The past two winners of the Iowa Caucus former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick will join front runner Donald Trump at his event in Iowa tonight that will air 9 p.m. ET on CNN. While, neither man is expected tonight to endorse Trump this evening at his fund raiser for military veterans, their voters know that being there is a show of support for the man who tops the polls.
Both men will be part of the undercard debate on Fox News then they will make the 10 minute drive over to Drake University to join the Trump. Huckabee told reporters that he supported the vet’s and that joining Trump to raise money was something he wanted to do.
“I respect Donald Trump, I like him. We’ve had a great relationship, and we are competitors in this race, but we are still colleagues towards some issues.”
Trump’s event is scheduled at the same time as tonight’s Fox News main stage debate, so other candidates have argued that Trump is ducking the stage because he’s afraid to debate the issues.
But instead, Huckabee lauded Trump for his commitment to veterans and said he wouldn’t take sides on the issue between Trump and the network as a former Fox employee.
“I’m not sure I would be willing to do this with every one of the Republican presidential candidates, to go to one of their events, but I’lll do it with Donald Trump,” said Huckabee, who will be in the undercard debate that ends before Trump’s rally. Rick Santorum will also attend Trump’s event.
When asked if he’s more comfortable with Trump than with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Huckabee lampooned Cruz for being backed by the “hedge-fund billionaire circle” and accused him of tailoring his message differently on the stump than he does in Manhattan with donors.
Having both Huckabee and Santorum at the Iowa event could very well clinch the Iowa GOP Caucus for Trump who is in a close battle with Cruz in the “Hawkeye State.”