Huckabee leaving Fox News to mull 2016

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) announced he was stepping down from a Fox News on Saturday night as he weighs whether to run for president again. 

The former GOP presidential candidate and Arkansas governor said that he would make a decision by the spring.

{mosads}”There has been a great deal of speculation as to whether I would run for President. If I were willing to absolutely rule that out, I could keep doing this show,” Huckabee said on Fox News. “But I can’t make such a declaration. I won’t make a decision about running until late in the spring of 2015, but the continued chatter has put Fox News into a position that is not fair to them nor is it possible for me to openly determine political and financial support to justify a race. The honorable thing to do at this point is to end my tenure here at Fox.”

Huckabee said the show had been “the ride of a lifetime, and I have never had so much fun in my life.”

“But I also realize that God hasn’t put me on earth just to have a good time or to make a good living, but rather has put me on earth to try to make a good life,” he added.

Huckabee won the Republican Iowa caucus during the 2008 presidential cycle. He would eventually lose the nomination to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who would lose the White House to then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). 

During the 2008 cycle, he announced his candidacy during an interview on NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Jan. 28, 2007. 

Huckabee said Saturday his announcement for this cycle will come this spring. 

“As much as I have loved doing the show, I cannot bring myself tO rule out another Presidential run. So as we say in television, stay tuned,” Huckabee said on Fox News. 

Megan R. Wilson contributed.