Politics

Former campaign chair Ed Rollins disappointed by Huckabee’s ‘commercialized’ announcement

Jeff Poor Media Reporter
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On his Saturday night Fox News Channel show, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee announced he would not be a candidate for the 2012 Republican nomination for president.

However, the format and the way Huckabee played his cards with the announcement upset one of his closest political aides from his 2008 presidential campaign.

On Wednesday’s Fox News Radio “Kilmeade and Friends” program, 2008 Huckabee campaign chairman Ed Rollins told host Brian Kilmeade that Huckabee neglected to inform those who had already began laying the groundwork for a potential 2012 run by the former Arkansas governor before his public announcement.

“Through the drama, you know to have it on a show, you know it was too commercialized from my perspective and you know there were three or four of us that worked for a long period of time putting things together for him, as we said – the externals,” Rollin said. “And you know there was no contact with us before or after and I think to a certain extent, you know it’s just not the best way to go.”

While Rollins played an instrumental role in Huckabee’s 2008 Iowa Caucus victory, it was not without controversy. Amanda Carpenter, then of Townhall.com, reported on a Rollins outburst at an Iowa restaurant on Jan. 3, 2008, where he made personal attacks against Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson and shared his affections for NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell and then-CNN host Lou Dobbs with the entire restaurant.

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