There was a very interesting passage in the Democrat-Gazette’s coverage of the ceremony at which Gov. Mike Beebe signed the food tax reduction What do you think?

Former Gov. Mike Huckabee told reporters Wednesday that he helped “frame the message” for the grocery tax cut by urging tax cuts during his final months in office. Huckabee, who is exploring running for the Republican nomination for president in 2008, was fending off accusations from conservative groups who have said he didn’t oppose taxes enough as governor.

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Beebe, a Democrat, gave a terse response when asked about Huckabee’s statement.

“I read it,” Beebe told reporters after the ceremony. “I don’t have anything to say about that. I think we need to thank the people of Arkansas for expressing their will on this subject, which I believe they did. And I think we need to thank the members of the General Assembly, and I’ll leave it at that.”

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Canada was more pointed.

“In my humble opinion, I don’t think [Huckabee ] was for it,” Canada said. “He never did help. You can’t be neutral. In my opinion, Gov. Huckabee wasn’t exactly for this.”

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Copy and past this link to read the full story.

http://www.nwanews.com/story.php?paper=adg&section=News&storyid=182003

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UPDATE: The Club for Growth, which has been pounding Huckabee’s presidential candidacy on account of its unhappiness with his record on taxes, caught Huckabee’s effort to edge into the tax-cutting limelight and gave him what for.  “It’s a sad day when a Democratic governor is more successful at cutting taxes in his first two months in office than a Republican governor was in ten years,” said a news release. Full release on the jump.

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