Contrary to a report out today, a top HuckPAC official tells First Read, "There is no truth to the rumors" that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is reconsidering a run for president.

"The governor is still content with his decision to stay out of the race," the official said.

A Reuters report contended Huckabee hasn't shut the door on running. The source says it is true that Republicans have reached out to him to reconsider -- something the source says is not new. But Huckabee has not changed his mind.

Another Huckabee source also tells NBC's Andrew Rafferty, "There are people asking him to reconsider, but that is not something he is doing right now."

The rumors about Huckabee are the latest to surface following stumbles by Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry in recent weeks -- and the continued lack of enthusiasm for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Romney, by the way, will appear as a guest this weekend on Huckabee's FOX show.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, senior political adviser to Tim Pawlenty’s presidential campaign, told NBC News yesterday that she believes the former Minnesota governor is in a better position to do well in the Ames straw poll than her father, Mike Huckabee, was at this point in 2007. 

“He [Huckabee] had a much smaller organization,” she said. “It was a lot -- at this point -- less known. I would say that Gov. Pawlenty is probably somewhat ahead of where my dad was at this point in the straw poll.”

Huckabee, the affable former Arkansas governor who was also a Baptist pastor, finished second in Ames in 2007, but went on to win the caucuses. He had strong support from the religious voters, who campaigned hard for him.

For some perspective, Pawlenty is at 6% in the latest Des Moines Register poll out June 26, putting him in sixth place -- and gets only 2% from Republicans in the latest Gallup poll.

In the July 2007 NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll, Huckabee received just 1% of support from Republican voters, and in May 2007, he was at 4% in Des Moines Register poll.

On Ames expectations
SANDERS: “In the straw poll, I think he just needs to show progress from where he’s been and show that there’s some forward movement. I think he’ll do that. As far as the caucus goes, it’s a long way from now, but I think he needs to do extremely well in the caucus. You know, it’s one of those things that, it may change between now and then, depending on the environment. … We were polling six or seven [in the] last Des Moines Register poll, which is probably one of the bigger, more credible polls in the state -- so ahead of that. Anything better than 6 is progress.”

On a possible run by Texas Gov. Rick Perry
SANDERS: “I certainly think that he could have an impact, but so much of that, you know, he hasn’t been through this process. We haven’t seen him really be vetted; we haven’t seen him go through the day-to-day of presidential campaign rigors. So I think a lot of that’s yet to be determined, so we’re staying focused on our campaign. There have been a lot of people who said they were going to get in but didn’t, and so I think the most important thing for us is to stay focused on our campaign and our message. And that’s not going to change based on who gets in the race.”

Working for Pawlenty vs. working for her dad
SANDERS: “The environment is very different now than it was four years ago. You’ve got a much more aggressive electorate than you did four years ago. But at the same time there are a lot of similarities in the sense that Iowans take their role extremely serious; they’re very responsible voters. They ask hard questions and actually show up and ask questions. They don’t just come because they’re supporting, they come because they want to know who you are. They want to look you in the eye, and they want to be able to ask you something that’s important to them, and then see how you respond to it. I think Iowa is a great starting place for the presidential election for that reason alone. You know, most people expect not to just know who each candidate is, but they want to meet them, look them in the eye like once or twice and maybe even have you in their home at some point. You know, so it’s a very retail politics oriented, but I think it’s a good judge of, you know, how a person really is and the authenticity of them. And I think a person like Gov. Pawlenty will do extremely well here.” 

On Pawlenty Iowa strategy
SANDERS: “We’ll continue [the] bus tour right up until the straw poll. Our main thing is just getting the governor’s message out and letting him get in front of as many Iowans as possible because the more people that meet him, the more people the love him. And the more people coalesce around him are starting to get energized by what he’s saying and what he’s doing and what he’s done in the past. And so our goal is, he’s going to be the best salesman of himself that anyone could be, so we want to get him in front of as man Iowans as possible, so that we do well in the straw poll, which I think we will.”

On rest of GOP field
Sanders said she believes there are Republican candidates in the race without a record of accomplishment, but declined to give specifics.

On his radio show this morning, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said he would make "a very important announcement" on his FOX News television show Saturday evening. Urging his Twitter followers to "be sure to check my media schedule for today and the weekend," Huckabee fueled speculation he will finally declare whether he intends to run for the Republican presidential nomination. 

According to his schedule, Huckabee will appear six times over the next two days on the FOX networks, including spots on tonight's "The O'Reilly Factor" and "Fox and Friends" early tomorrow morning. Huckabee also will host his self-titled news hour Saturday and Sunday evening.

One of Huckabee's top advisers refused to answer directly if the announcement concerned his presidential intentions. Hogan Gidley, director of Huckabee's political action committee, HuckPAC, told the New York Times' Caucus blog that, while Huckabee "doesn't throw around 'I've got a big announcement' lingo in a haphazard fashion," he is not sure what Huckabee will discuss in his appearances on the network. 

Huckabee's flurry of appearances comes amid reports Fox News executives were rushing the former governor to announce his intentions for the 2012 campaign. Running for president most likely means Huckabee would have to relinquish his FOX News show and his radio show. Since former speaker of the House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum declared they are running for president, the network suspended their contracts. 

*** UPDATE *** Woody Fraser, executive producer of “Huckabee” said in a statement, per the Times:

“Governor Huckabee will announce tomorrow night on his program whether or not he intends to explore a presidential bid. He has not told anyone at FOX News Channel his decision.”

*** UPDATE 2 *** Ed Rollins, Huckabee's 2008 campaign manager organizing his "campaign-in-waiting" this time, says he doesn't think Huckabee's running.

Yesterday, we wrote about Mike Huckabee claiming falsely on a conservative talk-radio show that President Obama grew up in Kenya. (A Huckabee spokesman later said the former Arkansas governor, considering a 2012 White House bid, "misspoke.")

Today, Huckabee, on a nationwide book tour, invoked madrassas in reference to President Obama, but not because he's saying he's a Muslim.

Per Political Wire, Huckabee said: "And I have said many times, publicly, that I do think he has a different worldview and I think it is, in part, molded out of a very different experience. Most of us grew up going to Boy Scout meetings and, you know, our communities were filled with Rotary Clubs, not madrassas." He adds, “I’ve never said he’s a Muslim.” (The video is below. The quote appears at about 5:15.)

Conspiracy theorists on the right believe President Obama is a Muslim. He is not. He is a Christian.

Huckabee was also asked whether the amount of money he's made in the past two years will factor into his decision to run for president.

"The decision I make is not going to be based on my own personal finances," Huckabee said, adding, "That's not going to be the factor that gets me in or out."

Huckabee had said last week, per Roll Call: “If I run, I walk away from a pretty good income. I don’t want to walk away any sooner than I have to because frankly, I don’t have a lot of reserve built up. Most of my life was in public service. Therefore I didn’t come away wealthy. In order to run for president last time, I cashed in my life insurance, my annuities, I pretty much went through everything that I ever had as an asset that I thought I might someday live on. One thing I committed to myself, to my wife and God, was that if I do this I’m hopefully going to be in a position that I’m not so completely destitute at the end of it, that I have no idea what to do if I get sick."

He was also asked about Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum having their Fox contracts suspended because of their overtures at possible runs for the White House. Huckabee hosts a show on Fox.

"Well, if I see Fox News pop up on my phone ID, maybe I shouldn't answer it, I don't know," Huckabee joked. He added, "It's one of the reasons I'm not in a big hurry to go out and make an announcement."

*** UPDATED WITH HUCKPAC RESPONSE AFTER THE JUMP ***

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro and Sarah Blackwill
Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor considering another run for president in 2012, inaccurately claimed on a conservative talk-radio show that President Obama grew up in Kenya.

"[O]ne thing that I do know is his having grown up in Kenya, his view of the Brits, for example, very different than the average American," Huckabee told host Steve Malzberg, the Washington Post reported. (Huckabee is on a multi-state book tour that is taking him to key presidential nominating states.)

Huckabee's claim that President Obama grew up in Kenya is false. President Obama was born in Hawaii and spent part of his youth in Indonesia, not Kenya. The president's biological father was Kenyan, and Obama barely knew him.

Huckabee has said he believes President Obama was born in the United States -- unlike the so-called "Birthers," who believe falsely that the president was born elsewhere. Huckabee reiterated his standard reasoning for that again today.

"The only reason I'm not as confident that there's something about the birth certificate ... is because I know the Clintons well, and believe me they had lots of investigators out on him," Huckabee said, "and I'm convinced if there was anything they could have found on that they would have found it, and I promise they would have used it."

But Huckabee didn't shoot down other conspiracy theories like the president not having health or college records, floated by Malzberg. Here's a partial transcript:

MALZBERG: Don't you think it's fair also to ask him - I know your stance on this - how come we don't have a health record? We don't have a college record? We don't have a birth certif- why Mr. Obama did you spend millions of dollars in courts all over this country to defend against having to present a birth certificate. It's one thing to say, "You've seen it, goodbye. But why go to court and send lawyers to defend against having to show it?" Don't you think we deserve to know more about this man?

HUCKABEE: I would love to know more - what I know is troubling enough. And one thing that I do know is his having grown up in Kenya - his view of the Brits, for example, very different from the average American. When he gave the bust back to [of Winston Churchill] -- of Winston Churchill, yeah. A great insult to the British, but if you think about it - his perspective growing up in Kenya with a Kenyan father and granfather, their view of the Mau Mau Revolution is very different from ours, because he probably grew up hearing that the British were a bunch of imperialists who persecuted his grandfather.

MALZBERG: He despises the West, he despises the Brits, and I think he could take it all out on Israel, and that's why he despises Israel. He's not too thrilled with our history either... Would you say to him or at least ask him in a debate: Why did you go to court and spend millions of dollars on lawyers to prevent from having to show your birth certificate? If you have one, and it's there, why not show it?

HUCKABEE: The only reason I'm not as confident that there's something about the birth certificate, Steve, is because I know the Clintons well, and believe me they had lots of investigators out on him, and I'm convinced if there was anything they could have found on that they would have found it and I promised they would have used it.

*** UPDATE *** HuckPAC Executive Director J. Hogan Gidley says Huckabee "simply misspoke":

“Governor Huckabee simply misspoke when he alluded to President Obama growing up in ‘Kenya.’  The Governor meant to say the President grew up in Indonesia. When the Governor mentioned he wanted to know more about the President, he wasn’t talking about the President’s place of birth - the Governor believes the President was born in Hawaii. The Governor would however like to know more about where President Obama’s liberal policies come from and what else the President plans to do to this country - as do most Americans.” 

The Des Moines Register gets Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R), while in D.C. for the National Governors Association meeting, to break down the potential GOP presidential field.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, 2008 caucus winner: “I’m not even sure he’s going to run. But if he does, I think he’s obviously the favorite.”

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty: A “fine governor” and Iowa neighbor “going about it in the right way. He’s putting an organization together.”

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour: “I go way back with him. Don’t underestimate Haley.”

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels: “The first governor that really took the fiscal bull by the horns.”

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum: “There are a lot of social conservatives in Iowa.”

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney: “He’s not going to spend as much money or as much organization in Iowa” as he did in 2008.

*** UPDATE *** Branstad made these remarks to PBS. Apologies to our friends there.

A clue that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) might not run for president in 2012 -- or, if he does, he'll do it very late in the process?

Huckabee has sent a note to his email list advertising an Alaska cruise he'll be going on in June.

This June I am headed to Alaska to participate in the Alaska Freedom Cruise organized by Frank Arnold Presents. We will also be joined by some of the nation's leading musical artists and entertainers. You can find the full set of details by clicking the banner in this email or the link at the bottom.

I am incredibly excited to be a part of such a great event and to see such a beautiful part of our nation.
Again, I hope you will consider joining me June 5-12th for this wonderful experience. Learn more about the trip by visiting the cruise website here.

Sincerely,
Mike Huckabee