NEW YORK — Since his surprisingly strong showing in the 2008 presidential race, Mike Huckabee has been able to keep his name in the public spotlight through his weekly show on Fox News.
The show has been “priceless” for Huckabee in terms of staying visible, said Eric Boehlert, a senior fellow at Media Matters, a liberal media advocacy group.
He said Huckabee and other possible presidential contenders in 2012, including Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, have all benefited from exposure on the network.
“They’re clearly using Fox News to gin up possible presidential runs,” Boehlert said.
A Fox News spokesman said the network doesn’t discuss the specific terms of its contracts with its employees, but said employees lose their jobs if they toss their hats in the ring.
“Once a contributor declares a candidacy of any kind, we immediately end his/her agreement,” the spokesman said in a statement.
Huckabee said he pays no attention when people question his current line of work.
“I don’t know what they expected me to do when the campaign was over - go sell hot dogs on Sixth Avenue?” outside the network’s offices, he said.
In addition to the television show, Huckabee has a daily syndicated radio gig. He’s not unique in this regard - Ronald Reagan gave regular radio talks in the months leading up to his 1976 presidential campaign.
Sid Bedingfield, a professor at the University of South Carolina journalism school who specializes in political communication, used to be head of CNN’s U.S. network during the 1980s and 1990s.
During that time, he recalled, there was heated debate about whether conservative political commentator Pat Buchanan should be bumped off the popular show Crossfire because of his political activities.
“CNN struggled with that,” he said. “They really sweatedblood over those issues.”
Buchanan, a former Nixon adviser, left Crossfire to work for President Reagan in the mid-1980s, and then returnedto the network. He again put his television work aside in 1991, 10 weeks before the New Hampshire primary, after deciding to run for the Republican presidential nomination. After his unsuccessful run, he returned to the network, only to leave again in 1995 for another run.
Between 1993 and 1995, while at the network, Buchanan raised money for Republican candidates across the country.
Looking back, Buchanan said his political activities during his employment at the network were “all aboveboard.”
“As soon as I started talking about organization” for a presidential run, Buchanan said, “I left.”
He said Huckabee, who has not announced an intention to run, has not reached a point where his show is a conflict of interest.
B edingf ield, the former CNN executive, said Huckabee’s 2010 television show could give a boost to Huckabee’s 2012 presidential chances, but he noted the network had several other Republican marquee names on its roster.
“That tends to dilute his advantage,” Bedingfield said.
Front Section, Pages 8 on 10/31/2010