Huckabee: ‘We’re not in a panic’

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Sunday compared the quest for the Republican presidential nomination to a NASCAR race, arguing there is still plenty of time left for any candidate to emerge besides front-runner Donald Trump.

“It’s not how many headlines you get, it’s how many voters show up at the caucuses and the primaries,” Huckabee said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

{mosads}Huckabee argued that the race for the White House is in lap 10 of 200 and “we’ve got a long way to go before anybody is going to see a checkered flag.”

He said, “Donald Trump is a phenomena and he’s doing very well,” but added, “We’re not in a panic.”

Instead, Huckabee’s campaign is taking a methodical “old-fashioned” approach to organizing by county in states such as Iowa and South Carolina.

He said where the candidates stand now “doesn’t reflect where things end up” or candidates like Michelle Bachmann and Rudy Giuliani would’ve won the White House.

“I salute Trump, he’s a master at branding and he’s alone in his class at getting attention,” Huckabee said.

Trump landed his helicopter at the Iowa State Fair on Saturday and gave kids free rides.

Huckabee argued that Trump is ahead in the polls because he is getting 10 times the coverage of any other candidate.

He said if the media shifts that attention to his campaign, then “I’ll be leading in the polls.”