facing a similar brand of criticism regarding his own social conservative credentials, ranging from his choice of a lieutenant governor that supports abortion rights to his appointment of the Iowa Supreme Court Justice who penned the decision earlier this year legalizing same-sex marriage.

But some are pointing to the 2010 gubernatorial primary as an election just as important to Gross as it is to any of the candidates. Civic Skinny, the anonymous gossip columnist for Des Moines alt-weekly Cityview, said 2010 represents a chance for Gross to “settle the score” with Bob Vander Plaats, the gubernatorial candidate of choice for Iowa’s social conservative community.

Gross and Vander Plaats first faced off in 2002, when both sought the GOP nomination for governor.

A tough and at times ugly primary fight ended when Gross barely avoided the nomination being decided at convention, winning only 35.6 percent of the vote in a three-way race. The nearly two-thirds of Republican voters who didn’t support him never truly came home, and incumbent Vilsack easily won a second term that fall.

“There was bad blood between Doug Gross and Bob Vander Plaats during the ’02 GOP gubernatorial race, especially at the end,” Skinny wrote. “The two ripped one another, nearly allowing Rep. Steve Sukup, as the good guy, to win a razor-thin, three-way primary race.”

Then Gross and Vander Plaats lined up on different sides of the 2008 Iowa Caucuses, with Gross working for Mitt Romney and Vander Plaats working for Mike Huckabee.

Huckabee emerged victorious in a race that turned ugly in public, and even uglier behind the scenes.

“In other words, Gross is still pissed, and one reasons he’s backing Branstad is so he can settle a few scores,” Skinny wrote.

Huckabee, who won the 2008 Iowa Caucuses and remains popular among Hawkeye State Republicans, said he would rather continue doing his Fox News program as opposed to re-entering the political world.

From Politico:

“The reason I wouldn’t is that this Fox gig I’ve got is really wonderful, ” he said, talking about whether or not he would get in the race given that he is a GOP front runner according to most recent polls.  “Jumping into the pool, you gottta make sure there is some water in it.”

Huckabee’s three trips to Iowa since the 2008 presidential election have stoked speculation that he is interested in another run. Two were to promote books and a third was to speak at the Iowa Association of Business and Industry’s annual convention before holding a fundraiser for GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats. Huckabee endorsed Vander Plaats earlier this year.