Huckabee pushes healthcare issue

ST. PAUL — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee expressed disappointment Tuesday that Republicans haven’t made healthcare a more prominent part of their political discourse.

The former GOP presidential candidate criticized his fellow candidates for not appearing at a healthcare forum during the nominating contest and said “speech gurus” at the Republican National Convention suggested he excise language about healthcare from his prepared remarks at the convention.

{mosads}Huckabee was quick to point out that time constraints restricted his speech to about half the size of his draft, but he noted his struggles to draw attention to an issue that is so close to his personal story.

Huckabee, who has lost more than 100 pounds in recent years, was speaking Tuesday at a forum on the obesity problem in the United States. He has yet to deliver his convention speech.

“I wish I could get some attention for this. I tried on the campaign trail. I desperately tried,” Huckabee said. “In the first nine debates we had, do you know how many healthcare questions we had? For Republicans, in the first nine debates: one. One.”

Huckabee also blamed the media, but he was particularly blunt about the failure of most of the GOP candidates to show up at an Iowa healthcare forum sponsored by AARP.

Only he and now-nominee John McCain appeared, thus reducing the forum’s coverage and impact.

“The biggest disappointment in the whole process on healthcare was that we had a big event that was supposed to be with all the candidates in Sioux City, Iowa,” Huckabee said. “It was going to be televised nationally on PBS. Since only two candidates came, it was a much different program.”

Huckabee praised AARP and another Democratic-leaning group, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which dispatched supporters to events wearing T-shirts that pushed the issue.

He said the excising of the healthcare language in his speech wasn’t a problem with his party, because “there’s only so many things you can get in.”

The issue of healthcare, particularly achieving universal healthcare, has been paramount on the Democratic side during the presidential contest but has rarely cropped up on the GOP side.

Huckabee also had praise for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. He said that while he disagrees with the Illinois senator’s policy positions, Obama notched an “amazing achievement” by taking race off the table as an issue.

A former Baptist minister, Huckabee also said Democrats are doing a good job at weaving religion — a focus of Obama’s — into their politics.

Faith figured more prominently than usual in the Democratic National Convention last week in Denver, including a closing prayer on the last night of the ceremonies from Pastor Joel Hunter.

“Some people thought it looked to be a cynical approach; I don’t,” Huckabee said. “I think it’s an honest attempt on their part to say that a person can be a Democrat and be a Christian. I know there’s some Republicans that probably don’t believe that, but I do.”