Mike Huckabee


The former Arkansas governor may appeal to social conservatives, writes Daniel Nasaw, but he faces tests in the weeks ahead

Friday January 4, 2008
Guardian Unlimited


Republican presidential hopeful, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, speaks at a campaign stop in Bedford, New Hampshire. Photograph: Cheryl Senter/AP



Mike Huckabee's climb from joke-telling, weight-loss success story to Iowa caucuses winner has left some Republicans wondering why the ascent didn't happen sooner.
After all, the former Arkansas governor is a bona fide social conservative, unflagging in his anti-abortion views and evangelical Christian beliefs.

He has a stage presence perfected in years at the pulpit as an ordained Baptist minister, and the smooth delivery of a radio presenter (another former career).

In a Republican race featuring a Mormon and a former New York City mayor who supports abortion rights and is sympathetic to gay people, Huckabee worked his personal charisma and image as a self-described "Christian leader" into the top tier of candidates and into the front of the Republican pack.


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But anaemic fundraising and a moderate record as governor have prevented him from breaking out in New Hampshire or evangelical South Carolina. It remains to be seen if Huckabee can convert his momentum into the cash and media exposure he will need to win his party's nomination.
Over the summer, Huckabee raised just $1m, compared to former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney's $18.4m and Rudy Giuliani's $11.6m. Fred Thompson took in $12.8m.

His support in Iowa appeared to stem from that segment of the Republican base squeamish about Mormon Romney. The first signs of his rise came in a series of straw polls among socially conservative activist groups.

Before winning election in 1993 as Arkansas lieutenant governor (which propelled him to the governor's mansion when his predecessor was convicted of two felonies three years later) Huckabee had been a popular Baptist preacher at a large church in Texarkana, a town in the southwest of the state bordering Texas.

His first run for office, in 1992, was a failure. He took on an incumbent Democratic US senator and was defeated 60 % to 40 %. Yet with the loss, Huckabee made a name for himself and built a network among the rural and impoverished state's relatively small circle of Republicans.

Huckabee was born in Hope, Arkansas, on August 24 1955. If the name of the town sounds familiar, that's because it's also Bill Clinton's birthplace, although Clinton moved away as a child.

Huckabee was attracted early in his life to music, learning to play guitar. An enthusiastic amateur, he still plays bass with a rock band called Capitol Offense. After high school, Huckabee attended Ouachita Baptist University, a church-affiliated school in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. In 1974 he married Janet McCain, his high school sweetheart. Huckabee maintains close ties to the school, which houses his gubernatorial papers.

Called to the ministry, Huckabee attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He was ordained and served as president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention.

As a Republican governor in an overwhelming Democratic state, Huckabee was forced to govern from the centre and negotiate with the Democratic state house and senate leadership. He governed pragmatically, calling for tax increases when the state faced a budget downturn and the state Supreme Court ordered increased education spending.

The move hurt his support among Arkansas Republicans, and Huckabee's White House bid has failed to generate the same enthusiasm in the state as Clinton's did in 1992.

His willingness to raise taxes then also has caught him flack from the fiscal conservative wing of the Republican party, most notably from the anti-tax activist organisation Club for Growth.

On the web and in a series of ads in Iowa, the group has portrayed him as "Tax Hike Mike," and sought to cast him as a tax-and-spend liberal.

He also strayed from the conservative line on immigration as governor. In 2005, he backed a proposal by a Little Rock Democratic legislator to offer the same tuition rates to children of illegal aliens offered to children in Arkansas legally.

Huckabee first won national attention for his weight loss. After being diagnosed with diabetes in 2003, Huckabee underwent a weight-loss programme, ultimately shedding more than 100 pounds. He took up running and has completed several marathons.

For all his apparent charm and charisma, however, Huckabee in the past demonstrated little tolerance for criticism, especially from the Arkansas press. Last year, his press office blackballed the liberal weekly newspaper Arkansas Times, refusing to send its editors routine press releases and public schedules.

Last year Arkansas reporters learned Huckabee's wife Janet had arranged an online gift registry to help furnish the couple's new house. Questioned about the registry, Huckabee lashed out a reporter and accused him of being a tool of the Arkansas Times editor.

It wasn't the first time Huckabee's acceptance of gifts had come under scrutiny either.

In 2003, the state Ethics Commission fined Huckabee $250 and issued him a letter of warning for accepting a $500 canoe from the Coca-Cola company two years earlier. In addition, the commission cautioned him for initially failing to report a $200 stadium blanket in 2001. Huckabee appealed and a judge overturned the commission on the canoe but upheld the commission on the blanket.

Two challenges remain before Huckabee can be considered a serious contender for the nomination. First he has to raise enough money to show he has been able to transform narrow grassroots appeal into the funds needed to compete after the early primary states. Even with an Iowa win, he will need to generate enough momentum to overtake Giuliani, McCain and Romney later in the primary calendar.


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