Mike Huckabee's Iowa campaign co-chair Bob Vander Plaats said tonight that when he and co-chair Danny Carroll joined forces with the presidential candidate and Iowa director Eric Woolson last year, Huckabee was just an asterisk in the polls. Huckabee garnered less than 1 percent in many polls, but that began to change to the summer.

"He is no longer an asterisk, he is the Iowa caucus winner," Vander Plaats said Thursday night.

Vander Plaats introduced Huckabee to a rousing applause from the packed crowd at Embassy Suites in Des Moines.

"I wasn't sure I would be able to love a state as much as I love my home state of Arkansas, but tonight I love Iowa -- a lot," Huckabee said.

He thanked Iowans for welcoming them into their homes, and said his support represented a "prairie fire" urging change. He quipped that he wished the race would end tonight and he could celebrate the whole thing, but pledged to take his message to New Hampshire and the rest of the country.

Despite being outspent significantly in Iowa by GOP rival Mitt Romney, the end results came down to the candidate and message, Huckabee said.

"People really are more important than the purse," he said. "Tonight we proved American politics still is in the hands of ordinary folks like you and across this country who believe it wasn't about who raised the most money but who raised the greatest hopes, dreams and aspirations for our children and their future. And tonight, I hope we will forever change the way Americans look at their political system and how we elect presidents."

Labels: Republicans