'Meet the Press' transcript for Feb. 10, 2008

MR. TIM RUSSERT:  Our issues this Sunday:  Romney bows out.

FMR. GOV. MITT ROMNEY (R-MA):  I feel I have to now stand aside for our party and for our country.

MR. RUSSERT:  McCain looks to November.

SEN. JOHN McCAIN (R-AZ):  I intend to fight the hardest I can to ensure that our principles prevail over theirs.

MR. RUSSERT:  But Huckabee fights on.

FMR. GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE (R-AR):  Am I quitting?  Well, let's get that settled right now.  No, I'm not.

MR. RUSSERT:  What now?  We'll ask our guest, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

Then, the Democrats.  Yesterday Obama wins Louisiana primary and sweeps caucuses in Nebraska, Washington state and the Virgin Islands, building his lead with elected delegates.  But what about the role of unelected, or so-called superdelegates?  And what does it mean that Hillary Clinton loaned money to her own campaign?  Insights and analysis from David Broder of The Washington Post, David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network, Gwen Ifill of PBS' "Washington Week" and Chuck Todd of NBC News.

But first, here are the results of the Republican primary and caucuses held yesterday.  Louisiana:  Mike Huckabee, 43; John McCain, 42.  Kansas:  Mike Huckabee, 60; John McCain, 24.  Washington state, very close race:  McCain, 25; Huckabee, 24; Ron Paul, 21.  The delegate count now, estimated by NBC News:  McCain at 721, Huckabee at 231.  You need 1,191.  And here to talk about that is the former governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee.

Welcome back.

GOV. HUCKABEE:  Thank you, Tim.  Great to be back.  Great to still be on my feet after all this time because we started right here when I announced on MEET THE PRESS a little more than a year ago I'd be doing this.

MR. RUSSERT:  January of '07.

GOV. HUCKABEE:  Yeah.

MR. RUSSERT:  What's your take on yesterday?

GOV. HUCKABEE:  It was a great day for us.  I mean, to win two out of the three, and one to still be too close to call even the day after, I think that certainly would, by anybody's estimation, be a surprise to most of the pundits and observers who thought that this was all over last week.

MR. RUSSERT:  You need 1191 delegates; you have 231, as I mentioned.  That means you need 960.

GOV. HUCKABEE:  Mm-hmm.

MR. RUSSERT:  There are only 819 delegates to win.  So how are you going to do that?

GOV. HUCKABEE:  Well, you know, I don't know how the math works out, but there's always the chance something stumbles.  The thing is it's not just how many I need, Senator McCain also needs that many.  And if he doesn't get that many, he's not the nominee either.  This thing could go to the convention. Who knows?  But the one thing I know, when people say, "Isn't it a rather complicated and convoluted path to victory?" You bet it is.  But it's a real easy path to defeat.  All I have to do is walk off the field, game's over.

MR. RUSSERT:  When will you walk off the field?  If Senator McCain gets the 1191, will you quit?

GOV. HUCKABEE:  Well, I think then it's over.  I mean, he's--he is the nominee at that point.  But until then, you know, I haven't had one of my supporters, Tim, come up to me and say, "Why don't you leave?" Not one.  None of my endorsers, none of the folks who are with me.  And, in fact, they're so fired up that we're having record hits and contributions going to our mikehuckabee.com Web site.  We've had more traffic.  We, we had a $250,000 day--we'd never had anything like that--on I think Friday.

MR. RUSSERT:  Next up is Tuesday, we have Maryland and, and Virginia.  Here's Mason-Dixon, latest polls out this morning:  McCain, 54; Huckabee, 23 in Maryland.  In Virginia, it's McCain, 55; Huckabee, 27.  You're the decided underdog in both those states.

GOV. HUCKABEE:  Oh, sure.  That was before the caucuses and primaries yesterday.  I think we're going to get a pretty nice little bump out of what happened in Kansas.  You know, we weren't polling big in Kansas; we won 60-to-24.  Most people--in fact, we didn't think Louisiana was winnable because of the way they're structured.  It's a very strange structure.  That was a surprise to us.  Washington state, it's not quite yet over; still too close to call.

MR. RUSSERT:  Well, the party has declared it over.

GOV. HUCKABEE:  They have, but there's some weird things.  We're, we're looking at some legal issues up there, and so we're not ready to concede that one until we understand how...

MR. RUSSERT:  You think on Tuesday, though, Virginia's your best state?

GOV. HUCKABEE:  I think we have a shot at Virginia.  I think we have a shot at Maryland.  You know, I'm just one of those people that think we have a shot at everywhere we go.

MR. RUSSERT:  Mitt Romney was in a similar circumstance as you were, decidedly behind in delegates.  On Thursday, made a different decision.

GOV. HUCKABEE:  Yes.

MR. RUSSERT:  Let's watch what he said.

(Videotape)

GOV. ROMNEY:  If I fight on in my campaign all the way to the convention, I wreck--I want you to know, I've given this a lot of thought--I'd forestall the launch of a national campaign.  And frankly, I'd be making it easier for Senator Clinton or Obama to win.  Frankly, in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT:  Make it easier for the Democrats to win.  Are you concerned that you're draining resources that the Republicans need, that you're embarrassing Senator McCain, and that you're providing the Democrats an opportunity to win in November by continuing this fight?

GOV. HUCKABEE:  Oh, that's total nonsense.  Let me tell you why.  First of all, I didn't set the rules for how one obtains the nomination; the party did. So the party sets rules and says, "Here's how the process works." They were the ones who front-loaded and allowed it to be front-loaded, so you had states like California and New York going up early, large delegate counts.  But neither of those states, Tim, are going to be really decisive for the Republican in November.

Now, the question I have is, do we tell the people in Texas and Ohio and Pennsylvania and all these other states--North Carolina, Nebraska--that "You don't matter.  We don't care what you think.  We're going to go ahead and pull the plug on this whole thing and not even give you a chance to express yourselves"?  If our party can't have a thoughtful discussion and some meaningful debate and dialogue about the issues important to us as a party, then, then we--we're really not prepared to lead.  I am prepared to lead. That's why I'm in this race.  And I think I've got to continue to make the case.  There are people who got me here with far fewer resources than other campaigns.  And the Democrats haven't settled their nominee either.  So for us to suddenly act like that we have to all step aside and have a coronation instead of an election, that--that's the antithesis of everything Republicans are supposed to believe.  We believe that competition breeds excellence and that the lack of it breeds mediocrity.

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