Huckabee weighing presidential run, newspaper reports

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee sits down for lunch before speaking at the Republican National Committee winter meeting in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2014. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee sits down for lunch before speaking at the Republican National Committee winter meeting in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2014. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is seriously weighing another run for president, including scouting a possible campaign headquarters in Little Rock, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Huckabee, who ran in 2008 but lost the Republican nomination to U.S. Sen. John McCain, has said previously that he is considering another bid in 2016 but doesn't intend to decide until next year.

In a story published Wednesday morning, the Post reported that some potential campaign staff members have been hired on at Huckabee's new nonprofit advocacy group, America Takes Action, and that "advisers are already scouting real estate in Little Rock, Ark., for a possible presidential campaign headquarters."

The paper said the nonprofit's staff members, including Little Rock-based radio host and former Huckabee campaign spokesman Alice Stewart, "would likely be players in a Huckabee campaign."

Reached Wednesday, Stewart stressed Huckabee has made no decision on the run and that his nonprofit is an "advocacy group that allows him to focus on issues that are important to him." She said it should not be seen as a precursor to a campaign staff and added she hadn't heard anything about the paper's report of officials looking for campaign office space.

"I'm not aware of people searching for any office space in Little Rock," she said.

In an appearance in Little Rock last month, Huckabee said it would be "disingenuous to say I'm not entertaining the notion and considering" a 2016 run and will decide in the spring, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.

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