Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, meeting with reporters in Washington D.C. this morning, revealed he will give an “indication” of his presidential plans for 2016 in an appearance on Fox News tonight.

Talking like a potential presidential contender, but trying not to act like one (Huckabee refused to sit at the head of a table during his meeting with reporters), the former governor and Fox News host declared that “a lot of things have gone very well” in preparing for a decision about his future.

“I think things will be different than last time,” said Huckabee, who last ran for president in 2008. “Some good and some not. The good is that I think there will be lot more financial support. I am much more of a known quantity than eight years ago when I entered the race as a total unknown. The downside is there is going to be a big field.”

In jest, he added:

“There are a lot of qualified, capable people, but none of them will be as qualified as me.”

Huckabee, who won Iowa’s Republican caucuses in 2008, vowed a more well-rounded campaign this time around.

The pastor-pundit-politician, known for his pull with Evangelicals, realizes he wouldn’t be alone in that pursuit if he were to run again, facing off with a deep Republican field that includes likeminded contenders such as Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rand Paul, R-Ky.

“I don’t know I agree with narrative that in 2008 my primarily strength was only Evangelicals,” Huckabee said. “Honestly, if the Evangelicals had truly united and unified, I would have not only won Iowa, but also South Carolina, Texas and a lot other states.”

“What I had was a coalition of not only Evangelicals and pro-life Catholics, but the core base of my support was working class people, people who felt disenfranchised from establishment. Those were the people who showed up at rallies waving the signs. Yes, I would love to have monolithic support (of Evangelicals) but I don’t have any presumption that that is a vote I am owed or I deserve. I have to work for it and earn it like anybody else.”

As a former governor who understands how to reach across the aisle to get stuff done, but also will “stay true to core principles,” Huckabee argues he can fill a lane that isn’t occupied.

“Mick Jagger’s ‘You can’t always get what you want’ should be played regularly in Washington to remind people it’s not, ‘I win all the time, you lose all the time,’” Huckabee said. “Life doesn’t work like that—not in marriage, not in business, not in politics. Clearly one of the reasons I’m considering, contemplating and moving toward a decision is to bring the art of governing, the understanding of how to govern, while never losing your core values. You don’t want to govern for the short game. You want to govern for the long game. Govern what’s best for the country, not your party.”

But Huckabee’s pitch, like most, is also heavy on jabs and contrasts towards Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

Clinton and her husband hold up some steaks at the 37th Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa. (Photo: Jim Young/Reuters/Newscom)

The Clintons hold up some steaks at the 37th Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa. (Photo: Jim Young/Reuters/Newscom)

“I leave tips at Chipotle in the little jar,” Huckabee said, teasing Clinton about her recent appearance at the fast-food chain. “I like to not wear sunglasses and at least say hello so they don’t think I’m robbing the place. Her rollout did not go stellar.”

The pitch also features brags about his executive experience, but others have that too.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker can say they’ve run a state—but Huckabee is different, he says, because he’s already competed with the “Clinton political machine.”

Huckabee was lieutenant governor of Arkansas—where the Clintons political fortune began—from 1993-96 before becoming the state’s governor from 1996-2007.

“One thing I find intriguing is that a lot of people don’t make the connection that coming through the ranks of Arkansas politics was terrific preparation for governing,” Huckabee said.

“Because every race I ever ran was essentially against the Clinton political machine. They dominated Arkansas politics. People ask what the bluest state in America was in the 1990s. It was actually Arkansas. When I got elected lieutenant governor … people were so excited to see a Republican go to the state capital that the door was nailed shut from the inside. That gave me the challenge of how to govern in a hostile atmosphere.”

If Huckabee were to run, he’d also find the “healthy diet” lane busy.

Huckabee, who says he hasn’t eaten sugar since January (though his new book is called “God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy”), would have to battle with Bush’s famed Paleo diet.

And in standard conservative credo, Huckabee promises a “robust, shockingly strong” foreign policy.

“The bully picks on the kid who he doesn’t think would kick his butt,” Huckabee said.

“The U.S. has to be the guy nobody wants to pick on because the one thing he [the bully] knows is not only you could kick his butt, but you would. I’m going to put my heel on this side of your face, and there is nothing you’re going to do.”

Huckabee understands there are others like him.

He just thinks he’s better than them.

“All of us will say a lot of the same things,” Huckabee said.

“But I don’t know of anyone who could say they have more of a true bonafide record of consistency, not just with what I said, but with what I’ve done.”