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He may not be the next president, but he’s a savior to at least one.

Former Arkanas Gov. Mike Huckabee performed the Heimlich maneuver on a choking Robert Pittenger during Saturday’s North Carolina GOP convention breakfast, Huckabee’s former campaign spokeswoman confirmed Sunday.

Huckabee was the keynote speaker at the convention, and was sitting next to the Pittenger, who’s running for the lieutenant governor’s seat, when Pittenger began choking.

Huckabee noticed Pittenger couldn’t breathe and took action, giving Pittenger the heave in the chest needed to dislodge the offending food bit.

“I’m glad that Mike was in the right place at the right time and continued to lead by example,” former South Carolina Lt. Gov. candidate Mike Campbell told The Palmetto Scoop. “We all know that [Huckabee] is pro-life, and once again he has lived up to it.”

The newspaper noted that Pittenger apparently suffers from acid reflux, which likely caused the incident to occur. It added that Huckabee, who is also known for losing 110 pounds and promoting healthy living, was trained as an EMT in college and this may not be the first time he’s sprung to action when needed.

Click here to read The Palmetto Scoop article on Huckabee.

The 2008 Republican candidates line up on stage at a debate in Florida before the state's Jan. 29 primary. (AP Photo)

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Remember the Republican race? We know, that’s so three months ago.

The Democratic battle has been so long and so hard-fought that the GOP primary battle seems like a political blip.

But while Washington is in one those rare reflective modes, as Hillary Clinton closes the books on her bid for the Democratic nod, it’s worth recalling how much of a scramble the Republican primary once was.

Presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama summed it up when he described his conversation with presumptive GOP nominee John McCain Wednesday night.

“We … joked about the fact that if you had asked any of the pundits a year ago whether it was gonna be him and me as the two nominees, we wouldn’t have gotten many takers,” he said.

Obama’s and McCain’s campaigns put fresh value on the impact of the first two states on the primary calendar — Iowa and New Hampshire.

Those states served as the gauge, even when the race developed to a point where there was no clear front-runner, for who would be left standing.

And the race was one of the the most crowded in recent history — three candidates scored victories in the first six contests.

But at the start of the campaign, there looked to be four clear candidates in the running.

Rudy Giuliani, an icon for his handling of the Sept. 11 aftermath as mayor of New York City, soon became the odds-on favorite last year. Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, as a “Law & Order” actor, garnered heavy attention with a late entrance in the race in September, generating hopeful comparisons to President Reagan from his fans.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney built buzz off his win in the summer Iowa straw poll, and poured resources into the first two primary/caucus states.

And McCain, as a 2000 contender and Senate veteran, started with the air of an establishment favorite - but after summertime staff shakeups and fundraising woes, he slipped far behind in polls.

But then came Iowa, and dark horse Mike Huckabee. The former Arkansas governor’s plain-spoken, folksy demeanor, on display at every televised debate, helped him carry the lead-off contest. Romney placed second.

From then, Huckabee’s face was a common sight on the glossy front pages of newsmagazines. The game had changed.

Huckabee surged in national polls, and began to mount a more formal campaign. He signed on former Reagan operative Ed Rollins, at a time when his biggest surrogates were still actor Chuck Norris and wrestler Ric Flair.

McCain saw his opening. He won the next New Hampshire primary Jan. 8, and was again a legit choice for the Republican nominee.

The chiasmus had already started. As Huckabee and McCain built momentum, Thompson faded. He was accused of being lazy on the campaign trail and was unable to command a following for his so-called consistent, conservative message. After he finished third in the South Carolina primary, he dropped out.

Giuliani, too, was basically off-the-radar in the early primaries and caucuses. In Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Michigan and Nevada, he finished in single digits.

His strategy was to score a major victory in the Jan. 29 Florida primary, and use that momentum to snatch up wins across the country on Super Tuesday. Only by the time the Florida primary came around, Giuliani was an electoral afterthought. His strategy tanked.

McCain won South Carolina, and then he won Florida.

Giulaini endorsed him a day later, and dropped out before Super Tuesday.

Giuliani’s past didn’t help either. His former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik was indicted on fraud and corruption charges in November.

McCain too suffered a blow in mid-February when The New York Times ran a story suggesting he had a romantic relationship with a female lobbyist and did favors for her clients from his position as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. He battled the story, and the tables seemed to turn on The New York Times.

As McCain ascended, there was still grumbling in Republican circles. McCain has made foes with his work on comprehensive immigration and campaign finance reform, and his early opposition to the Bush tax cuts.

Huckabee and Romney remained about even in the race, but it was Romney who took on McCain the hardest. He railed against him as a conservative outsider, but McCain traded with charges that Romney was a flip-flopper on social issues.

Romney dropped out of the race Feb. 7, two days after McCain dominated the major states on Super Tuesday.

Though Huckabee dug in his heels, after that the race was basically McCain’s. Texas Rep. Ron Paul, whose supporters were among the most enthusiastic of the campaign, kept up his campaign when everyone else was on the way out.

But McCain clinched it in the March 4 primaries, and began to mend fences with the Republican establishment.

The next day he fielded the endorsement at the White House from President Bush.

“John McCain is the nominee of the Republican Party,” Bush said. “John showed incredible courage, strength of character and perseverance in order to get to this moment, and that’s exactly what we need in a president.”

Click here to see a timeline of campaign highlights.  

Click here to read more about the 2008 Democratic race. 

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Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is making his pitch to be John McCain’s running mate.

Huckabee, appearing Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said besides himself, he was rooting for McCain to be the presidential nominee, and “there’s no one I would rather be on a ticket with than John McCain.”

As to whether McCain would actually pick the former Arkansas governor as a vice presidential candidate, Huckabee said only McCain can decide whether that’s the best thing for him, but he will support him in any case.

“We are in crisis.  We are in crisis with $4 a gallon gasoline, we’re in crisis with small businesses who can’t barely get through their government paperwork, and I believe that right now, in a time of crisis, we don’t need to test drive, we need to make sure that we’ve got a reliable person in that chair, and that’s John McCain,” he said.

Huckabee had strong support from religious conservatives while in the race for the Republican nomination, and said the response to a recent flyer distributed in Kentucky appealing to evangelical voters by showing Democrat Barack Obama speaking with a cross behind him shows a double standard in the country.

“I took grief for months, I’m still taking it, over something that wasn’t even a cross.  It was a bookshelf, for heaven’s sakes.  It really was a bookshelf.  It, it shows, though, that there are two sets of rules that sometimes we play by.  And if Republicans even get near a church, we’re accused of embracing it,” he said, adding that he’s happy Obama is talking about his faith.

“I am refreshed by it, I applaud him for it, I welcome it.  I think it’s an appropriate thing, because he is a person of faith.  He’s being honest with the people.  I’ve always said that’s the only thing that matters is authenticity and honesty.  If you are a person of faith, let us know that.  If you’re not, be honest and say, ‘That’s just not that important to me.’ I can still vote for you, if you aren’t.  What I can’t do is vote for you if you’re not honest with me,” Huckabee said.

Huckabee also apologized for a remark he made Friday to the National Rifle Association. Responding to an offstage noise during a speech, Huckabee said it was Obama diving to the floor after someone had aimed a gun at him.

Huckabee called the comment a “dumb, off-the-cuff remark.” He promised it won’t be the last one he makes.

“This wasn’t funny, I’ll be the first to tell you that. Shouldn’t have said it.  I apologize.  I don’t know what else I can do,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee apologized Friday for cracking an off-color joke at a National Rifle Association meeting about a gun being pointed at Barack Obama.

Huckabee made the impromptu remark in response to an offstage noise during his speech in Louisville, Ky.

“That was Barack Obama,” Huckabee said. “He just tripped off a chair. He’s getting ready to speak and somebody aimed a gun at him and he — he dove for the floor.”

The quip was met with almost total silence.

The Obama campaign had no comment, but Huckabee later issued an apology.

“During my speech at the NRA a loud noise backstage, that sounded like a chair falling, distracted the crowd and interrupted my speech. I made an off-hand remark that was in no way intended to offend or disparage Sen. Obama. I apologize that my comments were offensive, that was never my intention,” he said in a statement.

Huckabee dropped out of the GOP race earlier in the year after it became clear John McCain had enough delegates to clinch the nomination.

Huckabee, McCain and several other Republicans used Obama as their punching bag Friday at the NRA meeting, criticizing him for his gun control and foreign policy positions.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Republican presidential candidate John McCain and former rival Mike Huckabee teamed up on the campaign trail for the first time on Friday, with Huckabee joking that they were so civil when they were opponents they don’t have to “unsay” any bad things.

McCain said that early in the GOP campaign, the two had a lot of time to get to know each other when they both were dismissed as the longest of long shots. Chatting with reporters on the Straight Talk Express campaign bus, McCain recalled the days when they were relegated to the most distant ends of the podium in the early Republican debates, drawing few questions from the moderators.

“Governor Huckabee and I had lots of time to chat with each other,” McCain laughed. “We became friends on the campaign trail.”

They were joined on the bus by their wives, Cindy McCain and Janet Huckabee.

Huckabee, hugely popular with social conservatives, has been mentioned as a potential running mate for McCain, who needs to shore up his support among conservative Republicans.

McCain responded to that speculation by offering what he called his “standard answer,” saying that he didn’t want to mention any names because that quickly leads to an invasion of privacy for anyone being considered.

But McCain was quick to volunteer that “millions of Republican voters voted for Governor Huckabee” in the primaries, and that he wanted the former Arkansas governor to play a prominent role in his campaign. McCain noted Huckabee still has a 65 percent approval rating in Arkansas.

When reporters asked Huckabee if he planned to campaign for McCain, it was McCain who jumped in to answer with a ready “yes.”

Huckabee, for his part, deflected a question about becoming McCain’s running mate by saying, “The main thing is getting Senator McCain elected.”

He said it would be easy for him to promote McCain’s cause, saying, “I don’t have to go around and unsay anything I said in the campaign. We ran a very civil campaign.”

Huckabee’s low-budget, upstart candidacy was one of the big surprises of the GOP primaries. He won eight states, including the Iowa caucuses, and was the last GOP rival standing before McCain claimed the prize.

Asked whether he could help McCain build support among wary conservatives, Huckabee predicted the party would rally around McCain because the stakes are so high. As for some grumbling among conservative leaders about McCain, Huckabee said, “I don’t see that in the rank and file.”

What most Republican voters are worried about, Huckabee said, is “Hillary R. Obama.”

The two later attended a closed fund-raiser. McCain was wrapping up his five-day “Time for Action” tour in Little Rock with a visit to a men’s leadership class at Arkansas Baptist College, a traditionally black private college. He billed the tour as a journey to places that have been ignored in the changing economy. They are also places GOP presidential candidates have effectively ceded to the Democrats.

But with the Republican nomination long settled, and Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton still competing against one another for the Democratic nomination, McCain is reaching out in hopes of claiming some Democratic and independent voters.

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Two weeks after the next president is elected, Mike Huckabee will publish a book sharing details on his failed bid for the White House and offering his vision for remodeling the conservative movement.

Sentinel, a conservative imprint of Penguin Group (USA), said Wednesday it will publish the former Arkansas governor and one-time Republican presidential hopeful’s next book, to be released Nov. 18.

The book, not yet titled, will offer an insider’s view of Huckabee’s campaign and also offer his vision for the future, publishers said Wednesday.

“There’s going to be a lot of untold stories and untold anecdotes,” said Will Weisser, Sentinel’s associate publisher. “But the other part is the governor’s vision for the future of American politics and society and what should we be working towards? How does the (Republican) party become more unified?”

Huckabee, who served as governor for 10 1/2 years, dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination last month after John McCain won enough delegates to clinch the party’s nomination. Despite a financially strapped campaign, Huckabee won the leadoff caucuses in Iowa and seven other states.

The publishing company wouldn’t say how much Huckabee will be paid.

Weisser acknowledged that they’ve agreed to the book at a time when Huckabee’s political future is uncertain. The former governor recently formed a political action committee to raise money for McCain and other Republicans, and has also been mentioned as a potential running mate for the Arizona senator.

“We kind of had to think about that because obviously it’s possible he could be the running mate,” Weisser said. “It could certainly be hard to do a traditional book promotion if he’s the vice president-elect. But some people here have pointed out that that’s a nice problem to have.”

In 2006, shortly before leaving office due to term limits and announcing his presidential bid, Huckabee published “From Hope to Higher Ground,” which offered a preview of his policy proposals on areas ranging from taxes to education.

Huckabee, who lost more than 100 pounds after being diagnosed with diabetes, also published a book offering his tips on weight loss and healthy living called “Quit Digging Your Grave With a Knife and Fork.”

Sarah Huckabee, the former governor’s daughter and executive director of his PAC, said her father was on the road and not immediately available for comment. She said her father was still writing the book.

Sentinel, which was founded in 2003, is also publishing former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s memoir to be released in 2010.