GOP's Huckabee gains new attention

AMES, Iowa, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has moved from backbencher GOP candidate into the spotlight thanks to his second-place finish in the Iowa Straw Poll.

A Southern Baptist minister known for his sense of humor, Huckabee drew 18 percent of the vote to come in second to former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts in the GOP contest, The New York Times reported Monday.

“I can’t buy you -- I don’t have the money. I can’t even rent you,” Huckabee told his supporters Saturday just hours before he garnered 2,587 votes.

Humor is one of the ways Huckabee has distinguished himself as a campaigner, the newspaper says.

His use of it amounts to a style of politicking that many audiences find engaging.

“Politics shouldn’t be like a root canal,” Huckabee says.

“One of the things I think I’ve brought to the process is unapologetically I’m a conservative but I’m not mad at anybody over it,” he told one Iowa voter in Ames.