Presidential candidates like
Rand Paul may be attacking Donald Trump, but Mike Huckabee said Thursday he's got his sights set on a bigger prize: the nomination.
"Why should I attack him?" the former Arkansas governor, who spoke later in the morning at the Iowa State Fair's famed "soapbox," told
Fox News' "America's Newsroom."
"Donald Trump may be the guy I'm going to look to for support when I get the nomination."
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He compared the early primary rivalry to "trying out for quarterback of the football team. I want to get the job and take us to the Super Bowl because I play a better game, not because I broke the legs of everybody else trying out for the team."
Republicans have in the past made the mistake of "eating each other alive in the primary," and as a result, a "totally ravaged candidate goes up against the Democrat," said Huckabee.
"No way it makes any sense to attack somebody else on the ballot," he continued. "I don't see any value in trying to tell people what is wrong with Donald Trump. He is getting all the attention he needs without my help."
Huckabee has in the past had great success with Iowa voters, telling Fox that eight years ago, in his last presidential campaign, he scored "the most votes of any person who has ever run in the Iowa caucuses in history."
He's scoring among the top candidates in the state's polls, and doesn't think people like Trump or retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson will box more experienced politicians like himself out.
"Look, people are angry at Washington," he said. "Heck, I'm angry at Washington. I'm pretty fed up about a lot of stuff, like overspending and the lack of Republicans in Washington doing anything they said they were going to do."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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