Huckabee on the next debate: 'No rules'

By David M. Drucker, David M. Drucker

Published December 20, 2015

Mike Huckabee is done playing by the rules.

The former Arkansas governor received less airtime during the Republican presidential debate broadcast by CNN in September than all but one of the 10 other candidates he shared the stage with, During the nearly three-hour prime time program, Huckabee received just 6.9 percent of talk time allotted to the 11 candidates. Only Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who exited the 2016 race a few days later, spoke less.

Huckabee, who spent seven years hosting his own nationally televised Fox News show and is hardly a wallflower, is determined not to let that happen again when Republicans gather in Boulder, Colo., this month for the third debate. In an interview Friday, the Huckabee campaign said the Arkansan would assert himself on stage, even if that means ignoring the CNBC moderators and the debate rules they establish.

"We're definitely not going to allow what happened in the CNN debate to happen again," Huckabee advisor Hogan Gidley said. "The governor has always been respectful of the rules and the process but he's going to get his point across."