LISTEN: Huckabee Says Far Right Won't Support Him Because He'd Be Too Effective

Mike Huckabee has an explanation for why his presidential campaign hasn't caught on, even with religious right organizations -- he'd be too effective in ending abortion and same-sex marriage.

Interviewed by Fox News radio host Todd Starnes for a recent podcast, the former Arkansas governor said that because he would "slay the dragon," the organizations wouldn't be able to raise funds by invoking those issues.

"A lot of them, quite frankly, I think they're scared to death that if a guy like me got elected, I would actually do what I said I would do, and that is I would focus on the personhood of every individual, we would abolish abortion based on the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment, we would ignore the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage decision. And you know what the result would be?" Huckabee said.

"A lot of these organizations wouldn't have the ability to do urgent fundraising, because if we slay the dragon, what dragon do they continue to fight? And so, for many of them, it could be a real detriment to their organization's abilities to gin up their supporters and raise the contributions, and I know that sounds cynical but, Todd, it is what it is."

Several religious right groups and individuals have endorsed U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. They include the National Organization for Marriage, Bob Vander Plaats of Family Leader, Sandy Rios of the American Family Association, longtime activist Richard Viguerie, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson (who is now retired from the group), and former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. After a private gathering of Christian conservative leaders last month in Virginia, where the consensus was to support Cruz, more are expected to formally announce endorsements.

Huckabee also criticized Cruz for a comment he made at a New York City fundraiser in December, saying opposition to marriage equality wouldn't be a top priority in his theoretical presidency, although Cruz has been only too outspoken in his opposition on other occasions. "If, in Iowa, you tell people that defending marriage and religious liberty is one of your highest priorities, and you have rallies to that effect, and then when you go to a Manhattan fundraiser with all the establishment, pro-same-sex marriage donors and you tell them, 'Oh, no, that's not a priority for me,' I just think that's a disconnect," Huckabee said.

Listen to a clip below, courtesy of Right Wing Watch; the full podcast is on Starnes's page.