Mike Huckabee to hold GOP candidate forum this Saturday

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee’s Fox News program this weekend will feature a 2012 GOP forum with at least 5 confirmed candidates. The 90 minute forum will air Saturday evening at 8pm ET. Each candidate will answer questions individually with the Governor and other hosts.

Air Time: Saturday, December 3, 2011 at 8pm ET on Fox News

Confirmed Candidates: Romney, Bachmann, Gingrich, Santorum, Paul, Perry

Unconfirmed: Perry, Cain, Huntsman

Report from the New York Times:

Fox News is hosting a candidates’ forum in its New York studios with former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas on Dec. 3. According to a letter sent to the candidates and obtained by The Caucus, Mr. Huckabee, now a Fox News host, will be joined by three Republican state attorneys general who will pose questions individually to each candidate who agrees to appear.

A Fox News spokeswoman confirmed the forum, in which five candidates — Mitt Romney, Representative Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Representative Ron Paul — have agreed to attend. The network was still waiting for responses from Herman Cain, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and Jon M. Huntsman Jr.

That so many candidates have agreed to appear at the forum — which is exactly one month from the Iowa caucuses — is telling. Mr. Huckabee’s endorsement of any of them would be significant, as he was the winner of the 2008 Iowa caucuses. Last weekend, he said that the party’s right wing should coalesce around Mr. Romney if he won the nomination, despite its long skepticism of him.

Here are the forum rules given to candidates:

• The forum will last approximately 90 minutes.
• Candidates will be individually questioned. At no point will candidates have on-air interaction with each other.
• The order in which candidates are questioned will be determined by a draw. Each candidate will have an 8-10 minute question and answer session. The exact amount of time will depend on commercial break structure.
• Candidates will be in the studio one-by-one for their Q&A. The remaining candidates will be watching the forum from their private work space provided by Fox News.
• At the end of the forum, each candidate will be given one-minute rebuttal/final thoughts. Candidates will be on separate cameras.
• There will be no studio audience.

I’d imagine the unconfirmed list will shorten as I’d expect Cain and Perry to give a positive response. Huntsman has passed on some earlier televised events so I wouldn’t be shocked if he passes on this appearance as well. More details to come later this week.