Huckabee does not rule out VP slot

Republican White House hopeful and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee left the door open Tuesday to being the vice presidential nominee on the 2008 GOP ticket.

{mosads}While he stressed that he is in the race to win, Huckabee did not reject the notion of his being on the ticket in the No. 2 slot.

“I’ve often said nobody goes into the Olympic Games saying, ‘You know, Mom, what I really want is a silver medal. That’s all I’ve ever wanted in life,’ ” Huckabee told MSNBC ahead of Tuesday evening’s GOP debate on the news network. When pressed, however, Huckabee said: “I’m not even running for vice president. I will only say this: It is the job nobody wants and nobody turns down.”

Huckabee, who is polling more strongly in Iowa than in the rest of the country and has had difficulty raising money, said he believes that a strong showing in the country’s first caucuses will boost his campaign.

The former governor noted that he has not had the same amount of money that some of the other campaigns had at their disposal.

“With limited resources, if you look at where we are, even in the national polls, we’ve spent a nickel to the $100 bill of some of these guys,” Huckabee said. “It’s not that I’m depressed thinking where we are. Heck, I’m pretty encouraged.”

Huckabee added that if he were a guy “who had spent tens of millions of dollars and weren’t any further ahead, I’d have to be sitting in a warm tub of water with some razor blades in both hands at this point saying, ‘How much money does one have to spend, you know, to get on track?’ ”

Ahead of the debate, all eyes are on former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, who joined the race for the GOP nomination late and will be participating in such an event for the first time.

Huckabee took a swipe at the new arrival, saying, “We haven’t seen much of him out on the campaign trail.”

The former governor also touted his ability of reaching across party lines, noting that he had received a union endorsement for the GOP primary and went to speak to the National Education Association.