Top Republicans, including months-long front-runner Donald Trump and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, suggested earlier this week — after Vice President Biden dropped out and before Clinton's hearing Thursday on the 2012 Benghazi attacks — that the former first lady would be easier to defeat than Biden.

But Huckabee said on Friday of Clinton's testimony, "I think that politically Hillary survived, because it was all about doing what the Clintons are great at doing: they first deny, then they deceive, then they distract and ultimately what they do is they just go ahead and delay."

Huckabee noted that Republicans on the committee asked "pointed" questions of Clinton, but acknowledged, "I'm not sure a lot of Americans are that tuned in."