WASHINGTON — Brushing off calls by Texas Gov. Rick Perry and others for him to withdraw from the presidential race, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Tuesday that his longshot strategy for winning the Republican nomination runs straight through Texas.

"Texas is very, very important to us," Huckabee told a meeting with reporters. "We will spend a lot of time in Texas between now and March 4."

Despite his strong second-place performance in Tuesday's Virginia primary, Huckabee trails far behind Arizona Sen. John McCain in the delegate race and is mathematically incapable of winning a majority of delegates on the first ballot of the Republican National Convention.

Huckabee conceded he might need a mistake by his chief rival to change the race dynamics. But he said he will continue to amass as many delegates as possible before the convention opens in St. Paul, Minn.

Following his Virginia finish, Huckabee planned a swing through Wisconsin, which holds its primary next Tuesday and has a large and fervent bloc of anti-abortion Republicans.

But Huckabee said his biggest target is Texas, which he called "a very conservative state." Huckabee said he is "far more in sync" with Texas Republicans than are his primary election rivals, McCain and Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

Shunned by establishment

Huckabee called Texas Republicans "pro-life, pro-family ... pro-military."

"I would think that my platform is perfectly suited for Texas," he said.

But he is not a good match for the Texas GOP establishment.

Gov. Rick Perry and Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn have endorsed front-runner McCain. Huckabee has the support of just one Texas congressman: Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston.

"Now that Republicans have two choices, it is clear to me that the conservative candidate is Gov. Mike Huckabee," Culberson said.

But Perry, at an appearance in Washington last weekend, declared the fight for the GOP nomination "over" and described Huckabee's position as "down four touchdowns at the half."

richard.dunham@chron.com