Huckabee yet to decide on candidacy

Republican Mike Huckabee is riding high in the polls, but he could be running out of time to make up his mind on a run for his party's 2012 US presidential nomination.

With the slow-starting race for the right to challenge President Barack Obama gaining candidates and picking up steam, a few of Mr Huckabee's former advisers have jumped ship to other contenders and some observers see signs that he will not run. One of his most ardent supporters in Iowa has even started a phone and email drive to contact other backers of Mr Huckabee's failed 2008 bid and urge them to "Stay Stuck on Huck".

"Nobody knows what he's going to decide," said Randy Davis of Ottumwa, Iowa, who has reached about 500 Huckabee supporters in the state and found only "one or two" not willing to wait. "I've just tried to encourage everyone to be patient."

Mr Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, says he will wait until summer to make a decision. In an interview last month, he ridiculed pundits who were quick to declare he is unlikely to run. "How do you know that? Because I don't know that yet," he said, adding he is "very much" still considering a candidacy.

He leads many opinion polls of the Republican presidential field, and holds a significant edge over his rivals in the Gallup poll's "positive intensity" measure of depth of support.