NORMAN - Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee spent two days in Oklahoma to help Republican candidates in this state get elected next month, but his own presidential campaign soon may follow.
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The popular conservative governor will leave office in January because of term limits.
"I'm looking at it very seriously," Huckabee said Thursday about a 2008 run for the White House. "We're meeting with people and taking steps to make a responsible decision."
Huckabee said Oklahoma is one of about 25 states he has visited this election cycle to help campaign for local candidates. He ended his Oklahoma visit by spending more than two hours at a luncheon fund-raiser at a northwest Norman residence.
U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, state Reps. Thad Balkman of Norman and Sally Kern of Oklahoma City, state House candidate Scott Martin of Norman, state Sen. Kathleen Wilcoxson of Oklahoma City and state Senate candidate Ron Davis of Purcell were among those attending.
Huckabee said he has learned while stumping for candidates across the country that "people are pretty much alike wherever you are, and they are tired of what they perceive as a polarized atmosphere in politics."
The scandal surrounding former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley of Florida isn't helping, and Huckabee called the former congressman "a predator and a pervert" for his alleged sexual advances to subordinate pages via e-mail and instant messages.
The nation's opinion of GOP leadership has slipped in the aftermath, but Huckabee said the Republican Party's recent problems go beyond Foley.
"If anything, we have to get back to our basics," he said. "We have steered too far from our message of lower taxes and fiscal conservatism. We're spending money like drunken sailors on liberty after six months at sea, and taxes have not changed a great deal."
Huckabee's most noted dealings with Oklahoma relate to the federal lawsuit Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson filed against Arkansas poultry companies.
The suit says phosphorus from chicken litter coming from huge farms run by Arkansas companies is spilling into the Illinois River waterways, and the overrun starts a chain reaction that leads to contamination.
Huckabee said he hopes an agreement can be reached out of court between people in the two states, but the issue has lingered throughout his 10 years in office.
Huckabee said "it has become very evident that (Edmondson) is more interested in making headlines than headway."
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