Priebus, Trump, Fiorina, Paul and Now Huckabee Keep Eligibility Question Alive

Shortly before a closed-door “Huckabee Huddle” with local pastors, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee weighed in on the question of the week. Yes: He too had questions about whether Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), born in Canada to a Cuban father and American mother, was eligible for the presidency. It certainly seemed to pose a problem.

“When it first surfaced, I didn’t think it did,” Huckabee said. “But after now reading a number of very thoughtful pieces by constitutional experts, I think it should give everybody a little concern. It’s an issue that’s got to be dealt with. There was one article from Lawrence Tribe, and there was another from a professor who wrote in The Washington Post, and it was very compelling argument. It was not a political argument. This person gave very serious reasons as to why this was a serious question.”

In a few words, Huckabee became at least the fourth rival to Cruz to ask whether his eligibility could be questioned. Carly Fiorina cited “legal scholars” who had judged the issue “legitimate.” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who had once brushed off the question, suddenly called it a potential problem. And then there was Donald Trump, whose predictable obsession with the topic seemed to finally end the mutual admiration pact between Cruz and himself.

Listen to Constitutional Law Attorney KrissAnne Hall discuss the eligibility issue at 18:14:

That would have been bad enough, had Republicans as eminent as RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Gov. Terry Branstad (R-Iowa) refused to simply call Cruz eligible, or call the question ridiculous. Today, as Cruz campaigns in South Carolina, his supporters see the entire eligibility debate as an obvious bad faith ploy. (Read more from “Priebus, Fiorina, Paul and Now Huckabee Raise the Eligibility Question” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.