Mike Huckabee

Huckabee Tells Supporters to Ignore 'Beltway Babble'

An enthusiastic crowd of nearly 1,000 people greeted former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee today at the University of Maryland, where the presidential hopeful urged supporters to ignore "Beltway babble" about the Republican race being over and vote for him on Tuesday.

"Somebody forgot to tell you guys that there aren't any Republicans in Maryland," Huckabee told a crowd gathered at a student union on the College Park campus, which is hardly known as a cradle of conservatism. "This is incredible. ... I'm energized by you today."

Huckabee did not mention Arizona Sen. John McCain, the GOP frontrunner, by name during a speech in which he touted his plans to abolish the income tax and spoke at length about his humble upbringing.
Addressing an audience dominated by college students and young families, Huckabee made it clear that he is not willing to concede Tuesday's primaries in Maryland, Virginia and the District.

"This campaign is not over," Huckabee said. "You have a right to make a choice."

Huckabee, whose base in early nominating states has been evangelical Christians, largely emphasized economic issues and argued a Washington outsider would be best-suited to lead the country.

"If the solutions were to be found in Washington, they would have already done it," Huckabee said.
Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 2-to-1 in Maryland, and Tuesday's GOP primary has received less attention than the Democratic contest between Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.