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Mike Huckabee

Michael Dale "Mike" Huckabee (born August 24, 1955) is the former governor of the U.S. state of Arkansas, having served from 1996 to 2007, who is a candidate in the United States presidential election, 2008. He was only the third Republican governor of the state since Reconstruction. He officially announced his candidacy for the United States presidential election, 2008 on January 28, 2007.

Huckabee was born in Hope, Arkansas, to Mae Elder and Dorsey W. Huckabee. He was elected Governor of Arkansas Boys State in 1972. He graduated magna cum laude from Ouachita Baptist University, completing his bachelors degree in 2½ years before attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

Prior to his political career Huckabee was pastor of several Southern Baptist churches in Arkadelphia, Texarkana, and Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He served as President of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention from 1989 to 1991 and as President of a religious-oriented television station.

In Huckabee's first political race, he lost to incumbent U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers (D) in 1992, having received some 40 percent of the vote. That same election saw Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton ascend to the Presidency. This made Lieutenant Governor Jim Guy Tucker the new Governor. Huckabee won a special election for lieutenant governor which was held early in 1993. He hence became only the second Republican since Reconstruction to have served as Arkansas lieutenant governor -- the first was the late Maurice L. Britt from 1967-1971. Huckabee was re-elected to a full term as lieutenant governor in 1994.

On July 15, 1996, he was sworn in as Governor of Arkansas; Tucker had resigned because of a felony conviction in the Whitewater scandal. He rescinded his resignation as Huckabee was preparing to be sworn in, however. Within a few hours Tucker reinstated his resignation, and Huckabee was sworn in.

Huckabee had two Republican predecessors as governor, Winthrop Rockefeller from 1967-1971 and Frank D. White from 1981-1983. As governor, Huckabee signed legislation that created ARKids First, a health insurance program designed to provide insurance to children of families who could not qualify for Medicaid but could not afford private insurance. A similar program in Texas is called CHIPS, or Children's Health Insurance Program.

In November 1998, Huckabee was elected to a full four-year term. He received the the highest percent of votes for a Republican seeking statewide office in Arkansas history. He defeated retired Colonel Gene McVay of Fort Smith in the primary and Jonesboro attorney Bill Bristow, a Democrat, in the general election.

At the beginning of his first full term, Huckabee led a public relations campaign for a bond program to pay for road reconstruction (Arkansas had, at that time, the lowest-rated highway system among the 50 states). Arkansas voters had traditionally shied away from public debt, having experienced a major bond scandal that affected the state's finances for the latter half of the 19th century. This time, however, the voters approved Huckabee's program.

Huckabee also led a campaign to dedicate via constitutional amendment 1/8 of each cent of the state sales tax to improvement of the state's park system and natural resources. As part of the campaign, Huckabee traveled the entire length of the Arkansas River (the part within Arkansas) by boat.

In 2000, Huckabee also led a campaign to funnel 100 percent of the state's tobacco settlement revenues into the state's health care system, rather than into the general fund.

In April 2001, Canadian comedian Rick Mercer aired his Talking to Americans special. In it, Governor Mike Huckabee was recorded congratulating Canada on preserving its national igloo

In November 2002, another Republican year, he was reelected to his second (and final because of term limits) four-year term. By the end of that term, Huckabee owned the third-longest tenure of any Arkansas Governor (only Democrats Orval Faubus, who served six consecutive 2-year terms (1955–1967), and Bill Clinton, who served eleven years, eleven months (1979–1981; 1983–1992), had longer tenures).

He was made the chair of the Southern Governors' Association in 1999 and served in that capacity through 2000. He has chaired the Southern Growth Policies Board, the Southern Region Education Board, the Southern Technology Council, and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, and currently serves as Chair of the Education Commission of the States. He is also a member of the Republican Governors Association and former chairman of the National Governors Association.

On November 21, 2002, the Arkansas Supreme Court declared that the state's school funding procedure was unconstitutional and ordered the state to produce a fair system. Huckabee proposed a controversial plan that would consolidate many of the state's smaller school districts. School consolidation is very unpopular in rural Arkansas and may be the "third rail" of Arkansas politics. Huckabee's plan was rejected by the legislature, and the court order has not yet been satisfied.

After Hurricane Katrina made landfall and numerous evacuees fled to Arkansas (the total number was estimated at around 70,000), Huckabee ordered state agencies to take care of the them. State parks offered discounts, waived pet restrictions, and bumped other reservations in favor of evacuees. Pharmacists were given emergency authority to dispense prescriptions and provide access to dialysis machines. Shelters opened up in nearly every portion of the state, and Huckabee requested that the entire state be declared a disaster area. Many of these shelters, either closed or set to close, were reopened or kept open to process a "second wave" of Katrina evacuees being moved from Texas in the wake of arriving Hurricane Rita. (See also Hurricane Katrina disaster relief).

In November 2005, Time named Huckabee one of the five best governors in the U.S.

In early 2006, Huckabee — along with fellow governors Rick Perry (R-TX); Jim Doyle (D-WI); and Dave Freudenthal (D-WY) — travelled to the Middle East and South Asia as part of Department of Defense-sponsored trip to provide the state leaders with an idea of the conditions under which American forces are serving. While visiting Baghdad and Tikrit, Huckabee and the governors received briefings from Gen. George Casey and Amb. Zalmay Khalilzad.[5]

Huckabee has voiced his support of creationism. He was quoted in July 2004 on "Arkansans Ask," his regular show on the Arkansas Educational Television Network: "I think that students also should be given exposure to the theories not only of evolution but to the basis of those who believe in creationism." Huckabee also stated "I do not necessarily buy into the traditional Darwinian theory, personally.

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