Former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckabee appeared during the newsy “Weekend Update” segment on Saturday Night Live, and played his long-odds candidacy for the Republican nomination for laughs. 

“Mike Huckabee does not overstay his welcome. When it’s time for me to go, I’ll know. And I’ll exit with class and grace”,Huckabee said to Seth Meyers, who was interviewing him, but then proceeded to stay on the stage despite cues from Meyers and “co-anchor” Amy Poehler, to leave.

 ” Governor Huckabee,” Meyers said.

“Seth,” Huckabee replied.

” I think we’re done now, sir. “

“Oh right.Normally, I pick up on those things,” Huckabee dead-panned.” Sorry.”

Mike Huckabee will be making a guest appearance on Saturday Night Live tonight,as reported first by Fox Embeds on Wednesday. Huckabee will be arriving at the Saturday Night Live studios this evening in New York for tonight’s broadcast. Huckabee staffers  say the candidate is very excited about this opportunity, and has been a fan of the show for years. 

 This will be the first show,in 16 weeks, due to the writers strike.  Huckabee will not be hosting, that honor goes to former SNL cast member, and current 30 Rock star, Tina Fey.

 Yesterday, Fox asked Huckabee who he thought would make a good Obama impersonator on the show. SNL, known for their satirical wit, is searching for a suitable actor or comedian to play that role. Huckabee didn’t offer up any suggestions for the Democratic frontrunner, but said he knew who be a good fill in for him.

“If I couldn’t show up they were going to either get Brad Pitt or George Clooney, ” he said, smiling.

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Huckabee has been a favorite of late night talk show hosts, including Stephen Colbert, and Jay Leno. This will be his first time as a guest on what many consider  not just a late- night comedy show but, as an American  institution of comedy and satire, especially political satire.

Colorado Springs, CO-

Despite continuing to battle rival John McCain in his up hill battle for the Republican nomination, Mike Huckabee will be dropping off the campaign trail today to give his second paid speech in a week, Fox News has learned.

The former Arkansas governor will be speaking to the annual retreat for the Colorado-based group, Leadership Program of the Rockies, event organizers tell Fox.  Leadership staffers, nor the campaign would reveal the amount he will be paid for the speech.He will also be meeting behind closed doors with Focus on the Family’s Dr. James Dobson, who recently endorsed Huckabee. It will be an informal meeting at the organization’s headquarters in Colorado Springs, according to Dobson aides.

Last weekend, Huckabee surprised many by giving a speech, for an undisclosed fee, to a youth leadership awards banquet in the Cayman Islands. The speech was not political, but motivational and emphasized  overcoming insurmountable odds to reach success. 

Huckabee has repeatedly said that he needs to honor his speaking engagements not only because they were booked months ahead of time, but because its his primary method of income. He has defended these arrangements by pointing to his competitors still in the race, most of whom are members of the  U.S. Senate.

“The taxpayers aren’t paying a dime for me to campaign and I don’t take anything from my campaign so I have to make a living,” he said last week before heading to the Cayman Islands. “I do that through my writing and my speaking. … There will be a few more times when I’ve got to go out and make sure I can make my mortgage payments just like everybody else has to do. I am not independently wealthy.”

Houston, TX- 

GOP Candidate Mike Huckabee today defended rival John McCain over ethical questions raised by the New York Times yesterday on his relationship with lobbyist Vicki Iseman.

” I have campaigned now on the same stage and platform with John McCain for 14 months, I only know him to be a man of integrity,” Huckabee told reporters.” Today he denied that any of that was true, I take him at his word. I have no further comment other than that for me to get into it is completely immaterial.Again, I only know him what I know him to be, and that’s a good and decent and honorable man.”

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Plano, TX-

Fox News has learned that Mike Huckabee will appear on Saturday Night Live this weekend. It will be the first SNL broadcast after a 16 week break because of the writers strike.   He will not be hosting, however; Tina Fey, former SNL  write/cast member, and current star of 30 Rock  will have the honor.

Huckabee has been a favorite of many late night talk shows, including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Comedy Central’s Colbert Report. Recently, Late Night host Conan O’Brien, Stephen Colbert, and The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart had a mock on-air rumble over who “made” Huckabee. It was a truly hilarious, and indelible moment in late night comedy.

Little Rock, AR-

Remember the Alamo? Mike Huckabee does. The former Arkansas governor used the iconic Texan landmark as a symbol of his against- all-odds campaign for the GOP nod, after John McCain defeated him handily tonight in  the Wisconsin primary.

 Even though Huckabee lost convincingly and is facing McCain’s Mount Everest-size pile of delegates, he told reporters that he intends to soldier on through the upcoming primaries, and will focus mainly on the March 4th Texas primary.

FNC asked Governor Huckabee if there was any symbolism between The Alamo and his campaign.   

“People sometimes think of the Alamo as a defeat but it actually was the springboard to Texas victory and independence. Had it not been for the Alamo there would not have been a Republic of Texas so there is a lot of history there,” Huckabee said.”We go with a real sense of resolve and purpose and direction and ,you know, a commitment to see it through.”

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Recent polls had shown a tighter race in the Lone Star state between Huckabee and McCain, the presumptive nominee, prior to tonight’s election outcome,but after these results it could widen McCain’s lead considerably. 

Huckabee will be campaigning in San Antonio this week and plans to make a stop at the Alamo.

The Alamo, as every Texan high school kid knows, was when a considerably out numbered group of Texans held their ground  against a much larger Mexican force during the Texas revolution. The Texans where slaughtered by General Santa Ana’s army, but the Alamo was a rallying call for the remaining Texans, and led , in part, to Texas independence.

Huckabee also spoke on the reasoning for his continued campaign despite the insurmountable lead that McCain has created for the  Republican nomination.

“Some have even suggested that the reason I keep going is maybe just over some ego trip. Let me assure you that if it were ego, my ego doesn’t enjoy getting these kind of evenings when we don’t win the primary elections”, Huckabee said. ” It’s gotta be something other than that, and it is. It’ about convictions, it’s about principles I dearly dearly believe in.” 

Little Rock, AR-

Mike Huckabee may have had a down day today in Little Rock while he awaited for the Wisconsin election results, but he jumped in full force and joined the sharp criticism against Raul Castro’s apparent ascension as leader of Cuba, now that his brother Fidel is stepping down after decades at the helm.

In a statement provided by the campaign,Huckabee called Castro a ” tyrant and dictator”  just like his brother Fidel.

“The Cuban people deserve nothing less than free and fair elections which would provide the only hope for a prosperous and democratic Cuba. Until Fidel Castro is dead there can be no significant movement towards reform in Cuba. Raul Castro has proven that he’s as much a tyrant and dictator as his brother Fidel. Simply providing more power to another dictator does nothing to promote freedom and democracy to the Cuban people.”

Last month while campaigning in Southern Florida, Huckabee said Raul Castro should be indicted for murder for his involvement in the Cuban Air Force downing of 2 aircrafts operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a pro-Democracy  organization in 1996. The planes were shot down over international water.

Brothers to the Rescue is a Miami-based activist organization that manned the civilian aircraft was formed by Cuban exiles. The group describes itself as a humanitarian foundation aiming to assist and rescue raft refugees who leave Cuba looking for a better life in the United States.

“The sad thing is that Raul is not going to be much better than his brother Fidel. And especially, if you look at Raul’s personal involvement in the shooting down of the aircraft operated by ‘Brothers to the Rescue’, ” Huckabee said.” That was sheer murder, I personally would like to see Raul Castro indicted for that murder.I think that to shoot down  a civilian aircraft,  that was unarmed, over international waters is an act of not just aggression, its an act of murder. And we shouldn’t be all that happy if Raul becomes the new dictator.” 

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Little Rock, AR-

Um…interesting You Tube take from a Huckafan on the campaign’s current status…catchy.

Appleton, WI-

When Mike Huckabee was asked about former President George H.W. Bush’s endorsement of rival John McCain, at a bowling alley yesterday in Milwaukee, Huckabee side-stepped the question.

” There is no doubt there is sort of a growing chorus of the establishment and people in Washington that think its over, ” Huckabee said about his campaign to the throng of reporters.

However, in the Cayman Islands over the weekend-where Huckabee gave a paid speech to a youth leadership group- his tone was a tad more blunt. 

FNC asked Huckabee if H.W. Bush’s big name behind McCain, would hurt his campaign in Texas, where Huckabee senior staffers tell Fox is the campaign’s new firewall state. 

“He’s a big name in Texas, he’s a big name name everywhere but if I depended on the big names to get me through this process I would not have gotten out of the starting gate,” Huckabee said minutes before his speech to the Young Caymanian Leadership Awards.” You can’t find any of the big names that have ever supported me, but the reasons I am still here with with a fraction of the money that these other guys have is because there are a lot more ordinary folks in America, than there are big names.”

Huckabee concluded, sharply.

“My campaign has never been based or built on the idea the establishment people with quote ‘big names’ were gonna be the ones who made it happen. They obviously haven’t, and I’m still here.”

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