ANDREA SEABROOK, host:
For NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Andrea Seabrook.
Dueling endorsements today in the top Democratic campaigns. After winning yesterday's Nevada caucuses, Senator Hillary Clinton jetted to New York to pick up the support of Reverend Calvin Butts, pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem.
Reverend CALVIN BUTTS (Pastor, Abyssinian Baptist Church): In our quest for change, it's time that we return to the fundamentals - experience, ability, respect and character. It is really time for Senator Hillary Clinton.
SEABROOK: Senator Barack Obama also picked up an endorsement today. And this one's kind of amazing. It came from the Reverend Kirbyjon Caldwell, senior pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston. What makes it a surprise is that Reverend Caldwell is one of President Bush's spiritual advisers. In fact, he introduced candidate George W. Bush at the Republican Convention in 2000 and gave the benediction at both inaugural ceremonies. Reverend Caldwell says he believes a President Obama would, quote, "bring people together to pursue a common vision."
On the Republican side, the field is a bit narrower today. Congressman Duncan Hunter announced last night that he is pulling out of the race after he barely showed in South Carolina and Nevada. Former governor Mitt Romney picked up an easy win in the Nevada caucuses. And in South Carolina, Senator John McCain just beat out former Governor Mike Huckabee.
We caught up with Huckabee today in Texas on his way to action star Chuck Norris' ranch for a little RnR.
Mr. MIKE HUCKABEE (Former Republican Governor, Arkansas; Republican Presidential Candidate): Well, we're disappointed. I mean, the fact is Fred Thompson, in the race, didn't even get close to us, but he took just enough away from us that probably kept us from the margin. And that, plus the fact that it snowed in Greenville and Spartanburg, where we had a lot of our votes, didn't help us. But it is one of this, you know, we were very tight near the top and, certainly, had hoped to actually win it and thought we would. But we're by no stretch of the imagination out of the picture. In fact, you know, we continue to be a strong contender in every primary that we're involved in.
SEABROOK: Fred Thompson gave a speech last night that has the world speculating on how long he'll be in the race. If he pulls out, are you counting on getting the votes that would have gone to him?
Mr. HUCKABEE: Well, I think those votes aren't monolithic to go anywhere. But a lot of the votes that I believe he took from us in South Carolina would have definitely been ours. So it appeared that Fred was, in essence, bailing out. But he hasn't made that announcement official. Although both in Iowa, where he said he was in there for a do-or-die and he died, but he stayed in. And then he said South Carolina was do-or-die and he died. And I have to assume at some point that, you know, he really does have to consider not going somewhere.
SEABROOK: The last time you were on our air, Governor Huckabee, you told MORNING EDITION, our sister program, that you were going to win South Carolina, and it would prove that you had broader appeal than the media was portraying you. Does it mean that you don't, that you lost?
Mr. HUCKABEE: No. Again, I think we almost won. And it was unfortunate we didn't. But I think a lot of our appeal comes from my talking about abolishing of the IRS, the fact that we would completely transform our tax system. I do think that issue is beginning to get more traction. People see the economy in trouble. They know that America is in a big problem right now. And it needs a big idea to fix it, not little piddling ideas that many of the candidates are putting forward.
What we need is something much bolder. And the transformation of our tax system, including getting rid of the IRS and having a less strangulating and regulating environment is exactly what many Americans really needs to be done.
SEABROOK: But sir, I wonder if the idea just seems so radical to completely get rid of the IRS, that people don't even know how to imagine what your presidency would look like.
Mr. HUCKABEE: Well, I think what they do realize is that their tax forms are a nightmare. They know that there in small business, their toughest competition comes from their own government, constantly having to fly with a mountain of paperwork.
I've never sat down ahead a conversation with people who understood the Fair tax who didn't absolutely love it if they understood it. Now, there are some people who don't understand it and some who think they understand it and they'll be very critical of it. But it's not that complicated. I say it's a tax system simple enough that a 7-year-old running a lemonade stand can actually understand. It's one of the things that's most appealing.
SEABROOK: I don't think anybody thought there would be this many Republican candidates - six viable candidates going into Florida, the primary on the 29th.
How do you compete against candidates that have a whole lot more money than you do, and have been in the state longer? I'm talking about Mitt Romney - can finance his own campaign. Rudy Giuliani has been there in Florida all along with a large organization. How do you compete against them?
Mr. HUCKABEE: Same way we used to competed against them all along. No one ever thought I would last this long. No one ever gave me any hope of being a major contender. We've not only lasted this long and become a major contender but we're still very much in this race to win it. And I think when people look at how much money some of these candidates have spent to get so little for it, that's the story. It's not, gosh, how have we gotten here. It's how have they not gotten further. Is their message so weak that they've spent that kind of money and, for it, they really have not garnered a level of support commensurate with the funds having been spent.
SEABROOK: And going into Super Tuesday. Some call it Super Duper Tuesday. Twenty-four primaries on the same day, February 5th - how do you decide where to put your money on a day like that?
Mr. HUCKABEE: Well, that's something, you know, we'll be looking at over the next several days. And there'll be a lot of strategy meetings that we'll be having to determine exactly what's the roadmap from here - looking at the delegate count, looking at where our whole numbers are strong and (unintelligible) where we need to concentrate.
SEABROOK: Republican presidential contender Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas.
Thank you very much, sir.
Mr. HUCKABEE: Thank you, Andrea.