Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said for all purposes, he won the Iowa straw poll Saturday in Ames with a strong second-place finish. He also celebrated holding frontrunner Mitt Romney to well under 50 percent of the vote.

"We're a contender. We're in this thing for the long haul," Huckabee said.

He said his campaign doesn't have the funding of some of other candidates. He said his campaign only bought 1,800 tickets; he ended up getting nearly 2,600 votes.

He said he has heard from potential supporters that they like his message and his take on the issues but had held off on financially supporting him to see if his campaign could gain traction.

"Here's the traction, where's the check?" Huckabee said.

He said he'll be looking to improve his Web site soon.

He said he thinks people like his message and his willingness to talk about all the issues including the environment, health care, education and Social Security and his balance of domestic and international issues.

-- By Gwen Tietjen