Issue date: 2/21/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Abby Harvey Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee answers questions during a press conference following his "Huckabee for President" rally Monday in the Council Fire Room of Davies Center. Huckabee lost Tuesday's Wisconsin primary to John McCain by a 55 percent to 37 percent.

"You know, Chuck (Norris) could've looked at the snow and melted every bit of it right now."

While typically reserved for college students, this joke didn't come out of a mouth you would expect, as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee got a laugh out of the crowd of around 600 at his rally on Monday in the Council Fire Room in Davies Center, making reference to a political endorsement by the actor.

Huckabee stopped in Eau Claire to campaign the day before Wisconsin's Republican primary, but fell short to Sen. John McCain with 37 percent of the vote to McCain's 55 percent.

He gave Wisconsin residents admiration for their abilities to weather through the snowy conditions.

"I don't know of a person in Arkansas personally … that owns a snow shovel," Huckabee said. "There's no need, first of all we don't get this much snow. And if we do, we just stay home because tomorrow, it'll all melt."

Chairman of the College Republicans, senior Tom Burton, said this is the first time a Republican presidential candidate visited the UW-Eau Claire campus while campaigning.

Burton said he hoped the rally would influence voter turnout at the primaries.

Despite the stop being last minute, Burton said he thinks it was important to have another candidate on campus and that Eau Claire students have been fortunate to have so much recent exposure to politics.

"I'm glad for the students," he said. "It's a good time to be a student (at Eau Claire)."

Huckabee also shared a unique experience with audience members that no other candidate in the presidential race has had the opportunity to do.

"I promise you I'm the only candidate running for president who was invited to sing the national anthem at Lambeau Field," Huckabee said, explaining that he went on a trip with two other governors to Green Bay and they were invited to tour the facilities, where they ended up on the 50-yard-line. "I told one of the security guards to ask us if we wanted to sing … I told him we'd be delighted."

Continued...

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