WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Mike Huckabee said Sunday he's vaulted into the top tier of Republican presidential hopefuls with his second-place finish in the Iowa Straw Poll.
The former Arkansas governor grabbed 18 percent of the 14,000 non-binding votes cast Saturday, well behind first-place finisher Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, but ahead of Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and the rest of the Republican pack -- including Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Fred Thompson, whose names were on the ballot but who didn't campaign.
"It wasn't just that we surprised people with a second showing. It's that we did it with so few resources," Huckabee said on CBS' "Face the Nation."
Huckabee, who spent under $100,000 in the straw poll run-up, said he wants to see the Republican Party become more “Main Street.”
"We need to quit being a wholly-owned subsidiary of the major fund managers on Wall Street and start being more concerned about people out there in places like Iowa," Huckabee said.
He said growing up in a working-class family, along with his 10-plus years working with a Democratic legislature in Arkansas, gave him the skills to lead the country.
