the era of caring whom mike huckabee is. (laughter) who is that? oh, that's huckabee. folks, think we'll all remember where we were when we stopped caring. i was-- [bleep] where was i. i don't care. doesn't matter. anyway, mike huckabee who just last week was leading in many national polls promised that on saturday night he was going to announce his presidential plans on what some critics have called his television show. (laughter) >> stephen: i tuned in for the whole thing and of course i assumed he was running because on the show he was so clearly laying the groundwork for a presidential campaign by interviewing mario lopez, then jamming on cat scratch fever with ted nudge ent. i mean this-- nug, nt. i mean this screams-- (applause) >> stephen: i mean this screams commander in chief. clearly, clearly make the pussy purr is a metaphor for our a dend ent-- dependence oil or on foreign pussies. either way we need to increase domestic production. drill, baby, drill! (applause) >> stephen: so i was so excited. folks, i was blindside when at the end of his show huckabee hu

but with the roughly 1/3 of people who supported either trump or huckabee -- i'm surprised huckabee didn'tn. but with those people, michele bachmann can be dynamite. >> i think it's a mistake to view huckabee as the hardest of the hard right. he combined being a social conservative with being an economic populist more than any other candidate. chris: i think i read that column. >> exactly. i asked huckabee people, where are you going to go? the harder edge ones talked about michele bachmann, who is a tea party a evangelical approach, but the softer-edged ones talked about tim pawlenty, they want someone more electable. that's going to be divided. i don't think it will rally around one candidate. chris: you'll with dan. i find her -- 25 kids, foster children, in her family. she is a real christian in terms of her view and she doesn't have to wave the race card like trump did. she doesn't have to play tricks. >> but the evolution of michele bachmann's career is -- and she really was kind of a joke in politics. she was not taken seriously either in terms of her national potential or her effec

former governor mike huckabee makes his plans known. indiana governor mitch daniels is still on the fence. and mitt romney takes on gop critics over his support for universal health care as governor of massachusetts. >> my massachusetts health care plan was considered, at least by me, to be an asset politically. i hear some laughter in the room. that's not the case now. >> so, who will emerge as the most viable candidate to challenge president obama? and how vulnerable will the president be over the economy? our "political roundtable" weighs in. columnist for "the washington post," e.j. dionne, columnist for "the wall street journal" peggy noonan, senior analyst for "time" magazine, mark halperin, white house correspondent for "the new york times," helene cooper, and chief political writer for "the new york times" magazine, matt bai. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> good morning. another turn in the republican presidential field. former arkansas governor mike huckabee announced on his fox news program last night that he

huckabee, 9-1. daniels, 10-1. michele bachmann, 1,000-1.ntsman and daniels out there. how does that affect those odds? >> look, we keep saying it, but it bears repeating, this is so unsettled right now. we don't know what trump is going to be and what kind of candidate he'll be. we don't know what huntsman will do, sarah palin looms out there and a wild card like chris christie or somebody getting in. i think right now, it's mitt romney's to lose, but he doing his best. >> let's talk about mitt romney. e.j., he fought for universal health care and got it in massachusetts. now he was advised to run hard away from it, and he gives a speech this week and he does it in a powerpoint pren suasion. this is the new mitt romney. he's not wearing a tie. apparently, he's never going to wear a tie for the rest of his life. but he talked specifically about the individual mandate at the core of his health care plan and this is what he said. >> i also recognize that a lot of pundits around the nation are saying i should just stand up and say this whole th

. >> alan: mike huckabee takes the presidential guessing game to a new level. the announcement, set for tonight, even his advisers don't know whether or not he'll run for president. >> the investigation into a virginia boating accident that killed a bay area native. some survivors never in my lifetime did i think i could walk 60 miles in 3 days. 60 miles compared to what a cancer patient goes through is a walk in the park. from the moment i registered, people started immediately supporting me. i walk with my sister. our relationship has gone to a whole new level because of training together. you meet the most wonderful, inspiring people. when you accomplish those 60 miles, it's truly life-changing. (man) register today for the... because everyone deserves a lifetime. >> alan: within the house mike huckabee is expected to announce whether or not he is running for president. yesterday huckabee e-mailed his advisers, promising things will get even crazier after he speaks tonight. republicans ron paul and newt gingrich have joined the 2012 race. other big names are

- if mike huckabee doesn't run, does that open up for michele bachman? >> i think we have a wide-open field. based on the republicans i talk to, we had about 120,000 republicans turn up on caucus night in 2008. in our republican primary, we had contested races up the bell ballot. the potential exists for a dramatically increased caucus electric on the republican side, especially with democrats of having any activity. the candidates better able to capture -- maybe it is the new or caucus goer or someone who is more recently involved through the tea party movement or republican politics, that will be the story going into the caucasus -- who can motivate the new caucus goers to get involved and grow the size of the electorate. it may be any of the candidates here in iowa asking for our votes. >> i know you did not mention donald trump, i know you invited him to the lincoln day dinner in june. do you believe he has real ideas to bring to the table or is he is going to raise a lot of money? the chairman for of the party, who is neutral in this process, to spe

the conventional wisdom around here has been huckabee's probably not going to run. but now that you've had so many others, haley barbour, are you seeing any activity from huckabee out in iowa? is there any indication that he's ready to make a step? when was the last time you met with him? >> we haven't seen many indications on the ground. there is a group of his supporters around that has created a seemingly organic group, i believe, stuck on hurricane, is what they've called it and they're organizing events around the state. but a number his senior leadership team from the 2010 and 2008 caucus season has actually been spread across various campaigns. one has signed up with governor to lenty. another has signed up with congresswoman bachmann. a couple other of the leadership is with judge roy moore. it might be tough to assemble the leadership he had because as everybody knows here in iowa, it is a very retail-heavy process with about is,-- ,800 precincts where you need somebody organizing in those precincts. even though governor huckabee starts with more of a head

mike huckabee decides to announce his decision about a possible presidential 2012 candidacy on his show. of course he waits until the end of the program so first there was this. >> he is an outspoken rocker and a political commentator but above all he's a patriot. and a friend. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome ted nugent back to the show. >> jon: wait. what the... wait. what the... wait. what? there was just a three-day (beep) over a gentleman's rapper's controversial lyrics. >> this guy is a thug. >> violent gangster thug rap. >> who has a special affinity for cop killers. >> he does the usual rap stuff. touting guns. their anti-social behavior snop actually he raps about the opposite but whatever. you cap off barack obama is validating a threat to the nation week with a warm-hearted embrace of this? >> if you're obama, you might want to... ( cheers and applause ) obama he's a (beep). you might want to ride one of these. >> jon: if i'm common right now-- and i'm not-- i'm sitting at homeworking on a new song called what the (beep)? no rush to judgment. maybe this is a time perhaps

but mike huckabee is a master of suspense. it's a suspense he's expected to break, at long last, tonight. will he? >> the fact is, i'm very much considering doing it again. >> reporter: or won't he? >> trying to give an honest answer, which is, i don't know. >> reporter: mike huckabee is all over fox news, five appearances in two days, ending tonight with his own show, where he's expected to announce, once and for all, whether he's in it to win it in 2012. >> he's someone who sells very well on television. but whether he can take that show and make it run in 2012 is still to be seen. >> reporter: even huckabee insiders say they don't know what he'll do. the former arkansas governor would be the latest entry in a field that finally has some big -- well, medium-named contenders. texas congressman ron paul declared friday on "good morning america" he's in. >> i'm officially announcing that i am a candidate for president. >> reporter: so is newt gingrich. a conservative's conservative, who last held office when "seinfeld" was a hi

tonight on huckabee. his call led to osama bin laden's down fall. >> i think i get into a lot of that for the last 10 yearings, it was worth it. former justice department attorney in a huckabee exclusive . going after public enemy number one. lieutenant colonel teave - steve russell . mike baker on how the cia put the pieces of bin laden compound together. we'll have an insider look on how special operations trained to land in the lions den. >> they rehearsed so many times, there is zero chance that bin laden or anybody therefore will get away from them. [applause] >> thank you very . much. great audience and welcome to a special edition of huckabee from the fox news studios, happy mother's day to everybody and all of the moms watching our show. we have invited the moms from the huckabee staff to the show. we are happy to have them with us. they are down here on the front row. these are the mothers of the staff here in the show. would you stand up soy we can say thank you for loaning us your children and

still ahead, it's no go for mike huckabee. he will not run for president. >> who gets a bounce from that as the republican field takes shape. this is "the early show" here on cbs. for those of us who have lactose intolerance, let's raise a glass to cookies just out of the oven. to the morning bowl of cereal. and to lactaid® milk. easy to digest and with all the calcium and vitamin d of regular milk. [ female announcer ] lactaid®. the original lactose-free milk. while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec® i can love the air®. i buy plants, i bring them home, and then...i water too little... too much... or i just forget. but look. this is doing fine. why? it's planted in miracle-gro moisture control potting mix. it holds 33% more water... than ordinary potting soil. releasing it as plants need it. not when i get around to it. and there's miracle-gro plant food mixed in.

all the factors say go but my heart says no. >> jon: governor, governor huckabee then added (ted hey,mart. you book your room yet? nope. see, hotels.com has over 20,000 last minute deals every week. so i get a great deal, no matter how long i wait. yeah, i'm not very good at waiting... then we must train you to wait. it is time to book, grasshopper. now, it's ok to wait. get great deals. even at the last minute. hotels.com. be smart. book smart. ( cheers and applause ) welcome back. just this past weekend, my son and i are playing our new favorite game there. we pretend to be the heroic navy seals who took down america's worst enemy, a.k.a., our neighbor's labrador. the next thing i know there's a lawyer at my door serving me with papers. >> walt disney company is is looking to cash in on the osama bin laden takedown. >> it's been two weeks since the u.s. military raid on osama bin laden's compound but it took disney less than two days to reflect the trademark for the name. >> jon: you can't do that. you can't just take america's real-life heroes and turn them into this. although... b

all the factors say go but my heart says no. >> jon: governor, governor huckabee then added (ted uldwitching to geico really save you 15% or more on car insurance? host: would foghorn leghorn make a really bad book narrator? foghorn (stammering): it was the best of times, it was the wor - i say worst of times. and by worst i'm talkin' as bad, i say, as bad as my aunt ginny's corn puddin'. that stuff'll sink you like a stone. engineer: ok that was a little... foghorn: you gettin' all this in there son? i just added that last part it's called "adlibbin..."anyway...it was, i say it was... vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. what's the most amazing ...was it something big? ...or something small? ...something old? ...or something new? ...or maybe, just maybe... it's something you haven't seen yet. the 2nd generation of intel core processors. stunning visuals, intelligent performance. this is visibly smart. ( cheers and applause ) welcome back. just this past weekend, my son and i are playing our new favorite game there. we pretend to be the heroic navy seals

top advisor, he says he's guessing that huckabee will announce that he's not running. but even he doesn't know. huckabee hasn't told him either. >> john, thanks to you. >>> the feds are following an arrest in south florida, an imam of a miami mosque and two of his sons, one of them also an imam, accused of providing $50,000 to the pakistani taliban which of course the u.s. considers a terrorist organization. >>> in pakistan, the rift with the u.s. is growing deeper over the raid on osama bin laden's compound. the anger and mistrust was clear today after headlines of pornography found in bin laden's compound. another deadly 24 hours in that country. nick schifrin is there. >> reporter: once again today, pakistan buried its dead and is in no mood to trust the u.s. 80 paramilitary recruits were supposed to be home today. instead they were killed by two suicide bombers. in the war against terrorism, pakistan has lost more than any other country. 5,000 troops, 2,000 police. it's no wonder so many people get angry when the u.s. accuses them of not doing enough. >> pakistan h

let me just say good for mike huckabee. he has a good thing going and recognizes it and is staying with it. i think -- i watched, too. i'm glad he gets to play base wi -- bass with ted nugent and everybody else. it was clear he wasn't going to run because fox kept him on air when it shoved santorum and newt gingrich out the door because they were thinking of running for president. i think we knew this would happen. you know, he -- used the situation. got everybody to watch for an hour. >> probably got a ratings bump. i'm watching michelle connell and no only playing bass with ted nugent, interviewing mario lopez, "saved by the bell" guy about a diet guy. after this he's going to say i declare my candidacy for president? i don't think so. >> he doesn't have to worry about anything. it was clever with his clip explaining why he won't run, this is a nod to evangelicals. basically what he is saying god told me not to run on some level. and i think that he is going to continue tearing it up on the tv. >> huckabee mentioned his b

mike huckabee will announce tomorrow whether he intends to run., two days after newt gingrich announced his candidacy, he says the theme of his campaign will be that the right policies lead to the right future. he told an audience in washington today, this will be the most positive and fun campaign of his life. he gave another speech this evening in macon, georgia. >> the challenges we face are so large, it requires leadership of an unusual kind. i don't believe that any one person in the oval office can make a decisive difference. i believe there are 300 million americans who have to be recruited, educated, convinced, led to work together so that all of us putting our shoulder to the wheel can make a decisive difference. >> one big early question, are people ready to put him in the oval office despite his past. there are person ool issues that may be hard for some to set aside. joe johns reports. >> reporter: his private life has been messy, on his third marriage, he got married to his first wife in 1962. she was his former high school teacher. h

mike huckabee makes it official, he's out. and so, tonight, who are the republicans trying to get into the race? and who did laura bush call? >>> and, standing tall. with 15,000 people watching, including his devoted mom, the young man who was about to earn far more than that diploma. >>> good evening on this sunday. and we begin tonight with a high profile arrest here in new york. now sending shockwaves far beyond this country. one of the world's most powerful men, in fact, he hoped to be the next president of france, was marched off a plane here in new york moments before takeoff and charged with sexual assault. his nickname in france is the great seducer, and tonight, he is accused of chasing a hotel worker down a hall and sexually attacking her. bianna golodryga is in downtown manhattan this evening. bianna, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, david. it is quite a dramatic fall from grace for the man who you described as one of the most powerful figures in the world. arguably one of the most powerful financial leaders

as for mike huckabee he has not decide who to endorse yet. clayton sandell, abc news the white house. >>> thousands in louisiana have packed up and headed to higher ground as floodwaters gush closer to cajun country. major spillway was opened over the weekend to divert water from new orleans and baton rouge but hundreds of thousand of acres of farmland and thousands of homes could be inundated with floodwaters as deep as 20 feet. >> pretty tough, sacrificing many for the few who will have to deal with floodwaters. >> our website, someone said i hope you appreciate this baton rouge. >> we'll take the hit for you. >> scary. >>> now talking about monday's forecast, showers and thunderstorms all of the way from new york down to the carolinas. heavy rain in new england and cool in the nation's midsection with morning frost advisories in ten states. up to foot and a half of snow in the sierra range and from seattle to los angeles. >> 57 in seattle, 64 in sacramento and 87 in phoenix. mostly 60s from fargo to kansas city. 70 here in new york, 65 in

ladies and gentlemen, governor mike huckabee. [applaus [applause] >> thank you very much, a great audience here, lots of enthusiasm, and welcome to a special edition of huckabee from the fox news studios in new york city. by the way, happy mother's day to everybody. to all the moms who are watching our show, and by the way, we've done something special today. we have invited the moms from the huckabee staff to the show, and we are very happy to have them with us, and they're all down horror on the front row, so i'd like to ask our staff moms and these are the mothers of the staff tt the show, stand up so we can say thank you for loaning us your children and your husbands. very nice to have you here. [applause] >> some of the staff moms, and joan who works as one of our producers, maureen is in the hospital and we have a photo there of her, who would love to be with us and hopefully will be able to be with us soon. i want you to know that we really brought you here, i need to have a chat with you about the way some of your childre

huckabee, palin, donald trump.ink anything on the republican side that takes some of the hollywood out and lets the serious candidates get some oxygen is good for republicans and, by definition, slightly bad for democrats. the problem that some of what i'll call the more serious candidates have right now is they have trouble getting oxygen when you have's got carnival barkers running around sucking it all up. >> right. but they drive the conversation, which is why some people actually get into the race. they don't expect they're going to win but they do drive the conversation which i think we've seen donald trump do it, i think michelle bachmann is another example of people who expect to move the party conversation somewhere. you mentioned mitt romney. i want to read something the "wall street journal" wrote. he gave a big speech this week about why romney care in massachusetts is different from obama care for the nation. and right before he gave it, here's what the "wall street journal" wrote -- the debate over bo

huckabee is reportedly going to use his fox news channel talk show to announce his intentions. the talk show is the centerpiece of huckabee's enterprises which have made the one-time baptist preacher from hope, arkansas, and ten-year governor a very wealthy man. he could enter the race with a front-runner status he didn't have as former governor fresh out of office in 2008. another huckabee run would bring renewed scrutiny over his support of some tax increases in arkansas. and his record on clemency, including commuting the sentence of a man who later killed four seattle area police officers. >>> the field of republicans is getting crowded. texas representative ron paul announced yesterday, of course, he joins former house speaker newt gingrich, governor gary johnson of new mexico, former massachusetts governor mitt romney and former wisconsin governor tim pawlenty in making it official. no word yet on sarah palin, donald trump or tea party star representative michele bachmann from minnesota, among the republicans who have all set up exploratory committees at this point. >>> f

the talk show is the centerpiece of huckabee's enterprises. and this time, he could enter the race with a front-runner status rather than when he entered in 2008. another huckabee run would be renewed -- bring renewed scrutiny over his support of some tax increases in arkansas and his record on clemency, including commuting the sentence of a man who later killed four seattle area police officers. and the field of republicans is getting very crowded. texas representative ron paul announced yesterday he joins former house speaker newt gingrich, governor gary johnson of new mexico, former massachusetts governor mitt romney and former wisconsin governor tim pawlenty in making it official. and there's no word yet on sarah palin, donald trump or tea party star michele bachmann from minnesota among the republicans who have all set up exploratory committees. >>> three people from florida are under arrest today charged with funneling money to the taliban in pakistan. they are being charged with multiple federal offenses. one sent more than $50,000 to t

mike huckabee's problem, since 2008, a lot happened. first of all his record got scrutiny. even for tea party conservatives, the ones who are real fiscal conservatives, his record in arkansas does not fit. he's not a small government republican, then finally the money. >> there we go. >> that's right. that was not necessarily going to play well in the primary. >> let's talk about mitt romney. he gave a big speech on health care this week. he's having to run away from that program for obvious reasons, nobody likes republicans, obama's health care. many people expected him to apologize. let me play what he did say in this speech and we'll discuss it. >> a lot of the pundits saying, i should stand up and say, this whole thing was a mistake. it was a bone-headed idea and i should admit it and admit it was a mistake and walk away from it. but there's only one problem with that. it wouldn't be honest. i in fact did what i believe was right for the people of my state. >> so -- >> the people from the state think it's right for the people of the state. he's got that on his side. and

: mike huckabee will not run for president in 2012. he made that announcement tonight on his tv show. huckabee says he did not make the decision lightly, and despite all the encouragement, he says he just felt in his heart a repeat pid was not right for him. the former arkansas for's decision creates more questions about who will emerge as the republican front runner, mitt romney, newt gingrich and ron paul have declared. 45% of republicans are dissatisfied with the g.o.p. candidates. >> the head of the international monetary fund is being questioned in connection with the sexual assault of a hotel maid. khan was pulled off a flight at afghan ysk jfk shortly after leaving the hotel. he is being questioned but has not been charged with any crimes. >>> the morganza spillway is foreign the first time in nearly 40 years. water is gushing toward thousands of home and farmland in the cajun countryside and is threatening to submerge land up to 25 feet deep. here's here from louisiana. >> the flood gates are open, the mississippi river purpose

-- huckabee and mccain who basically became the survivors. this is a test of whether in fact there is a moderate wing and an independent wing is still there. jon huntsman is laying claim to that. mitch daniels will also compete for that if he comes into the race. the real action and intensity and energy right that seems to be exclusively on the conservative side, and that is the case, it will be a problem for democrats from 1972 when all the action and energy was on the left side of the party and they nominated george mcgovern, and an admirable man who carried one state. >> a republican nominee who is a squished -- he will vote against him anyway. >> mike huckabee -- i take him at his word that he backed off, but i think they will be clamoring for him in the future. >> also grumbling about rick perry in texas. >> and michele bachmann. >> sarah palin. we reached the debt limit, and the gang of six is now a gang of five. >> the worst thing you do is bang your head against the wall until you break your head. >> that is republican senator tom cob

and huckabee has told them i'm genuinely undecided. honestly, you know, gone back and forth about the issues. at least that is what he is telling his supporters in iowa. >> lehrer: have you picked up anything on that? >> i do not know. those are the terrible words that a pundit-- is never supposed to say. >> lehrer: hey, come on. >> i mean i can pot believe. i think the nomination for mike huckabee-- . >> lehrer: do you think he could win it. >> i think he is considered the favorite in iowa. >> lehrer: he won it before. >> there's no hailey barber. newt gingrich is not a southerner. a georgia house seat but a washington figure for the past 15 years. mike huckabee in south carolina and eye war, two of the first four test, i would say you would have to say he's no worse than an even bet in those four. and i think as a retail politician, he's as good as anybody in either party. and if he could spend the time, retailing, that is meeting voters in small groups in a place like new hampshire, coreally, i think, make a dent. >> lehrer: well, l