IRVING, Texas - Mike Huckabee bowed to reality Tuesday and out of the Republican presidential race. "We kept the faith," he told his end-of-the-road rally Tuesday after John McCain clinched the nomination. "I'd rather lose an election than lose the principles that got me into politics in the first place."
The genial conservative went out as he had campaigned all along, with a quip: "It's time for us to hit the reset button."
Huckabee won the leadoff Iowa caucuses, making him a sudden but short-lived sensation, and then seven other states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, West Virginia, Louisiana and Kansas. Meantime, McCain piled up big victories on his way to winning the prize on Tuesday night.
The writing was on the wall for weeks, but the former Arkansas governor hung on until McCain secured the necessary delegates....
