Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee announced on his Facebook page that he was ending his weekend show on Fox News in order to weigh a decision to run for president in 2016.

CNN:

I won't make a decision about running until late in the spring of 2015, but the continued chatter has put Fox News into a position that is not fair to them," Huckabee wrote in a letter to supporters Saturday evening released before his show started airing.

"The honorable thing to do at this point is to end my tenure here at Fox so I can openly talk with potential donors and supporters and gauge support," he added.

On his Saturday night program, titled "Huckabee," he said goodbye to viewers while insisting he hadn't made up his mind yet about actually running.

He put it this way: "As much as I have loved doing the show, I cannot bring myself to rule out another presidential run. Oh, to be clear, I'm not making that announcement right now."

He said he'd probably continue to make guest appearances on Fox -- "I hope so!" -- and he thanked the network's chairman Roger Ailes for "the past six and a half years of support."

Some of Huckabee's rivals might say the weekly platform on Fox — where he reached about 1.3 million viewers — gave him a leg-up.

In a recent CNN/ORC poll about potential Republican presidential candidates, Huckabee received the support of 6 percent of respondents, putting him tied for fourth place.

On Saturday afternoon Huckabee had urged his followers on Facebook and Twitter to tune in for an announcement "that will make news for sure."

In his subsequent letter, he wrote, "As much as I have loved doing the show, I love my country more, and feel that it may be time for me to enter a zone of comfort to engage in the conflicts that have almost destroyed the bedrock foundations of America."

"I feel compelled to ascertain if the support exists strongly enough for another Presidential run. So as we say in television, stay tuned!"

Huckabee would clearly be the favorite of social conservatives were he to run, and he is not without charm and gentle good humor.

But he runs the danger of heing a conservative afterthought in the race, with Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and perhaps Rick Perry jockeying for position on the right. Each of those candidates will almost certainly have more money than Huckabee - a liability when the primary season begins in earnest.

But Huckabee has a secret weapon that held him in good stead in Iowa in 2008 when he swept to a surprise victory. There, as elsewhere, Huckabee makes up for his lack of cash by relying on a network of churches whose members boost his turnout and  pound the pavement for him. In caucus states, it's a strategy that gives him a chance.

But in big media primary states like Florida and the midwest industrial belt, Huckabee will be at a disadvantage. No doubt, this factor will be an important one as he mulls the opportunity to run for president.