Huckabee decides to skip Iowa Straw Poll

Mike Huckabee, who used the Iowa Straw Poll eight years ago to launch his underfunded 2008 presidential campaign, is skipping the 2016 straw poll.

"I have concluded this year's Iowa Straw Poll will serve only to weaken conservative candidates and further empower the Washington ruling class and their hand-picked candidates," Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and winner of the 2008 Iowa caucuses, writes in a guest opinion piece published Thursday in The Des Moines Register.

It's a blow to the Republican Party of Iowa, which decided to go ahead with this year's event despite years of criticism and repeated calls for its death from outside and inside Iowa. Last week, the Register reported that former Florida governor Jeb Bush decided to bypass the Iowa Straw Poll.

The news also has implications for candidates who need to do well in Iowa to build momentum for later states. For one thing, it puts pressure on Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, the front-runner in polling in Iowa.

Veteran Republican strategist John Stineman told the Register on Sunday that the straw poll's viability "comes down to whether or not Walker and (Florida U.S. Sen. Marco) Rubio play."

"If both decide to play, it's likely a decent event," he wrote. "If they don't, it has little relevance. While enough tickets may be sold to cover costs, it will be a shadow of its former self and a contest of the second tier."

Huckabee's surprise second-place finish in the 2007 Iowa Straw Poll helped propel him to his caucus victory the following January. His straw poll prospects this cycle were uncertain. He ranked fourth in a recent Quinnipiac University poll of likely GOP caucus-goers.

Huckabee references "limited resources" in his op-ed, telegraphing that his bank account isn't as deep as his backers might want it to be.

"It's clear that pitting conservative candidates with limited resources against each other in a non-binding and expensive summer straw poll battle, while allowing billionaire-backed establishment candidates to sit out, will only wound and weaken the conservative candidates who best represent conservative and hard-working Iowans," wrote Huckabee in an apparent dig at Bush.

Huckabee's opt-out is good news for Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz  and other contenders who are targeting religious conservatives in Iowa and are still considering competing in the straw poll. That includes former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

So far, the most concrete commitment is from Donald Trump, who has said he'll compete in the straw poll if he decides to join the race. Cruz has signaled he's competing in the straw poll but has not officially RSVP'd yet.

For more on this story, go to The Des Moines Register.