Former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee sees big gains for Republicans in the U.S. House next year.

Huckabee will be in Raleigh Thursday night to sign copies of his new book "A Simple Christmas" at Quail Ridge Books and Music on Wade Avenue and the N&O's Ray Martin caught up with him.

Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses in 2008, and is considered by many to be the early favorite for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. He also hosts his own Fox News show that airs on weekends at 8 p.m. In a brief interview, Huckabee reflected on his book, playing the guitar and the state of the Republican Party. He remained ambivalent about a potential White House run.

This is your seventh book. What motivated you to write a book about Christmas?

It was mentioned by my publisher, and I kicked the idea around and decided to go with it. It's turned out fabulously. This has been by favorite book. When people read it, it makes them think of their own lives and their own Christmas stories, which was exactly my intention.

   Comments (1)

Former Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has asked supporters to help former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole retire more than $350,000 in campaign debt.

Dole, a Republican, ran up the debt in her unsuccessful attempt to fend off a challenge from Kay Hagan, a Democrat, in a bitterly fought campaign, reports the Atlantic's Politics blog. 

Huckabee's message may be a move to win support of Bob and Elizabeth Dole for a future presidential run. In his plea for help, Huckabee describes the Democratic effort within North Carolina during last year's election.

The Democratic Party spent $12 million to defeat her in North Carolina and special interest groups spent millions more.

The Obama campaign opened 50 field offices with 400 paid staff and 21,000 volunteers, all geared to three weeks of early voting. North Carolina had the biggest increase in voter turnout of any state in the nation, a reflection of the huge amounts of money poured into the state.

I hope you will join me in assisting her with a generous contribution today to retire her debt of $356,043. I believe it would be a travesty if she were left with a debt after all her hard work as a public servant.

Elizabeth Dole isn't slowing down.

North Carolina's former Republican senator was in Charlotte this morning for a fundraiser for two groups associated with Mike Huckabee, the former and possibly future GOP presidential candidate, Jim Morrill reports.

Dole said she sandwiched the appearance between a morning stop at Charlotte's Loaves & Fishes food bank and afternoon visits to the Charlotte Rescue Mission, Salvation Army and Thompson's Children's Home. She said she supports them all through the Elizabeth Dole Charitable Foundation.

On her way out, Dole, who turns 73 next month, was asked if she's enjoying retirement.

"Not retirement, no," she bristled. "Catching up on my life."

More after the jump.

   Comments (3)

APPLE BITES: This week it was all about Jobs — with a lower-case and upper-case J. The same day that Gov. Beverly Perdue signed into law changes to the state's corporate taxes designed to lure Apple, the company founded by Steve Jobs announced it would build a $1 billion data center. Opponents of corporate incentives, meantime, felt more like the biblical Job, suffering yet again.

BURR'S CRUSADE: U.S. Sen. Richard Burr stood up for tobacco in the Senate. The Winston-Salem Republican spent more than four hours on the floor arguing against a bill to allow the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco. He said it would stifle innovation in nicotine delivery systems and hurt the "gold standard" of food and drug oversight. He and Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan proposed an alternate bill.

EMPTYING HOUSE? Another state representative is leaving. Rep. Bonner Stiller, a Brunswick County Republican, will step down this month to spend more time with his family. He joins four other legislators this term who've stepped down to accept a gubernatorial appointment (Rep. Linda Coleman) or move to the state Senate (now Sen. Dan Blue) or because they died (Sen. Vernon Malone) or were under investigation (Rep. Cary Allred).

IN OTHER NEWS: An East Carolina University professor will discuss his studies of the vice presidency with Joe Biden. ... Elizabeth Edwards is not interested in running for U.S. Senate, but she will open a furniture store in Chapel Hill. ... Former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole will make her first political appearance since losing in November when she introduces one-time GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee in Charlotte next week. ... Hagan ran into Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor in the ladies' room at the Capitol.

Former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole is coming back to North Carolina.

She'll be introducing former Arkansas governor and once (and future?) presidential candidate Mike Huckabee at an event in Charlotte next Thursday.

Huckabee will hold two events at the Charlotte City Club to benefit a conservative advocacy group he runs, the Vertical Politics Institute, and his political action committee, Huck PAC.

Dome believes this is the first political event Dole will attend in North Carolina since her defeat in November.

More information on the events is here.

Mike Huckabee will also speak in Kings Mountain.

The former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate will be the keynote speaker at a breakfast fundraiser for the 10th District GOP.

The breakfast will begin at 8:30 a.m. on June 11 at the H. Lawrence Patrick Senior Life and Conference Center.

Tickets are $25.

Huckabee will speak later that morning at two events in Charlotte for a considerably higher price.

iLEGISLATURE: State legislators may rewrite the corporate tax law in a bid to lure Apple computer, which is looking for a spot to locate a $1 billion data center. The tax breaks could be worth about $3 million a year in the first years and eventually grow to $12.5 million a year. The bill passed the House this week but must go back to the Senate for final approval.

PRE-RACE WARMUP: Contenders for the 2010 elections continue to get shuffled. Democrats are mulling six candidates for U.S. Senate: Reps. Heath Shuler and Mike McIntyre, state Sens. Malcolm Graham and Dan Blue, Iraq vet Cal Cunningham and Durham lawyer Kenneth Lewis. Meantime, Republicans lost first-round draft pick Mike Minter, who declined to run against Rep. Larry Kissell.

DUKING IT OUT: Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is taking heat for remarks she made at Duke University in 2005. An Appeals Court judge, she said the court is "where policy is made." Conservatives said that means she'll legislate from the bench; liberals said she simply meant interpreting vague laws. Forum moderator Erwin Chemerinsky said it's much ado about an "innocuous" remark.

IN OTHER NEWS: Former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee will hold a fundraiser in Charlotte in June. ... Mike Easley Jr. is working at the same law firm as Richard Vinroot, who ran against his father in 2000. ... Gov. Beverly Perdue said she trusts her son Garrett is not lobbying state legislators, despite his recent attendance at a big event. ... The N.C. Association of Educators says it's "at war" over the state budget.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will speak in Charlotte.

The one-time Republican presidential candidate will hold events to benefit a conservative advocacy group he runs, the Vertical Politics Institute, and his political action committee, Huck PAC.

The first event will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 11, at the Charlotte City Club. The cost for the private roundtable discussion is $500 per person and comes with a photograph with Huckabee.

He'll also be the guest of a private reception immediately afterward.

The cost of that event is $250 per person or $500 per couple.

Huckabee's last major appearance was at a get-out-the-vote rally in Raleigh and Charlotte in October. He was a speaker at last year's state Republican Party convention, where he notably helped save former state Sen. Robert Pittenger from choking.

Correction: The two events were incorrectly described in a previous version of this post.

Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards gets no respect.

One of his GOP rivals for the White House, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, zings Edwards in a fund raising letter, Rob Christensen reports.

"We need fiscal sanity in government," Huckabee writes. "Congress is truly spending like John Edwards in a beauty shop (sorry I couldn’t resist.)"

Edwards, of course, took a lot of flak for his $400 haircuts during his presidential run.