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Remarks Following the Maryland, Virginia, and District of Columbia Primaries

February 12, 2008

[joined in progress]

So the next several weeks are going to be the very intense weeks when a lot of delegates are at stake. And a lot will be decided, as far as the long-term impact of where this process is going. But one thing that we have continually said -- and I'm going to reiterate tonight -- that the nomination is not secured until somebody has 1,191 delegates. That has not yet happened. And we're still continuing to work and to give voters in these states a choice.

I think if anything that we're doing is important, it's recognizing that the people in the states who have not had their elections have as much right to an election as all of these folks who are frontloaded for either Super Tuesday or prior to that.

And if there are these calls to say, "Let's just call it off," well, that's a disservice to the people in Texas, and Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, and Nebraska, and other states and territories who have yet to have that opportunity to vote.

So we march on. Every time we win, we're ecstatic. When we don't win, we're disappointed, but we're not knocked out, and we continue to believe that every day provides a new opportunity for us to keep the message going, show the contrast, and hopefully give people in the Republican Party a cause to be for and also to keep it, though, in a respectful and I think the kind of tone and tenor that has, I would like to think, brought some honor to the process.

So let me take a few of your questions, and we'll go from there.

QUESTION: Governor, tonight Senator McCain's camp, Jill Hazelbaker, said that it is mathematically impossible for Governor Huckabee to secure the nomination. You said the other day that you majored in miracles, not math. Has anyone on your campaign staff done any of their own delegate math? Would you be able to comment on that?

MR. HUCKABEE: I mean, we understand, in terms of the conventional process, barring, you know, some something that could happen along the way in the campaign for Senator McCain, or if he doesn't acquire enough delegates, that's really the possibility, that it could go to the convention.

So, you know, I hear all the things that are said, but, you know, it's still -- I go back to this fact. And I just can't say it loudly or maybe emphatically enough. You've got to have 1,191.

And while it may be mathematically impossible to see how it could play out right now, I know this: Right now, nobody has the 1,191 delegates. And, therefore, it would be a little premature to quit until the game has actually come to a conclusion.

And I'll also remind everybody that it was the Republican National Committee who created the rules and the process and said, "Here's what it takes to be the nominee." Nobody's made it to that point yet.

And so, you know, I've not been one who believes that you leave the field because it's gotten difficult. You stay, and you keep playing until the last second of the clock has sounded.

Mike Huckabee, Remarks Following the Maryland, Virginia, and District of Columbia Primaries Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/276934

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