Mike Huckabee presidential campaign, 2008
Encyclopedia
Mike Huckabee
, former Governor of Arkansas, announced his candidacy for the Republican Party
nomination for the 2008 presidential election
in the United States
on January 28, 2007. Huckabee ended his bid for the Republican Nomination, after losing the Texas Republican primary on March 4, 2008.
Huckabee's campaign began with a first quarter fundraising total lower than many of the front-running Republican candidates, raising $544,880. Huckabee said that he found it difficult to move forward in a race "ruled by candidates with the biggest names." In early August Iowa polls, Huckabee placed second in the August 11 Iowa Straw Poll with 18.1 percent. He came in 2nd at the onsite polling of the Family Research Council Values Voters Summit
on October 21, 2007, with 28% of the vote, and garnered a celebrity endorsement from actor Chuck Norris
.
In December 2007, Huckabee began challenging other candidates for first in national polls among Republicans. As of January 2, was polling third within the margin of error of first with Rudy Giuliani
and John McCain
. On January 3, 2008, Huckabee won the Iowa Republican Caucuses
with 34% of the electorate. On Super Tuesday, Huckabee won an additional 6 states, including most of the Deep South
. On March 4, 2008, Mike Huckabee officially ended his campaign by conceding victory of the Republican Presidential Nomination to John McCain
.
. He announced his run for the White House on Meet the Press on January 28, 2007. On January 29, 2007, Huckabee told The Associated Press "I think this is an opportunity to show the American dream is still alive and there's hope and optimism that can be awakened in a lot of people's lives if they think that a person like me can run and actually become president."James Carville
, Clinton's former political consultant
, said the following about Huckabee: "He likes people, he knows how to relate to people. He can talk the talk. I'm impressed with this guy's political skills."
In January 2007 on Meet the Press
, Huckabee said "I think you've got to be very careful. I wouldn't propose any new taxes. I wouldn't support any. But if we’re in a situation where we are in a different level of war, where there is no other option, I think that it's a very dangerous position to make pledges that are outside the most important pledge you make, and that is the oath you take to uphold the Constitution and protect the people of the United States."
Grover Norquist
, the president of Americans for Tax Reform
, who in 2006 called the governor a "serial tax increaser," stated recently, "Gov. Huckabee recognizes that the challenge is to rein in spending and reduce taxes." Huckabee supports the Fair Tax, which would do away with all federal taxes and replace them with a single national sales tax. In March 2007, Huckabee signed the Presidential Taxpayer Protection Pledge of Americans for Tax Reform, promising not to increase taxes at the federal level.
On April 3, 2007, Huckabee's campaign reported that it had raised only $500,000 in the first quarter of 2007, much less than rival candidates. The numbers prompted speculation in Arkansas that Huckabee might abandon the Presidential race for a U.S. Senate race against first-term Democrat Mark Pryor
. Huckabee denied any plans to do this, and Huckabee campaign manager Chip Saltsman
claimed that the campaign had actually surpassed its first quarter fund raising goal.
On April 23, 2007, Huckabee finished second in a South Carolina
straw poll
conducted by the local Republican
parties in Greenville
, Spartanburg and Richland
counties with 111 votes behind former Massachusetts
Gov. Mitt Romney
. That same day, Huckabee said that Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales
is "creating a major distraction for the President and for the administration and for the Republican Party," and suggested that perhaps Gonzales should consider resigning due to the current controversy surrounding him.
Huckabee participated in the May 3, 2007 Republican Presidential Debates along with the party's other nine declared candidates. Huckabee expressed support of a FairTax
, a balanced budget
with reduced spending, making the Bush administration's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent, combating climate change, and comprehensive immigration reform
. Political analyst and former Clinton and Huckabee adviser Dick Morris
said Huckabee performed well, asserting that he was the "most original" candidate, especially with his explanation of the pro-life platform; and that his articulation was "novel and intriguing." Huckabee was one of three candidates in the debate who said that they do not believe in human evolution
.
Huckabee generated even better reviews from his performance in the May 15, 2007 Republican Presidential Debates. He delivered what CNN
commentator David Gergen
called "the funniest line of the night" when he said that "[w]e've had a Congress that's spent money like John Edwards
at a beauty shop," a reference to the report of Edwards, a 2008 Democratic Presidential candidate, spending $800 of campaign money on two haircuts. Many supporters of the FairTax
plan were also impressed by Huckabee's unfettered support of that proposed policy.
Huckabee said on May 16 that, if his campaign falters, he would have to think long and hard before agreeing to become a vice-presidential candidate on a ticket whose presidential candidate believes that abortion
should remain legal. "This is an issue to me that is very critical. It's one of the reasons that I got into politics because I believe the manner in which we treat innocent life and the matter in which we respect human life, at whatever stage ... is an incredibly powerful statement about who we are as a people," Huckabee told reporters in a conference call in South Carolina
.
The Huckabee campaign announced on Friday, June 8, that the former Governor would participate in the Iowa Republican Party's Straw Poll, scheduled for Saturday, August 11, 2007 in Ames, at Iowa State University
. An Iowa poll conducted in mid-June showed Huckabee in fourth place with 7 percent; ahead of John McCain
and Sam Brownback
. More recently, an ABC News/Washington Post poll showed Huckabee at 8%, tied with John McCain. That is the highest Huckabee had polled in that state.
Early in the third quarter, after second quarter fundraising totals increased only slightly to over $760,000, Huckabee criticized the top tier Republicans for wastefully spending their campaign money and said that "I really don't want some folks in charge of the federal treasury if the way they're burning campaign money is indicative of how they would burn taxpayer money"
Political analyst and former Bill Clinton
campaign manager Dick Morris called Huckabee his favorite among the bottom-tier candidates on Hannity and Colmes on July 3. Huckabee began a grassroots movement in Iowa, and stumped throughout the state during the month of July. In a July 9, 2007 interview, Huckabee said that his solution for ending the ongoing violence in Iraq would include a troop increase and seeking additional support from other nations in the Middle East
. He was a guest on Fox News' 'The Neal Cavuto Show' on Friday, July 20, and then returned to Iowa for numerous Meet Mike Huckabee events. He traveled to Amarillo, Texas
on July 22 to give a sermon at The Church at Quail Creek. Huckabee continued to keep a busy schedule in Iowa in late July; he traveled to Muscatine
and was a guest on the conservative radio talk show The Right Balance with host Greg Allen on July 24.
An Iowa poll conducted on July 26 placed Huckabee far behind front-runners Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson, but ahead of second tier candidates Tom Tancredo
, Ron Paul
, Duncan Hunter
, and Tommy Thompson
. Huckabee has also agreed to be part of a Cancer Forum in Iowa on August 28, held by cancer survivor Lance Armstrong
. In the summer of 2007, Huckabee began to become closely compared to Kansas Senator Sam Brownback
, also a Presidential candidate, for their similar socially conservative views. Huckabee and Brownback have been said to be the top candidates among evangelicals and other Christians. Huckabee tried to separate himself from Brownback (and succeeded, as Brownback
dropped from the campaign) whom he saw as his main rival at that point. When asked what separates him from Brownback, he said that "the key difference is I've actually been a Governor for ten and a half years and I've run a government." He also said that no senator has been elected since JFK, and "frankly there's a good reason for that." Several polls in the state have placed Huckabee ahead of Brownback; a Mason-Dixon poll placed him at 7% with Brownback at 6. Huckabee acknowledged their similarities and said that "without a doubt, we're going after the same voters." Other sources have expressed concern that there is room for only one of them in the race, and that if Huckabee comes out on top, Brownback will struggle to raise money and vice versa.
On July 26, Huckabee called upon Tom Tancredo
to pull his campaign's campaign ad which attacked Huckabee on the subject of illegal immigration
. Huckabee called the ad "blatantly dishonest" and said that "when people engage in a completely false attack, it's usually an act of desperation. To me, it's a badge of honor because he sees that we are reaching the people we are trying to reach." Tancredo's campaign responded by saying that Huckabee supports amnesty
for illegal immigrants, and that the ad was correct while Huckabee's campaign insisted that the ad "clearly distorts Mike Huckabee's conservative record on amnesty."
In early August, after the collapse of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota
, Huckabee expressed his sympathy to the victims of the disaster and said that taxes do not need to be raised in order to fix the roads, bridges, and other infrastructure, claiming that the billions of dollars spent on other countries' infrastructure should be spent in the United States. He said that "we have to start addressing building this country, not everybody else's."
Mike Huckabee appeared on the CBS Evening News
on August 1 to discuss the Iowa Straw Poll and his ongoing campaign in Iowa. He was among the Republican debaters in Iowa on August 5, and came in with 8 percent support in a pre-debate poll, tying with John McCain and ahead of his main competitor Sam Brownback who came in with 5 percent. Huckabee was pleased with the results, which showed that he was ahead of all of his second-tier candidates, and said "we think [the poll is] a great sign for us because it shows that when other candidates are standing still or moving backwards we clearly are moving forward." An Iowa focus group gave Huckabee high marks after the debate, citing that he gave "honest and clear answers" to the questions. As the August 11 Iowa straw poll draws near, Huckabee's campaign manager Chip Saltsman
has said to supporters that a strong showing in the poll will vault the campaign into the top-tier.
In the days before the Iowa Straw Poll, potential but undeclared Republican candidate Newt Gingrich
commented that Huckabee is "the most interesting dark horse," and that he will catch on with Republican Primary voters. He also said that Huckabee has a level of authenticity and candor that is beginning to resonate with people. Huckabee appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews
on August 8 and discussed his standing in the polls as well as the upcoming straw poll.
At the August 11 Iowa Straw Poll, Huckabee took second place with 2,587 votes, roughly 18 percent. Huckabee spent $57.98 per vote in the Straw Poll, which is the lowest among the top three finishers. Since Romney was expected by the vast majority to take first in the poll, many declared Huckabee the big winner. The National Review said that "When it was all over, there was no doubt that the winner of the day was Huckabee." Huckabee told reports that "It is beyond huge. Tonight, for all practical purposes, we won the Iowa straw poll. No one was even saying we would come in second. You gotta admit, for what we had to work with, the resources we had, for us to surge, coming in second, is the victory, it is the story."
Huckabee echoed his statement when he appeared on Face the Nation
on the morning of August 12. "We're in fact in the first tier, I think, by everybody's estimation, and here's why," Huckabee told Jim Axelrod. "It wasn't just that we surprised people with a second showing, it's that we did it with so few resources. I mean, this really was feeding the 5,000 with two fish and five loaves, an amazing kind of day for us." Looking beyond Iowa, former Governor of South Carolina
and Huckabee supporter David Beasley
said that Huckabee is filling the void created by the lack of a social conservative in the race. He said that "I really believe now that the conservative voters will begin to coalesce behind Mike Huckabee...and it's going to be infectious in New Hampshire and South Carolina"
In the week following the Straw Poll, Huckabee scheduled a trip to New Hampshire
, seen as the next battleground state. He is scheduled to spend August 17 to the 20th in that state attending picnics and spaghetti dinners, and meeting with local pastors. When Huckabee appeared on Fox News' Hannity and Colmes to discuss his straw poll showing and future plans, he expressed confidence in his New Hampshire effort and said that "we have a great team in New Hampshire. I'm very confident we're going to surprise people in New Hampshire just like we did Iowa. Also in the week following the Straw Poll, Huckabee continued to talk of the momentum his campaign gained from his 2nd place showing. He told reporters that "it was a great day for us and the results have been pretty dramatic. We had over 1,000 first-time contributors from Saturday night to Tuesday morning online and the phones have not stopped ringing." In all, Huckabee experienced more media exposure in one week than he had in the past 6 months. He appeared on such shows as Hardball with Chris Matthews
," "Kudlow & Company
," "Hannity & Colmes
," The Early Show
," "Your World with Neil Cavuto
" and the Laura Ingraham
radio show.
Huckabee's media exposure continued to grow when he appeared on The Colbert Report on August 16 and the season premiere of Real Time with Bill Maher
on August 24. Colbert jokingly attributed Huckabee's success in the Ames Straw Poll
to "the Colbert bump" in reference to Huckabee's two prior appearances on the show while Maher remarked, "Rudy Giuliani scares the hell out of me so I hope you win, and the good news for you, on your birthday, is that this year a Republican dark horse
could win." The coverage from Colbert instigated the Who Made Huckabee?
mock feud.
Further evidence of his growing prominence was seen the next day, when during a Democratic rally, Jesse Jackson was asked about his opinion of the "four Republican front-runners" and responded with "I tell y'all, don't ever forget about Mike Huckabee!"
Huckabee starred in what pundits called the highlight of the New Hampshire Republican Debate on September 5, sparring with Congressman Ron Paul
in a heated exchange over the war in Iraq and the United States' obligation to the Iraqi people. After Paul stated that U.S. foreign policy is dragging the Republican Party
down, Huckabee responded, "Even if we lose elections, we should not lose our honor, and that is more important than the Republican Party." As the third quarter closed, Huckabee was reported to have missed a major GOP conference in Michigan because his campaign could not afford a charter flight. Huckabee rebounded his finances before the end of the third quarter, however, reporting $651,301 on hand. In late September, Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich
and former President Bill Clinton
said in separate interviews that Huckabee will catch on with Republican primary voters, and called him most likely "dark horse" candidate to win.
Value Voters Summit straw poll with 27.15%, behind former Massachusetts Governor Romney, but won among onsite voters with 51.26 percent of onsite votes at the Washington, DC meeting. On October 22, actor Chuck Norris
announced his endorsement of Huckabee in a release on Huckabee's website. Norris said that "I believe the only one who has all of the characteristics to lead America forward into the future is ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Mike Huckabee is the real deal." On The Sean Hannity Show
on October 22, debate analyst Frank Luntz
said "I think Mike Huckabee's coming in 2nd in Iowa." In late October, following the Republican Presidential Debate in Orlando, Florida
, Huckabee's website traffic increased to more than that of all of the other Republican candidates except for Ron Paul. On October 25, a national Rasmussen
poll gave Huckabee his highest polling number yet - 10%. Talk show host Bill O'Reilly
, who was a skeptic of Huckabee's success, had previously made a bet with Dick Morris
that Huckabee would never reach double digits.
There was controversy when Huckabee was asked about responses he gave on a questionnaire during his 1992 race for the U.S. Senate. Huckabee stated in 1992, "I feel [homosexuality] is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk." He also suggested that AIDS patients should be "isolated from the general population." He stuck by those comments in December 2007 when asked if homosexuality is sinful. He replied, "Well I believe it would be—just like lying is sinful and stealing is sinful. There are a lot of things that are sinful. It doesn't mean that a person is a horrible person. It means that they engage in behavior that is outside the norms of those boundaries of our traditional view of what's right and what's wrong. So, I think that anybody who has, maybe a traditional worldview of homosexuality would classify that as an unusual behavior that is not traditional and that would be outside those bounds." He also defended his statements about isolation of AIDS patients, claiming that in 1992 "we were still learning about the virus that causes AIDS."
Huckabee's poll numbers have risen consistently through November and December. On November 15, 2007, Huckabee was recorded as placing second in Iowa
in an American Research Group poll at 24%. This was only 2% points lower than the leader Mitt Romney. Polls in early December placed Huckabee ahead of Romney in Iowa by as much as 5 points in a poll by the Des Moines Register
, and 3 points in a Rasmussen
poll.
On November 16, 2007, Huckabee was recorded as placing second, for the first time, in a nation-wide poll, garnering 12% of presidential tracking poll by Rassmussen Reports. He was tied with Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson. On December 1, 2007, Huckabee moved up to 15%, his highest percentage yet - and he surpassed Giuliani on December 5 with 20% of Republican voters supporting him nationally versus Giuliani's 17%. On December 19, Huckabee tied with Giuliani in the national Reuters/Zogby poll.
Huckabee credited divine intervention
for his rising poll numbers. "There's only one explanation for it," Huckabee said, "and it's not a human one. It's the same power that helped a little boy with two fish and five loaves feed a crowd of 5,000 people." When the close proximity of the first contests to the holidays led to many candidates putting out Christmas ads and videos — allowing them to keep presenting their message but in a more appropriate setting — Huckabee chose one acknowledging that viewers were tired of political messages in the holiday season and that what "really matters is the celebration of the birth of Christ," avoiding other candidates' "Happy holidays" formulation. The ad generated considerable media discussion about whether a white bookshelf in the background was a subliminal Christian cross
; Huckabee mocked the suggestion and said it was just a bookshelf. When asked about the ad and the thought of it being a cross, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul
stated that he had not seen the ad, but replied with the assumption that it was a cross, quoting Sinclair Lewis
' warning that "when fascism comes to this country, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
Roy Beck
, whose 1.5 million member organization NumbersUSA
played a major role in defeating the Senate immigration bill, calls Huckabee "an absolute disaster as governor of Arkansas... Every time there was any enforcement in his state, he took the side of the illegal aliens." Huckabee responded by saying if voters are looking for the toughest guy on immigration, he's not their man. Nevertheless, like many in the Republican party, Huckabee's position has evolved, particularly after the bruising immigration reform fight in the summer of 2007. On December 6, 2007, he released a nine-point immigration enforcement and border security plan. These were modeled on a ten-point plan proposed in 2005 by Mark Krikorian
. On January 16, 2008, Huckabee became the first presidential candidate to sign Americans for Better Immigration's No-Amnesty pledge. In response, Roy Beck's organization raised his rating on illegal immigration to EXCELLENT. Huckabee continues to speak for the dignity of legal immigrants. In the January 10 Republican debate he said that all immigrants "ought to live with their heads up.. We ought to have the assumption that everybody here is legal, that nobody here is illegal."
, with 34 percent of the vote, nine percentage points ahead of his chief Iowa rival, Mitt Romney
.
On January 8, 2008, Huckabee finished third place in the New Hampshire primary
, behind John McCain
in first place, and Mitt Romney
who finished second, with Huckabee receiving one more delegate for a total of 18 delegates, gained via elections, and 21 total delegates, verses 30 total (24 via elections) for Romney, and 10 for McCain (all via elections).
On January 15, 2008, Huckabee finished in third place in the Michigan primary
, behind John McCain in second place, Mitt Romney who finished first and ahead of Ron Paul
who finished in fourth place.
On January 19, 2008, Huckabee finished in second place in the South Carolina primary
, behind John McCain who finished first.
On February 5, 2008, Huckabee won the first contest of "Super Tuesday
" by winning the West Virginia
GOP state convention
by winning 52% of the electorate to Mitt Romney's 47%. Backers of rival John McCain threw him their support to prevent Mitt Romney from capturing the winner-take-all GOP state convention vote. He also registered victories in Alabama
, Arkansas
, Georgia
and Tennessee
on Super Tuesday, bringing his delegate count up to 156, a distant third compared to 689 for Republican Party front-runner John McCain and Mitt Romney's 286, according to the 2008 Republican presidential primaries and caucuses
.
On February 9, 2008, Huckabee won the first election following Super Tuesday, by winning 60% of the vote in the Kansas Republican Caucuses
.
This was also the first contest to be held with out Mitt Romney
, who was said to be splitting the conservative vote with Huckabee and some pundits suggested it was the reason for Huckabee's landslide victory. Huckabee also won the Louisiana Republican Primary
with 44% of the vote to John McCain's 43% in second. Although Huckabee won the primary he was not awarded any delegates, because of the state party rules that state a candidate must pass the 50% threshold to receive the state's pledged delegates.
Huckabee has stated that being criticized is a good sign for him because it means that he is a viable candidate. Huckabee says of the political attacks, "Suddenly, I seem to be in the cross hairs of every predator who is out there," Huckabee said. "As a hunter, I know that a good hunter never aims his gun at a dead carcass. You only point it at something you want to put on the wall as a trophy."
Huckabee asked a New York Times Magazine reporter, "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the Devil are brothers," saying that he didn't know a lot about the LDS Church. A spokeswoman for the church says that this statement is more often used as a smear against Mormons. Some feel that his statement was an attack on Mitt Romney
, who is a Mormon.
On Hillary Clinton, Huckabee said, ""There's nothing funny about Hillary Clinton being president. Let me tell you why. If she's president, taxes go up, healthcare becomes the domain of the government, spending goes out of control, our military loses its morale, and I'm not sure we'll have the courage and the will and the resolve to fight the greatest threat this country's ever faced in Islamofascism
."
Huckabee has criticized Fred Thompson on his stance on abortion and gay marriage. Thompson has stated that such issues should be left to the states to decide. Thompson returned the criticism by criticizing Huckabee on immigration and taxes.
Mitt Romney
criticized Huckabee on immigration by stating, "Giving a better deal to the children of illegal aliens than we give to US citizens from surrounding states is simply not fair and not right." Huckabee responded, "I guess Mitt Romney would rather keep people out of college so they can keep working on his lawn, since he had illegals there." Previously, Huckabee had criticized Romney for claiming to have been a hunter.
The Club for Growth
criticized Huckabee in November 2007 over inconsistencies in how Huckabee represents his tax record, specifically regarding the 1999 gas and diesel fuel tax hikes. The 1999 gas and fuel tax hikes were never on the ballot in Arkansas, but Huckabee has told reporters that “the fuel tax was a vote of the people—eighty percent of the people voted to improve roads” However, FactCheck.org, after looking at the nuances of the issue in detail, states "Huckabee seems to be describing the plan he wanted rather than the plan he actually supported," which was a compromise plan arrived at after much political wrangling.
Huckabee's son, David Huckabee, has also posed a small controversy with his arrest for carrying a weapon in a prohibited place after a Glock
pistol was found in his briefcase while going through a security checkpoint at the Little Rock National Airport
. David Huckabee, who pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge, said that he forgot to take the gun out of his bag before going to the airport. After the events took place, Mike Huckabee, a strong right to bear arms candidate said "I love my son but what he did was irresponsible, but not intentional. The right to carry a firearm has to be balanced with an equal responsibility to not make foolish errors like forgetting about it being in one's briefcase. ...I make no excuses for him and would expect him to accept whatever penalties are given. It is the court's responsibility to properly consequence him for a foolish act but his family's responsibility to love him and temper our disappointment with our support."
Some critics, including Romney, have accused Huckabee of using his religion background for political advantage. A Romney campaign staff member pointed out that similar ads in Iowa and New Hampshire are different in that the New Hampshire ad did not include the term "Christian Leader" in the spot, while an ad in Iowa did. Alice Stewart, a spokeswomen of the Huckabee campaign later said there was no intention to downplay religion in New Hampshire, noting the ads "were simply different spots running in different markets, which is typical in presidential campaigns."
Huckabee received further criticism in early January 2008 when, having previously agreed to try to work with unions if elected, he then proceeded to cross a WGA Writer's Strike picket line in order to appear on The Tonight Show.
McCain and Huckabee have had a cordial relationship during the campaign, which has been questioned by those who see Huckabee campaigning from a strong social conservative platform while McCain is seen by many as socially moderate or liberal.
On Super Tuesday
in West Virginia, McCain supporters threw their support to Huckabee, which resulted in a highly publicized Huckabee win early on Tuesday. Romney had been leading there in the polls prior to the primary. This strategy likely both increased the number of votes given to Huckabee and reduced the number that went to Romney of those voting Tuesday evening. The strategy appears to have been successful as Romney suspended his campaign two days later after a poor showing in Super Tuesday.
Although the Romney campaign initially criticized the deal between McCain and Huckabee, Romney later threw his support behind McCain after dropping out of the race, stating that "This is a man capable of leading our country at a dangerous hour."
style debate. "I share your view of the debates and agree that Newt's 'Nine Nineties in Nine' concept is a far better way to make sure America's next President has the character and capacity to lead our nation forward, and that's why I have already signed that pledge," Huckabee wrote in his letter. "I agree that what is needed is a real discussion by the candidates about their vision for the future of our country." He suggested that the first debate be held in New Hampshire.
Huckabee posted the letter on his campaign site and invited American voters to co-sign it as an appeal to Thompson to accept the challenge. In 72 hours it received nearly 2,000 signatures. The Strafford County Republican Women group agreed to host the debate and CNN's Wolf Blitzer suggested to Huckabee on The Late Edition
that it be broadcast by CNN. On September 11, the media reported that Thompson campaign had turned down the challenge, saying that they would "push hard for Lincoln-Douglas style debates once [they] get into the General Election, when there are only two candidates running."
, the Huckabee campaign faced significant financial setbacks, due to a decrease in cash flow expectations after not meeting the expectation of winning the first in the south primary. This caused Huckabee to ask some senior staff members to work without pay, and put uncertainty on the future of his campaign and how long Huckabee will be able to compete financially.
account to update followers of his campaign with videos. Since then, more than 90 videos have been posted. Huckabee also initially formed a website at www.explorehuckabee.com, in which he based his exploratory committee
. When he officially announced his candidacy, he moved the website to www.mikehuckabee.com. Huckabee also has an official MySpace
account, in which he has over 16,000 friends. In addition, Huckabee has created a Facebook page, in which he has over 30,000 supporters.
Huckabee plays the bass guitar
in a band known as Capitol Offense. He has performed with the band at numerous events throughout his campaign, including at a troop rally in New Hampshire
in July. Earlier in 2007, the band played at a National Governors Association
staff party in Des Moines, Iowa
. On January 2, Mike Huckabee played the guitar along with the Tonight Show Band on the Tonight Show With Jay Leno.
During his campaign, Huckabee made frequent appearances on late night television shows
including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
, The Late Show with David Letterman, Saturday Night Live
, Late Night with Conan O'Brien
, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson
and The Colbert Report.
, education
, and several other issues typically not referred to by Republicans .
Most notable is the following Huckabee gathered among the younger crowd via the internet. Huck's Army, an online grassroots coalition and volunteer think tank, is largely composed of younger, more technologically savvy adherents. So productive was this group, that it received national media attention and was credited by Huckabee as "the secret weapon of our campaign."http://www.hucksarmy.com/
Huckabee has also gained considerable popularity from his frequent appearances on The Daily Show
, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and The Colbert Report, all of which have considerably younger viewers.
In the early part of 2008, there was a comedic on-air "feud" between Conan O'Brien
(host of Late Night with Conan O'Brien
), Stephen Colbert
(host of The Colbert Report), and later Jon Stewart
(host of The Daily Show), with the three men taking credit for Huckabee's success and popularity among young voters, saying that they "made Huckabee
".
On February 7, 2008, Huckabee made a trip to New York to appear on The Tyra Banks Show
, a popular show with younger women, and later that night, went back on The Colbert Report to declare he was still a candidate in the race and played a game of air hockey with the host, Stephen Colbert
.
On February 23, 2008, Huckabee appeared on the Weekend Update
portion of Saturday Night Live
to explain why he was still in the election despite the "mathematical impossibility" of him winning the nomination. After an explanation by Seth Meyers
about why he cannot win, Huckabee said that he would "not overstay his welcome" if he did not win the nomination.
On January 21, 2008 Mike Huckabee received the endorsement of 50 African-American leaders in Atlanta, Georgia
. The endorsers cited Huckabee's record on life, education, minorities, the economy, the prison system, and immigration as Arkansas governor.
Hip-Hop 4 Huckabee, a blog targeted to young African-American voters, features several highlights of Huckabee's speeches and policies that tend to the needs of the black community.
List of newspaper
s endorsing Mike Huckabee
Governor Huckabee's notable endorsements included five current United States congressmen (including former presidential candidate Duncan Hunter
), conservative leaders such as Focus on the Family
chairman James Dobson
, Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist
, Liberty University
chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr., and Libertarian talk-radio host Neal Boortz
.
Huckabee also benefited from the support of actor Chuck Norris
, with whom he recorded a TV ad and who held a fundraiser for him. Huckabee was also endorsed by professional wrestler "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair
and boxer Roy Jones Jr.
Some Huckabee endorsements came from groups who don't typically support Republicans. He was the only Republican endorsed by a major labor union (having the support of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
) and has been endorsed by 50 African-American political and religious leaders.
He also had the support of one of Texas's largest newspapers, the Dallas Morning News.
Mike Huckabee
Michael "Mike" Dale Huckabee is an American politician who served as the 44th Governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate in the 2008 United States Republican presidential primaries, finishing second in delegate count and third in both popular vote and number of states won . He won...
, former Governor of Arkansas, announced his candidacy for the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
nomination for the 2008 presidential election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on January 28, 2007. Huckabee ended his bid for the Republican Nomination, after losing the Texas Republican primary on March 4, 2008.
Huckabee's campaign began with a first quarter fundraising total lower than many of the front-running Republican candidates, raising $544,880. Huckabee said that he found it difficult to move forward in a race "ruled by candidates with the biggest names." In early August Iowa polls, Huckabee placed second in the August 11 Iowa Straw Poll with 18.1 percent. He came in 2nd at the onsite polling of the Family Research Council Values Voters Summit
Values Voter Summit
The Values Voter Summit is an annual political conference for American social conservative activists and elected officials from across the United States....
on October 21, 2007, with 28% of the vote, and garnered a celebrity endorsement from actor Chuck Norris
Chuck Norris
Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris is an American martial artist and actor. After serving in the United States Air Force, he began his rise to fame as a martial artist and has since founded his own school, Chun Kuk Do...
.
In December 2007, Huckabee began challenging other candidates for first in national polls among Republicans. As of January 2, was polling third within the margin of error of first with Rudy Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani presidential campaign, 2008
Rudy Giuliani’s 2008 presidential campaign began following the formation of the Draft Giuliani movement in October 2005. The next year, Giuliani opened an exploratory committee and formally announced in February 2007 that he was actively seeking the presidential nomination of the Republican...
and John McCain
John McCain presidential campaign, 2008
John McCain, the senior United States Senator from Arizona, launched his second candidacy for the presidency of the United States in an unsuccessful bid to win the 2008 presidential election. His candidacy, in the works for a number of years, was informally announced on February 28, 2007 during a...
. On January 3, 2008, Huckabee won the Iowa Republican Caucuses
Iowa Republican caucuses, 2008
The 2008 Iowa Republican caucuses took place on January 4, 2008. The Iowa Republican caucuses are an unofficial primary, with the delegates to the state convention selected proportionally via a straw poll...
with 34% of the electorate. On Super Tuesday, Huckabee won an additional 6 states, including most of the Deep South
Deep South
The Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the pre-Civil War period...
. On March 4, 2008, Mike Huckabee officially ended his campaign by conceding victory of the Republican Presidential Nomination to John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
.
Beginnings
On January 27, 2007, the Associated Press reported that Huckabee, a quite viable Republican presidential candidate, planned to file papers to form a presidential exploratory committeeExploratory Committee
In the election politics of the United States, an exploratory committee is an organization established to help determine whether a potential candidate should run for an elected office. They are most often cited in reference to United States Presidential hopefuls, prior to the primaries.Exploratory...
. He announced his run for the White House on Meet the Press on January 28, 2007. On January 29, 2007, Huckabee told The Associated Press "I think this is an opportunity to show the American dream is still alive and there's hope and optimism that can be awakened in a lot of people's lives if they think that a person like me can run and actually become president."James Carville
James Carville
Chester James Carville, Jr. is an American political consultant, commentator, educator, actor, attorney, media personality, and prominent liberal pundit. Carville gained national attention for his work as the lead strategist of the successful presidential campaign of then-Arkansas governor Bill...
, Clinton's former political consultant
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
, said the following about Huckabee: "He likes people, he knows how to relate to people. He can talk the talk. I'm impressed with this guy's political skills."
In January 2007 on Meet the Press
Meet the Press
Meet the Press is a weekly American television news/interview program produced by NBC. It is the longest-running television series in American broadcasting history, despite bearing little resemblance to the original format of the program seen in its television debut on November 6, 1947. It has been...
, Huckabee said "I think you've got to be very careful. I wouldn't propose any new taxes. I wouldn't support any. But if we’re in a situation where we are in a different level of war, where there is no other option, I think that it's a very dangerous position to make pledges that are outside the most important pledge you make, and that is the oath you take to uphold the Constitution and protect the people of the United States."
Grover Norquist
Grover Norquist
Grover Glenn Norquist is an American lobbyist, conservative activist, and founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform...
, the president of Americans for Tax Reform
Americans for Tax Reform
Americans for Tax Reform is an advocacy group and taxpayer group whose stated goal is "a system in which taxes are simpler, flatter, more visible, and lower than they are today. The government's power to control one's life derives from its power to tax...
, who in 2006 called the governor a "serial tax increaser," stated recently, "Gov. Huckabee recognizes that the challenge is to rein in spending and reduce taxes." Huckabee supports the Fair Tax, which would do away with all federal taxes and replace them with a single national sales tax. In March 2007, Huckabee signed the Presidential Taxpayer Protection Pledge of Americans for Tax Reform, promising not to increase taxes at the federal level.
On April 3, 2007, Huckabee's campaign reported that it had raised only $500,000 in the first quarter of 2007, much less than rival candidates. The numbers prompted speculation in Arkansas that Huckabee might abandon the Presidential race for a U.S. Senate race against first-term Democrat Mark Pryor
Mark Pryor
Mark Lunsford Pryor is the senior United States Senator from Arkansas, serving since 2003. He is a member of the Democratic Party and former Attorney General of Arkansas....
. Huckabee denied any plans to do this, and Huckabee campaign manager Chip Saltsman
Chip Saltsman
John "Chip" Saltsman, Jr. is an American politician who has served as chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party from 1999 to 2001, senior political advisor to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, and manager of Mike Huckabee's 2008 presidential campaign...
claimed that the campaign had actually surpassed its first quarter fund raising goal.
On April 23, 2007, Huckabee finished second in a South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
straw poll
Straw poll
A straw poll or straw vote is a vote with nonbinding results. Straw polls provide dialogue among movements within large groups, reflecting trends like organization and motivation...
conducted by the local Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
parties in Greenville
Greenville County, South Carolina
- External Links :*...
, Spartanburg and Richland
Richland County, South Carolina
Richland County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The 2000 U.S. census recorded its population to be 320,677. In 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau recorded that its population had reached 384,504. It is the second most populous county in South Carolina, behind only Greenville...
counties with 111 votes behind former Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
Gov. Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
. That same day, Huckabee said that Attorney General
United States Attorney General
The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...
Alberto Gonzales
Alberto Gonzales
Alberto R. Gonzales was the 80th Attorney General of the United States. Gonzales was appointed to the post in February 2005 by President George W. Bush. Gonzales was the first Hispanic Attorney General in U.S. history and the highest-ranking Hispanic government official ever...
is "creating a major distraction for the President and for the administration and for the Republican Party," and suggested that perhaps Gonzales should consider resigning due to the current controversy surrounding him.
Huckabee participated in the May 3, 2007 Republican Presidential Debates along with the party's other nine declared candidates. Huckabee expressed support of a FairTax
FairTax
The FairTax is a tax reform proposal for the federal government of the United States that would replace all federal taxes on personal and corporate income with a single broad national consumption tax on retail sales. The Fair Tax Act would apply a tax once at the point of purchase on all new goods...
, a balanced budget
Balanced budget
A balanced budget is when there is neither a budget deficit or a budget surplus – when revenues equal expenditure – particularly by a government. More generally, it refers to when there is no deficit, but possibly a surplus...
with reduced spending, making the Bush administration's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent, combating climate change, and comprehensive immigration reform
Immigration reform
Immigration reform is a term used in political discussion regarding changes to current immigration policy of a country. In its strict definition, "reform " means to change into an improved form or condition, by amending or removing faults or abuses....
. Political analyst and former Clinton and Huckabee adviser Dick Morris
Dick Morris
Dick Morris is an American political author and commentator who previously worked as a pollster, political campaign consultant, and general political consultant....
said Huckabee performed well, asserting that he was the "most original" candidate, especially with his explanation of the pro-life platform; and that his articulation was "novel and intriguing." Huckabee was one of three candidates in the debate who said that they do not believe in human evolution
Human evolution
Human evolution refers to the evolutionary history of the genus Homo, including the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct species and as a unique category of hominids and mammals...
.
Huckabee generated even better reviews from his performance in the May 15, 2007 Republican Presidential Debates. He delivered what CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
commentator David Gergen
David Gergen
David Richmond Gergen is an American political consultant and former presidential advisor who served during the administrations of Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton. He is currently Director of the Center for Public Leadership and a professor of public service at Harvard Kennedy School. Gergen is...
called "the funniest line of the night" when he said that "[w]e've had a Congress that's spent money like John Edwards
John Edwards
Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...
at a beauty shop," a reference to the report of Edwards, a 2008 Democratic Presidential candidate, spending $800 of campaign money on two haircuts. Many supporters of the FairTax
FairTax
The FairTax is a tax reform proposal for the federal government of the United States that would replace all federal taxes on personal and corporate income with a single broad national consumption tax on retail sales. The Fair Tax Act would apply a tax once at the point of purchase on all new goods...
plan were also impressed by Huckabee's unfettered support of that proposed policy.
Huckabee said on May 16 that, if his campaign falters, he would have to think long and hard before agreeing to become a vice-presidential candidate on a ticket whose presidential candidate believes that abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
should remain legal. "This is an issue to me that is very critical. It's one of the reasons that I got into politics because I believe the manner in which we treat innocent life and the matter in which we respect human life, at whatever stage ... is an incredibly powerful statement about who we are as a people," Huckabee told reporters in a conference call in South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
.
The Huckabee campaign announced on Friday, June 8, that the former Governor would participate in the Iowa Republican Party's Straw Poll, scheduled for Saturday, August 11, 2007 in Ames, at Iowa State University
Iowa State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of...
. An Iowa poll conducted in mid-June showed Huckabee in fourth place with 7 percent; ahead of John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
and Sam Brownback
Sam Brownback
Samuel Dale "Sam" Brownback is the 46th and current Governor of Kansas. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1996 to 2011, and as a U.S. Representative for Kansas's 2nd congressional district from 1995 to 1996...
. More recently, an ABC News/Washington Post poll showed Huckabee at 8%, tied with John McCain. That is the highest Huckabee had polled in that state.
Third quarter 2007
Political analyst and former Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
campaign manager Dick Morris called Huckabee his favorite among the bottom-tier candidates on Hannity and Colmes on July 3. Huckabee began a grassroots movement in Iowa, and stumped throughout the state during the month of July. In a July 9, 2007 interview, Huckabee said that his solution for ending the ongoing violence in Iraq would include a troop increase and seeking additional support from other nations in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. He was a guest on Fox News' 'The Neal Cavuto Show' on Friday, July 20, and then returned to Iowa for numerous Meet Mike Huckabee events. He traveled to Amarillo, Texas
Amarillo, Texas
Amarillo is the 14th-largest city, by population, in the state of Texas, the largest in the Texas Panhandle, and the seat of Potter County. A portion of the city extends into Randall County. The population was 190,695 at the 2010 census...
on July 22 to give a sermon at The Church at Quail Creek. Huckabee continued to keep a busy schedule in Iowa in late July; he traveled to Muscatine
Muscatine, Iowa
Muscatine is a city in Muscatine County, Iowa, United States. The population was 22,886 in the 2010 census, an increase from 22,697 in the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Muscatine County...
and was a guest on the conservative radio talk show The Right Balance with host Greg Allen on July 24.
An Iowa poll conducted on July 26 placed Huckabee far behind front-runners Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson, but ahead of second tier candidates Tom Tancredo
Tom Tancredo
Thomas Gerard "Tom" Tancredo is an American politician from Colorado, who represented the state's sixth congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2009, as a Republican...
, Ron Paul
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
, Duncan Hunter
Duncan Hunter
Duncan Lee Hunter is an American politician. He was a Republican member of the House of Representatives from California's 52nd, 45th and 42nd districts from 1981 to 2009....
, and Tommy Thompson
Tommy Thompson
Thomas George "Tommy" Thompson , a United States Republican politician, was the 42nd Governor of Wisconsin, after which he served as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. Thompson was a candidate for the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, but dropped out early after a poor performance in polls...
. Huckabee has also agreed to be part of a Cancer Forum in Iowa on August 28, held by cancer survivor Lance Armstrong
Lance Armstrong
Lance Edward Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist who won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times, after having survived testicular cancer. He is also the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research and support...
. In the summer of 2007, Huckabee began to become closely compared to Kansas Senator Sam Brownback
Sam Brownback
Samuel Dale "Sam" Brownback is the 46th and current Governor of Kansas. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1996 to 2011, and as a U.S. Representative for Kansas's 2nd congressional district from 1995 to 1996...
, also a Presidential candidate, for their similar socially conservative views. Huckabee and Brownback have been said to be the top candidates among evangelicals and other Christians. Huckabee tried to separate himself from Brownback (and succeeded, as Brownback
Brownback
Brownback is a surname and may refer to:* Sam Brownback - governor of Kansas and former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate * Peter Brownback - a retired American military officer and lawyer...
dropped from the campaign) whom he saw as his main rival at that point. When asked what separates him from Brownback, he said that "the key difference is I've actually been a Governor for ten and a half years and I've run a government." He also said that no senator has been elected since JFK, and "frankly there's a good reason for that." Several polls in the state have placed Huckabee ahead of Brownback; a Mason-Dixon poll placed him at 7% with Brownback at 6. Huckabee acknowledged their similarities and said that "without a doubt, we're going after the same voters." Other sources have expressed concern that there is room for only one of them in the race, and that if Huckabee comes out on top, Brownback will struggle to raise money and vice versa.
On July 26, Huckabee called upon Tom Tancredo
Tom Tancredo
Thomas Gerard "Tom" Tancredo is an American politician from Colorado, who represented the state's sixth congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2009, as a Republican...
to pull his campaign's campaign ad which attacked Huckabee on the subject of illegal immigration
Illegal immigration
Illegal immigration is the migration into a nation in violation of the immigration laws of that jurisdiction. Illegal immigration raises many political, economical and social issues and has become a source of major controversy in developed countries and the more successful developing countries.In...
. Huckabee called the ad "blatantly dishonest" and said that "when people engage in a completely false attack, it's usually an act of desperation. To me, it's a badge of honor because he sees that we are reaching the people we are trying to reach." Tancredo's campaign responded by saying that Huckabee supports amnesty
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
for illegal immigrants, and that the ad was correct while Huckabee's campaign insisted that the ad "clearly distorts Mike Huckabee's conservative record on amnesty."
In early August, after the collapse of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
, Huckabee expressed his sympathy to the victims of the disaster and said that taxes do not need to be raised in order to fix the roads, bridges, and other infrastructure, claiming that the billions of dollars spent on other countries' infrastructure should be spent in the United States. He said that "we have to start addressing building this country, not everybody else's."
Mike Huckabee appeared on the CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS. The network has broadcast this program since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963....
on August 1 to discuss the Iowa Straw Poll and his ongoing campaign in Iowa. He was among the Republican debaters in Iowa on August 5, and came in with 8 percent support in a pre-debate poll, tying with John McCain and ahead of his main competitor Sam Brownback who came in with 5 percent. Huckabee was pleased with the results, which showed that he was ahead of all of his second-tier candidates, and said "we think [the poll is] a great sign for us because it shows that when other candidates are standing still or moving backwards we clearly are moving forward." An Iowa focus group gave Huckabee high marks after the debate, citing that he gave "honest and clear answers" to the questions. As the August 11 Iowa straw poll draws near, Huckabee's campaign manager Chip Saltsman
Chip Saltsman
John "Chip" Saltsman, Jr. is an American politician who has served as chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party from 1999 to 2001, senior political advisor to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, and manager of Mike Huckabee's 2008 presidential campaign...
has said to supporters that a strong showing in the poll will vault the campaign into the top-tier.
In the days before the Iowa Straw Poll, potential but undeclared Republican candidate Newt Gingrich
Newt Gingrich
Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich is a U.S. Republican Party politician who served as the House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995 and as the 58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999....
commented that Huckabee is "the most interesting dark horse," and that he will catch on with Republican Primary voters. He also said that Huckabee has a level of authenticity and candor that is beginning to resonate with people. Huckabee appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews
Hardball with Chris Matthews
Hardball with Chris Matthews is a talk show on MSNBC, broadcast weekdays at 5 and 7 PM hosted by Chris Matthews. It originally aired on now-defunct America's Talking and later CNBC. The current title was derived from a book Matthews wrote in 1988, Hardball: How Politics Is Played Told by One Who...
on August 8 and discussed his standing in the polls as well as the upcoming straw poll.
At the August 11 Iowa Straw Poll, Huckabee took second place with 2,587 votes, roughly 18 percent. Huckabee spent $57.98 per vote in the Straw Poll, which is the lowest among the top three finishers. Since Romney was expected by the vast majority to take first in the poll, many declared Huckabee the big winner. The National Review said that "When it was all over, there was no doubt that the winner of the day was Huckabee." Huckabee told reports that "It is beyond huge. Tonight, for all practical purposes, we won the Iowa straw poll. No one was even saying we would come in second. You gotta admit, for what we had to work with, the resources we had, for us to surge, coming in second, is the victory, it is the story."
Huckabee echoed his statement when he appeared on Face the Nation
Face the Nation
Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer is an American Sunday-morning political interview show which premiered on the CBS television network on November 7, 1954. It is one of the longest-running news programs in the history of television...
on the morning of August 12. "We're in fact in the first tier, I think, by everybody's estimation, and here's why," Huckabee told Jim Axelrod. "It wasn't just that we surprised people with a second showing, it's that we did it with so few resources. I mean, this really was feeding the 5,000 with two fish and five loaves, an amazing kind of day for us." Looking beyond Iowa, former Governor of South Carolina
Governor of South Carolina
The Governor of the State of South Carolina is the head of state for the State of South Carolina. Under the South Carolina Constitution, the Governor is also the head of government, serving as the chief executive of the South Carolina executive branch. The Governor is the ex officio...
and Huckabee supporter David Beasley
David Beasley
David Muldrow Beasley is a Republican who served one term as the 113th Governor of South Carolina from 1995 until 1999....
said that Huckabee is filling the void created by the lack of a social conservative in the race. He said that "I really believe now that the conservative voters will begin to coalesce behind Mike Huckabee...and it's going to be infectious in New Hampshire and South Carolina"
In the week following the Straw Poll, Huckabee scheduled a trip to New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
, seen as the next battleground state. He is scheduled to spend August 17 to the 20th in that state attending picnics and spaghetti dinners, and meeting with local pastors. When Huckabee appeared on Fox News' Hannity and Colmes to discuss his straw poll showing and future plans, he expressed confidence in his New Hampshire effort and said that "we have a great team in New Hampshire. I'm very confident we're going to surprise people in New Hampshire just like we did Iowa. Also in the week following the Straw Poll, Huckabee continued to talk of the momentum his campaign gained from his 2nd place showing. He told reporters that "it was a great day for us and the results have been pretty dramatic. We had over 1,000 first-time contributors from Saturday night to Tuesday morning online and the phones have not stopped ringing." In all, Huckabee experienced more media exposure in one week than he had in the past 6 months. He appeared on such shows as Hardball with Chris Matthews
Hardball with Chris Matthews
Hardball with Chris Matthews is a talk show on MSNBC, broadcast weekdays at 5 and 7 PM hosted by Chris Matthews. It originally aired on now-defunct America's Talking and later CNBC. The current title was derived from a book Matthews wrote in 1988, Hardball: How Politics Is Played Told by One Who...
," "Kudlow & Company
Kudlow & Company
The Kudlow Report is a news television program about business and politics hosted by Lawrence Kudlow, that airs on the CNBC television channel at 7pm ET. The show began airing on January 26, 2009. It is a successor to Kudlow & Company, which aired from 2005 until October 2008...
," "Hannity & Colmes
Hannity & Colmes
Hannity & Colmes was a live television show on Fox News Channel in the United States, hosted by Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes, who respectively presented a conservative and liberal perspective. The series premiered on October 6, 1996, and the final episode aired on January 9, 2009. It was the...
," The Early Show
The Early Show
The Early Show is an American television morning news talk show broadcast by CBS from New York City. The program airs live from 7 to 9 a.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday; most affiliates in the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones air the show on tape-delay from 7 to 9 a.m. local time. ...
," "Your World with Neil Cavuto
Your World with Neil Cavuto
Your World with Neil Cavuto , which debuted as the Cavuto Business Report on the network's launch in 1996, is an American business television program appearing on Fox News Channel.-About the program:...
" and the Laura Ingraham
Laura Ingraham
Laura Anne Ingraham is an American radio host, author, and conservative political commentator. Her nationally syndicated talk show, The Laura Ingraham Show, airs throughout the United States on Talk Radio Network...
radio show.
Huckabee's media exposure continued to grow when he appeared on The Colbert Report on August 16 and the season premiere of Real Time with Bill Maher
Real Time with Bill Maher
Real Time with Bill Maher is a talk show that airs weekly on HBO, hosted by comedian and political satirist Bill Maher. Much like his previous show, Politically Incorrect on ABC , Real Time features a panel of guests that discuss current events in politics and the media...
on August 24. Colbert jokingly attributed Huckabee's success in the Ames Straw Poll
Ames Straw Poll
The Ames Straw Poll is a presidential straw poll taken by Iowa Republicans. It occurs in Ames, Iowa on the campus of Iowa State University, on a Saturday in August of years in an election cycle in which the Republican presidential nomination seems to be undecided...
to "the Colbert bump" in reference to Huckabee's two prior appearances on the show while Maher remarked, "Rudy Giuliani scares the hell out of me so I hope you win, and the good news for you, on your birthday, is that this year a Republican dark horse
Dark horse
Dark horse is a term used to describe a little-known person or thing that emerges to prominence, especially in a competition of some sort.-Origin:The term began as horse racing parlance...
could win." The coverage from Colbert instigated the Who Made Huckabee?
Who Made Huckabee?
Who Made Huckabee?, also known as The Colbert/O'Brien/Stewart feud, refers to a mock rivalry that occurred among late night talk show hosts Stephen Colbert, Conan O'Brien, and Jon Stewart in early 2008, reportedly over who was responsible for then-presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's success in...
mock feud.
Huckabee starred in what pundits called the highlight of the New Hampshire Republican Debate on September 5, sparring with Congressman Ron Paul
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
in a heated exchange over the war in Iraq and the United States' obligation to the Iraqi people. After Paul stated that U.S. foreign policy is dragging the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
down, Huckabee responded, "Even if we lose elections, we should not lose our honor, and that is more important than the Republican Party." As the third quarter closed, Huckabee was reported to have missed a major GOP conference in Michigan because his campaign could not afford a charter flight. Huckabee rebounded his finances before the end of the third quarter, however, reporting $651,301 on hand. In late September, Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich
Newt Gingrich
Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich is a U.S. Republican Party politician who served as the House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995 and as the 58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999....
and former President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
said in separate interviews that Huckabee will catch on with Republican primary voters, and called him most likely "dark horse" candidate to win.
Fourth quarter 2007
Huckabee came in second place in the Family Research CouncilFamily Research Council
The Family Research Council is a conservative or right-wing Christian group and lobbying organization formed in the United States in 1981 by James Dobson. It was fully incorporated in 1983...
Value Voters Summit straw poll with 27.15%, behind former Massachusetts Governor Romney, but won among onsite voters with 51.26 percent of onsite votes at the Washington, DC meeting. On October 22, actor Chuck Norris
Chuck Norris
Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris is an American martial artist and actor. After serving in the United States Air Force, he began his rise to fame as a martial artist and has since founded his own school, Chun Kuk Do...
announced his endorsement of Huckabee in a release on Huckabee's website. Norris said that "I believe the only one who has all of the characteristics to lead America forward into the future is ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Mike Huckabee is the real deal." On The Sean Hannity Show
The Sean Hannity Show
The Sean Hannity Show is a talk radio show hosted by Sean Hannity on Citadel Media and Premiere Radio Networks. The program is broadcast live every weekday, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m...
on October 22, debate analyst Frank Luntz
Frank Luntz
Frank I. Luntz is an American political consultant and pollster. His most recent work has been with the Fox News Channel as a frequent commentator and analyst, as well as running focus groups after presidential debates...
said "I think Mike Huckabee's coming in 2nd in Iowa." In late October, following the Republican Presidential Debate in Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
, Huckabee's website traffic increased to more than that of all of the other Republican candidates except for Ron Paul. On October 25, a national Rasmussen
Rasmussen
The surname Rasmussen is a Danish and Norwegian surname, meaning "Rasmus' son" . It is the ninth most common surname in Denmark, shared by about 1.9% of the population....
poll gave Huckabee his highest polling number yet - 10%. Talk show host Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (commentator)
William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. is an American television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator. He is the host of the political commentary program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, which is the most watched cable news television program on American television...
, who was a skeptic of Huckabee's success, had previously made a bet with Dick Morris
Dick Morris
Dick Morris is an American political author and commentator who previously worked as a pollster, political campaign consultant, and general political consultant....
that Huckabee would never reach double digits.
There was controversy when Huckabee was asked about responses he gave on a questionnaire during his 1992 race for the U.S. Senate. Huckabee stated in 1992, "I feel [homosexuality] is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk." He also suggested that AIDS patients should be "isolated from the general population." He stuck by those comments in December 2007 when asked if homosexuality is sinful. He replied, "Well I believe it would be—just like lying is sinful and stealing is sinful. There are a lot of things that are sinful. It doesn't mean that a person is a horrible person. It means that they engage in behavior that is outside the norms of those boundaries of our traditional view of what's right and what's wrong. So, I think that anybody who has, maybe a traditional worldview of homosexuality would classify that as an unusual behavior that is not traditional and that would be outside those bounds." He also defended his statements about isolation of AIDS patients, claiming that in 1992 "we were still learning about the virus that causes AIDS."
Huckabee's poll numbers have risen consistently through November and December. On November 15, 2007, Huckabee was recorded as placing second in Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
in an American Research Group poll at 24%. This was only 2% points lower than the leader Mitt Romney. Polls in early December placed Huckabee ahead of Romney in Iowa by as much as 5 points in a poll by the Des Moines Register
Des Moines Register
The Des Moines Register is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa, in the United States. A separate edition of the Register is sold throughout much of Iowa.-History:...
, and 3 points in a Rasmussen
Rasmussen
The surname Rasmussen is a Danish and Norwegian surname, meaning "Rasmus' son" . It is the ninth most common surname in Denmark, shared by about 1.9% of the population....
poll.
On November 16, 2007, Huckabee was recorded as placing second, for the first time, in a nation-wide poll, garnering 12% of presidential tracking poll by Rassmussen Reports. He was tied with Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson. On December 1, 2007, Huckabee moved up to 15%, his highest percentage yet - and he surpassed Giuliani on December 5 with 20% of Republican voters supporting him nationally versus Giuliani's 17%. On December 19, Huckabee tied with Giuliani in the national Reuters/Zogby poll.
Huckabee credited divine intervention
Divine Intervention
Divine intervention is a term for a miracle caused by God's/a god's active involvement in the human world.Divine Intervention may also refer to:*"Divine Intervention", a 1991 song on Matthew Sweet's album Girlfriend....
for his rising poll numbers. "There's only one explanation for it," Huckabee said, "and it's not a human one. It's the same power that helped a little boy with two fish and five loaves feed a crowd of 5,000 people." When the close proximity of the first contests to the holidays led to many candidates putting out Christmas ads and videos — allowing them to keep presenting their message but in a more appropriate setting — Huckabee chose one acknowledging that viewers were tired of political messages in the holiday season and that what "really matters is the celebration of the birth of Christ," avoiding other candidates' "Happy holidays" formulation. The ad generated considerable media discussion about whether a white bookshelf in the background was a subliminal Christian cross
Christian cross
The Christian cross, seen as a representation of the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, is the best-known religious symbol of Christianity...
; Huckabee mocked the suggestion and said it was just a bookshelf. When asked about the ad and the thought of it being a cross, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
stated that he had not seen the ad, but replied with the assumption that it was a cross, quoting Sinclair Lewis
Sinclair Lewis
Harry Sinclair Lewis was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of...
' warning that "when fascism comes to this country, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
Roy Beck
Roy Beck
Roy Beck is a former journalist and public policy analyst who has served as the Executive Director of NumbersUSA since 1997. Beck was a journalist for three decades before founding NumbersUSA. He is former Washington D. C. bureau chief of Booth Newspapers and one of the nation's first...
, whose 1.5 million member organization NumbersUSA
NumbersUSA
NumbersUSA is an immigration reduction organization that seeks to reduce US immigration levels to pre-1965 levels without country of origin quotas as established in the Immigration Act of 1924. It advocates for immigration reduction through user-generated fax, email, and direct mail campaigns...
played a major role in defeating the Senate immigration bill, calls Huckabee "an absolute disaster as governor of Arkansas... Every time there was any enforcement in his state, he took the side of the illegal aliens." Huckabee responded by saying if voters are looking for the toughest guy on immigration, he's not their man. Nevertheless, like many in the Republican party, Huckabee's position has evolved, particularly after the bruising immigration reform fight in the summer of 2007. On December 6, 2007, he released a nine-point immigration enforcement and border security plan. These were modeled on a ten-point plan proposed in 2005 by Mark Krikorian
Mark Krikorian
Mark Krikorian is an Armenian-American anti-immigration activist. He is the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a think-tank in Washington, D.C. that promotes stricter immigration control and enforcement...
. On January 16, 2008, Huckabee became the first presidential candidate to sign Americans for Better Immigration's No-Amnesty pledge. In response, Roy Beck's organization raised his rating on illegal immigration to EXCELLENT. Huckabee continues to speak for the dignity of legal immigrants. In the January 10 Republican debate he said that all immigrants "ought to live with their heads up.. We ought to have the assumption that everybody here is legal, that nobody here is illegal."
First quarter 2008: caucuses and primaries begin
On January 3, 2008, actual delegate selections began. Huckabee was declared the winner of the Iowa Republican caucusIowa Republican caucuses, 2008
The 2008 Iowa Republican caucuses took place on January 4, 2008. The Iowa Republican caucuses are an unofficial primary, with the delegates to the state convention selected proportionally via a straw poll...
, with 34 percent of the vote, nine percentage points ahead of his chief Iowa rival, Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
.
On January 8, 2008, Huckabee finished third place in the New Hampshire primary
New Hampshire primary
The New Hampshire primary is the first in a series of nationwide political party primary elections held in the United States every four years , as part of the process of choosing the Democratic and Republican nominees for the presidential elections to be held the subsequent November.Although only a...
, behind John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
in first place, and Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
who finished second, with Huckabee receiving one more delegate for a total of 18 delegates, gained via elections, and 21 total delegates, verses 30 total (24 via elections) for Romney, and 10 for McCain (all via elections).
Michigan Republican primary, 2008
The 2008 Michigan Republican primary took place on January 15, 2008. Mitt Romney came in first with 39 percent of the vote, followed by John McCain with 30 percent and Mike Huckabee in third-place with 16 percent...
, behind John McCain in second place, Mitt Romney who finished first and ahead of Ron Paul
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
who finished in fourth place.
On January 19, 2008, Huckabee finished in second place in the South Carolina primary
South Carolina Republican primary, 2008
The South Carolina Republican primary, 2008 was held on January 19, with 24 delegates at stake. The Republican National Committee took half of South Carolina's 47 delegates away from them because the state committee moved its Republican primary before February 5...
, behind John McCain who finished first.
On February 5, 2008, Huckabee won the first contest of "Super Tuesday
Super Tuesday
In the United States, Super Tuesday, in general, refers to the Tuesday in February or March of a presidential election year when the greatest number of states hold primary elections to select delegates to national conventions at which each party's presidential candidates are officially nominated...
" by winning the West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
GOP state convention
Political convention
In politics, a political convention is a meeting of a political party, typically to select party candidates.In the United States, a political convention usually refers to a presidential nominating convention, but it can also refer to state, county, or congressional district nominating conventions...
by winning 52% of the electorate to Mitt Romney's 47%. Backers of rival John McCain threw him their support to prevent Mitt Romney from capturing the winner-take-all GOP state convention vote. He also registered victories in Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
and Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
on Super Tuesday, bringing his delegate count up to 156, a distant third compared to 689 for Republican Party front-runner John McCain and Mitt Romney's 286, according to the 2008 Republican presidential primaries and caucuses
Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008
The 2008 Republican presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Republican Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 2008 U.S. presidential election...
.
On February 9, 2008, Huckabee won the first election following Super Tuesday, by winning 60% of the vote in the Kansas Republican Caucuses
Kansas Republican caucuses, 2008
The 2008 Kansas Republican caucuses took place on February 9, 2008.By the evening of February 9, Fox News and CNN projected Mike Huckabee as the winner of the Kansas Caucuses.The Associated Press also called the race for Mike Huckabee.- Results :...
.
This was also the first contest to be held with out Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney presidential campaign, 2008
Mitt Romney was a Republican Party primary candidate in the 2008 United States presidential election. On January 3, 2007, two days before he stepped down as governor of Massachusetts, Romney filed to form a presidential exploratory committee with the Federal Election Commission...
, who was said to be splitting the conservative vote with Huckabee and some pundits suggested it was the reason for Huckabee's landslide victory. Huckabee also won the Louisiana Republican Primary
Louisiana Republican primary, 2008
The 2008 Louisiana Republican primary took place on February 9, 2008.Under Louisiana Republican Party rules, since no candidate received a majority of the vote, no delegates are pledged as a result of this primary. 21 delegates have already indirectly been assigned via the Louisiana Republican...
with 44% of the vote to John McCain's 43% in second. Although Huckabee won the primary he was not awarded any delegates, because of the state party rules that state a candidate must pass the 50% threshold to receive the state's pledged delegates.
Controversies and criticism
Huckabee asked a New York Times Magazine reporter, "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the Devil are brothers," saying that he didn't know a lot about the LDS Church. A spokeswoman for the church says that this statement is more often used as a smear against Mormons. Some feel that his statement was an attack on Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
, who is a Mormon.
On Hillary Clinton, Huckabee said, ""There's nothing funny about Hillary Clinton being president. Let me tell you why. If she's president, taxes go up, healthcare becomes the domain of the government, spending goes out of control, our military loses its morale, and I'm not sure we'll have the courage and the will and the resolve to fight the greatest threat this country's ever faced in Islamofascism
Islamofascism
The term Islamofascism is a neologism which draws an analogy between the ideological characteristics of specific Islamist movements from the turn of the 21st century on, and a broad range of European fascist movements of the early 20th century, neofascist movements, or totalitarianism.-Origins of...
."
Huckabee has criticized Fred Thompson on his stance on abortion and gay marriage. Thompson has stated that such issues should be left to the states to decide. Thompson returned the criticism by criticizing Huckabee on immigration and taxes.
Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
criticized Huckabee on immigration by stating, "Giving a better deal to the children of illegal aliens than we give to US citizens from surrounding states is simply not fair and not right." Huckabee responded, "I guess Mitt Romney would rather keep people out of college so they can keep working on his lawn, since he had illegals there." Previously, Huckabee had criticized Romney for claiming to have been a hunter.
The Club for Growth
Club for Growth
The Club for Growth is a politically conservative 527 organization active in the United States of America, with an agenda focussed on taxation and other economic issues, and with an affiliated political action committee . The Club advocates lower taxes, limited government, less government spending,...
criticized Huckabee in November 2007 over inconsistencies in how Huckabee represents his tax record, specifically regarding the 1999 gas and diesel fuel tax hikes. The 1999 gas and fuel tax hikes were never on the ballot in Arkansas, but Huckabee has told reporters that “the fuel tax was a vote of the people—eighty percent of the people voted to improve roads” However, FactCheck.org, after looking at the nuances of the issue in detail, states "Huckabee seems to be describing the plan he wanted rather than the plan he actually supported," which was a compromise plan arrived at after much political wrangling.
Huckabee's son, David Huckabee, has also posed a small controversy with his arrest for carrying a weapon in a prohibited place after a Glock
Glock
Glock Ges.m.b.H. is a weapons manufacturer headquartered in Deutsch-Wagram, Austria, named after its founder, Gaston Glock...
pistol was found in his briefcase while going through a security checkpoint at the Little Rock National Airport
Little Rock National Airport
Little Rock National Airport , officially Little Rock National Airport/Adams Field, is located 2 miles east of the central business district of Little Rock, a city in Pulaski County, Arkansas, United States. It is Arkansas' largest commercial service airport, serving more than 2.1 million...
. David Huckabee, who pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge, said that he forgot to take the gun out of his bag before going to the airport. After the events took place, Mike Huckabee, a strong right to bear arms candidate said "I love my son but what he did was irresponsible, but not intentional. The right to carry a firearm has to be balanced with an equal responsibility to not make foolish errors like forgetting about it being in one's briefcase. ...I make no excuses for him and would expect him to accept whatever penalties are given. It is the court's responsibility to properly consequence him for a foolish act but his family's responsibility to love him and temper our disappointment with our support."
Some critics, including Romney, have accused Huckabee of using his religion background for political advantage. A Romney campaign staff member pointed out that similar ads in Iowa and New Hampshire are different in that the New Hampshire ad did not include the term "Christian Leader" in the spot, while an ad in Iowa did. Alice Stewart, a spokeswomen of the Huckabee campaign later said there was no intention to downplay religion in New Hampshire, noting the ads "were simply different spots running in different markets, which is typical in presidential campaigns."
Huckabee received further criticism in early January 2008 when, having previously agreed to try to work with unions if elected, he then proceeded to cross a WGA Writer's Strike picket line in order to appear on The Tonight Show.
Relationship with McCain campaign
In most of the primaries, the conservative votes had been split between Huckabee and Romney while Romney was in the race. Due to Huckabee's third-place standing in the delegate count and his refusal to concede, some prominent conservative pundits had charged that "a vote for Huckabee equals a vote for McCain", and that Huckabee's actions hinted to a possible bid to a vice presidency or cabinet position for Huckabee in McCain's administration, should McCain win the Presidency.McCain and Huckabee have had a cordial relationship during the campaign, which has been questioned by those who see Huckabee campaigning from a strong social conservative platform while McCain is seen by many as socially moderate or liberal.
On Super Tuesday
Super Tuesday
In the United States, Super Tuesday, in general, refers to the Tuesday in February or March of a presidential election year when the greatest number of states hold primary elections to select delegates to national conventions at which each party's presidential candidates are officially nominated...
in West Virginia, McCain supporters threw their support to Huckabee, which resulted in a highly publicized Huckabee win early on Tuesday. Romney had been leading there in the polls prior to the primary. This strategy likely both increased the number of votes given to Huckabee and reduced the number that went to Romney of those voting Tuesday evening. The strategy appears to have been successful as Romney suspended his campaign two days later after a poor showing in Super Tuesday.
Although the Romney campaign initially criticized the deal between McCain and Huckabee, Romney later threw his support behind McCain after dropping out of the race, stating that "This is a man capable of leading our country at a dangerous hour."
Lincoln-Douglas debate
On September 7, Huckabee sent an open letter to Fred Thompson inviting him to participate in a Lincoln-DouglasLincoln-Douglas debates of 1858
The Lincoln–Douglas Debates of 1858 were a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate for Senate in Illinois, and the incumbent Senator Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party candidate. At the time, U.S. senators were elected by state legislatures; thus Lincoln and...
style debate. "I share your view of the debates and agree that Newt's 'Nine Nineties in Nine' concept is a far better way to make sure America's next President has the character and capacity to lead our nation forward, and that's why I have already signed that pledge," Huckabee wrote in his letter. "I agree that what is needed is a real discussion by the candidates about their vision for the future of our country." He suggested that the first debate be held in New Hampshire.
Huckabee posted the letter on his campaign site and invited American voters to co-sign it as an appeal to Thompson to accept the challenge. In 72 hours it received nearly 2,000 signatures. The Strafford County Republican Women group agreed to host the debate and CNN's Wolf Blitzer suggested to Huckabee on The Late Edition
The Late Edition
The Late Edition was a British television programme broadcast on BBC Four. It took the form of a topical chat show in the vein of The Daily Show, presented by comedian Marcus Brigstocke...
that it be broadcast by CNN. On September 11, the media reported that Thompson campaign had turned down the challenge, saying that they would "push hard for Lincoln-Douglas style debates once [they] get into the General Election, when there are only two candidates running."
Financial struggles
In late January 2008, after finishing 2nd in the January 19 South Carolina primarySouth Carolina Republican primary, 2008
The South Carolina Republican primary, 2008 was held on January 19, with 24 delegates at stake. The Republican National Committee took half of South Carolina's 47 delegates away from them because the state committee moved its Republican primary before February 5...
, the Huckabee campaign faced significant financial setbacks, due to a decrease in cash flow expectations after not meeting the expectation of winning the first in the south primary. This caused Huckabee to ask some senior staff members to work without pay, and put uncertainty on the future of his campaign and how long Huckabee will be able to compete financially.
Media
Mike Huckabee's campaign has used various forms of media to reach out to voters. Beginning in March 2007, Huckabee created a YouTubeYouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
account to update followers of his campaign with videos. Since then, more than 90 videos have been posted. Huckabee also initially formed a website at www.explorehuckabee.com, in which he based his exploratory committee
Exploratory Committee
In the election politics of the United States, an exploratory committee is an organization established to help determine whether a potential candidate should run for an elected office. They are most often cited in reference to United States Presidential hopefuls, prior to the primaries.Exploratory...
. When he officially announced his candidacy, he moved the website to www.mikehuckabee.com. Huckabee also has an official MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
account, in which he has over 16,000 friends. In addition, Huckabee has created a Facebook page, in which he has over 30,000 supporters.
Huckabee plays the bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
in a band known as Capitol Offense. He has performed with the band at numerous events throughout his campaign, including at a troop rally in New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
in July. Earlier in 2007, the band played at a National Governors Association
National Governors Association
The National Governors Association , founded in 1908 as the National Governors' Conference, is funded primarily by state dues, federal grants and contracts and private contributions. NGA represents the governors of the fifty U.S. states and five U.S. territories The National Governors Association...
staff party in Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857...
. On January 2, Mike Huckabee played the guitar along with the Tonight Show Band on the Tonight Show With Jay Leno.
During his campaign, Huckabee made frequent appearances on late night television shows
Late night television
Late night television in the United States is the block of television programming airing after 11:00 pm and usually through 2:00 am. Traditionally, this type of programming airs after the late local news and is most notable for being the daypart used for a particular genre of programming that falls...
including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
, The Late Show with David Letterman, Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
, Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...
, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson is a Peabody Award-winning American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish American comedian Craig Ferguson. Ferguson, the third regular host of the Late Late Show franchise, follows Late Show with David Letterman in the CBS late-night lineup...
and The Colbert Report.
Popularity among young voters
Mike Huckabee has generated a considerable following of young voters, primarily because of his support of the Fair Tax as well as his concerns about global warmingGlobal warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
, education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
, and several other issues typically not referred to by Republicans .
Most notable is the following Huckabee gathered among the younger crowd via the internet. Huck's Army, an online grassroots coalition and volunteer think tank, is largely composed of younger, more technologically savvy adherents. So productive was this group, that it received national media attention and was credited by Huckabee as "the secret weapon of our campaign."http://www.hucksarmy.com/
Huckabee has also gained considerable popularity from his frequent appearances on The Daily Show
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and The Colbert Report, all of which have considerably younger viewers.
In the early part of 2008, there was a comedic on-air "feud" between Conan O'Brien
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....
(host of Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...
), Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
(host of The Colbert Report), and later Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
(host of The Daily Show), with the three men taking credit for Huckabee's success and popularity among young voters, saying that they "made Huckabee
Who Made Huckabee?
Who Made Huckabee?, also known as The Colbert/O'Brien/Stewart feud, refers to a mock rivalry that occurred among late night talk show hosts Stephen Colbert, Conan O'Brien, and Jon Stewart in early 2008, reportedly over who was responsible for then-presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's success in...
".
On February 7, 2008, Huckabee made a trip to New York to appear on The Tyra Banks Show
The Tyra Banks Show
The Tyra Banks Show, also known as and shortened to Tyra or The Tyra Show, is an American talk show hosted by Tyra Banks. The last new episode aired on Friday, May 28, 2010.-2005-2009: Syndication:...
, a popular show with younger women, and later that night, went back on The Colbert Report to declare he was still a candidate in the race and played a game of air hockey with the host, Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
.
On February 23, 2008, Huckabee appeared on the Weekend Update
Weekend Update
Weekend Update is a Saturday Night Live sketch that comments on and parodies current events. It is the show's longest running recurring sketch, having been on since the show's first broadcast, and is typically presented in the middle of the show immediately after the first musical performance...
portion of Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
to explain why he was still in the election despite the "mathematical impossibility" of him winning the nomination. After an explanation by Seth Meyers
Seth Meyers
Seth Adam Meyers is an American actor and comedian. He currently serves as head writer for Saturday Night Live and hosts its news parody segment Weekend Update.-Early life:...
about why he cannot win, Huckabee said that he would "not overstay his welcome" if he did not win the nomination.
African-American support
In a debate, Huckabee claimed to have gained 48 percent of the black vote, a feat seldom reached by Republican candidates since the 1930s. However, this figure was based on a very small sample of blacks polled at exit polls; the actual number has been estimated at 20%.http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/01/could_mike_huckabee_be_america_1.aspOn January 21, 2008 Mike Huckabee received the endorsement of 50 African-American leaders in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
. The endorsers cited Huckabee's record on life, education, minorities, the economy, the prison system, and immigration as Arkansas governor.
Hip-Hop 4 Huckabee, a blog targeted to young African-American voters, features several highlights of Huckabee's speeches and policies that tend to the needs of the black community.
Polls
Straw polls
Endorsements
List of individuals endorsing Mike Huckabee- United States Congressman and former 2008 Republican Presidential Candidate Duncan HunterDuncan HunterDuncan Lee Hunter is an American politician. He was a Republican member of the House of Representatives from California's 52nd, 45th and 42nd districts from 1981 to 2009....
of CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area... - United States Congressman John BoozmanJohn BoozmanJohn Nichols Boozman is the junior U.S. Senator for Arkansas . A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the U.S. Representative for .Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, he was the brother of state Senator Fay Boozman...
of ArkansasArkansasArkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River... - United States Congressman Bob InglisBob InglisRobert Durden "Bob" Inglis, Sr. is a former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1993 to 1999, and then again from 2005 until 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party...
of South CarolinaSouth CarolinaSouth Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence... - United States Congressman John LinderJohn LinderJohn Elmer Linder is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1993 until 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party.Linder announced that he would retire from Congress at the end of the 111th Congress....
of GeorgiaGeorgia (U.S. state)Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788... - United States Congressman Don YoungDon YoungDonald Edwin "Don" Young is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1973. He is a member of the Republican Party.Young is the 6th most senior U.S. Representative and the 2nd most senior Republican Representative, as well as the 2nd most senior Republican in Congress as a whole...
of AlaskaAlaskaAlaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait... - Iowa State RepresentativeIowa House of RepresentativesThe Iowa House of Representatives is the lower house of the Iowa General Assembly. There are 100 members of the House of Representatives, representing 100 single-member districts across the state with populations of approximately 29,750 for each constituency...
, Dwayne AlonsDwayne AlonsDwayne Arlan Alons is the Iowa State Representative from the 4th District. He has served in the Iowa House of Representatives since 1999. He is a retired Brigadier General in the Iowa Air National Guard and served as Chief of Staff at its headquarters.-Education:Alons earned a B.S...
(R) - Iowa State Representative, Carmine BoalCarmine BoalCarmine Boal served as the Iowa State Representative from the 70th District from 1999 to 2008. She received her AA from the American Institute of Business....
(R) - Iowa State SenatorIowa SenateThe Iowa Senate is the upper house of the Iowa General Assembly. There are 50 members of the Senate, representing 50 single-member districts across the state with populations of approximately 59,500 per constituency. Each Senate district is composed of two House districts...
, David HartsuchDavid HartsuchDavid Hartsuch is the Iowa State Senator from the 41st District. He has served in the Iowa Senate since 2007.Hartsuch currently serves on several committees in the Iowa Senate - the Human Resources committee; the Judiciary committee; the Local Government committee; and the Veterans Affairs committee...
(R) - New Hampshire State SenatorNew Hampshire SenateThe New Hampshire Senate has been meeting since 1784. It is the upper house of the New Hampshire General Court. It consists of 24 members representing Senate districts based on population...
, Robert Clegg (R) - New Hampshire State RepresentativeNew Hampshire House of RepresentativesThe New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 103 districts across the state, created from divisions of the state's counties. On average, each legislator represents about 3,300...
, Julie M Brown (R) - New Hampshire State RepresentativeNew Hampshire House of RepresentativesThe New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 103 districts across the state, created from divisions of the state's counties. On average, each legislator represents about 3,300...
, Dudley D Dumaine (R) - New Hampshire State RepresentativeNew Hampshire House of RepresentativesThe New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 103 districts across the state, created from divisions of the state's counties. On average, each legislator represents about 3,300...
, Jason M Bedrick (R) - South Carolina State RepresentativeSouth Carolina House of RepresentativesThe South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the upper house being the South Carolina Senate. It consists of 124 Representatives elected to two year terms at the same time as US Congressional elections...
, Glenn L. Hamilton (R) - South Carolina State RepresentativeSouth Carolina House of RepresentativesThe South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the upper house being the South Carolina Senate. It consists of 124 Representatives elected to two year terms at the same time as US Congressional elections...
, R. Keith Kelly (R) - South Carolina State RepresentativeSouth Carolina House of RepresentativesThe South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the upper house being the South Carolina Senate. It consists of 124 Representatives elected to two year terms at the same time as US Congressional elections...
, Rex F. Rice (R) - South Carolina State RepresentativeSouth Carolina House of RepresentativesThe South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the upper house being the South Carolina Senate. It consists of 124 Representatives elected to two year terms at the same time as US Congressional elections...
, Liston D. Barfield (R) - South Carolina State SenatorSouth Carolina SenateThe South Carolina Senate is the upper house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the lower house being the South Carolina House of Representatives...
, David L. Thomas (R) - South Carolina State SenatorSouth Carolina SenateThe South Carolina Senate is the upper house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the lower house being the South Carolina House of Representatives...
, Daniel B. “Danny” Verdin (R) - Florida Senate Majority LeaderFlorida SenateThe Florida Senate is the upper house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The Senate is composed of 40 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 470,032....
, Daniel Webster - Florida Senate Majority WhipFlorida SenateThe Florida Senate is the upper house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The Senate is composed of 40 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 470,032....
, Mike Haridopolos - Florida House of Representatives SpeakerFlorida House of RepresentativesThe Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The House is composed of 120 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 156,677.The House convenes at...
, Marco RubioMarco RubioMarco Antonio Rubio is the junior United States Senator from Florida . A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives .... - Florida State RepresentativeFlorida House of RepresentativesThe Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The House is composed of 120 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 156,677.The House convenes at...
, David Rivera - Virginia House of DelegatesVirginia House of DelegatesThe Virginia House of Delegates is the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbered years. The House is presided over by the Speaker of the House, who is elected from among the...
SpeakerSpeaker (politics)The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...
, William J. Howell - Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina Andre BauerAndré BauerRudolph Andreas "André" Bauer was the 87th Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina from 2003 to 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party...
. - MayorMayorIn many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Jim NaugleJim NaugleJames T. Naugle is an American real estate broker who served as mayor of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Although a lifelong Democrat, Naugle frequently voted for and supported Republican candidates...
(D) - Attorney GeneralAttorney GeneralIn most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
of NebraskaNebraskaNebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
, Jon Bruning. - Former Governor of South Carolina, David BeasleyDavid BeasleyDavid Muldrow Beasley is a Republican who served one term as the 113th Governor of South Carolina from 1995 until 1999....
- Former Governor Jim GeringerJim GeringerJames Edward "Jim" Geringer was the 30th Governor of Wyoming.-Early life and education:Geringer was raised on a farm in Wheatland, Wyoming. He attended Kansas State University and was a member of Triangle Fraternity, earning a degree in mechanical engineering. He served for ten years in the...
of WyomingWyomingWyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High... - Former Governor Judy MartzJudy MartzJudy Martz was the 22nd Governor of Montana, having served a single term from January 2, 2001, to January 3, 2005. Earlier, she was the Lieutenant Governor under Marc Racicot from 1997-2001...
of MontanaMontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,... - Gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander PlaatsBob Vander PlaatsRobert L. "Bob" Vander Plaats is a three-time candidate for Iowa’s governorship and former Republican nominee for lieutenant governor...
of IowaIowaIowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New... - Actor, Chuck NorrisChuck NorrisCarlos Ray "Chuck" Norris is an American martial artist and actor. After serving in the United States Air Force, he began his rise to fame as a martial artist and has since founded his own school, Chun Kuk Do...
- TNA Wrestler, Ric FlairRic FlairRichard Morgan Fliehr is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Ric Flair. Also known as "The Nature Boy", Flair is one of the most well-known professional wrestlers in the world....
- Founder of Focus on the FamilyFocus on the FamilyFocus on the Family is an American evangelical Christian tax-exempt non-profit organization founded in 1977 by psychologist James Dobson, and is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Focus on the Family is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations that rose to prominence in the 1980s...
and prominent evangelical Christian leader, James DobsonJames DobsonJames Clayton "Jim" Dobson, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian author, psychologist, and founder in 1977 of Focus on the Family , which he led until 2003. In the 1980s he was ranked as one of the most influential spokesman for conservative social positions in American public life... - Jim GilchristJim GilchristJames "Jim" Walter Gilchrist, Jr. is the American co-founder and president of the Minuteman Project, an activist group whose aim is to prevent illegal immigration across the United States's southern border.-Early life:...
, founder of the Minuteman ProjectThe Minuteman Project Inc.The Minuteman Project is an activist organization started in April 2005 by a group of private individuals in the United States to monitor the United States – Mexico border's flow of illegal immigrants. Co-founded by Jim Gilchrist, the name derives from the Minutemen, militiamen who fought in the... - John Tyson, CEO and Chairman of Tyson FoodsTyson FoodsTyson Foods, Inc. is a multinational corporation based in Springdale, Arkansas, that operates in the food industry. The company is the world's second largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork only behind Brazilian JBS S.A., and annually exports the largest percentage of beef out of...
- Steven Reinemund, Chairman of PEPSICOPepsiCoPepsiCo Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Purchase, New York, United States, with interests in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of grain-based snack foods, beverages, and other products. PepsiCo was formed in 1965 with the merger of the Pepsi-Cola Company...
(Pepsi Food and Beverage Corporation) - Scott Ford, PresidentPresidentA president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
and CEO of AlltelAlltelAlltel Corporation is a wireless service provider, primarily based in the United States. Before an acquisition by Verizon Wireless, it served 34 states. After the merger, Alltel continues to serve six states, mostly in rural areas... - Stephen Strang, Founder of Charisma (magazine)Charisma (magazine)Charisma is a monthly Christian magazine based in Lake Mary, Florida, aimed at Pentecostals and charismatics...
- Rick ScarboroughRick ScarboroughRick Scarborough is a former Southern Baptist pastor from Pearland, Texas, who heads Vision America, Vision America Action and the Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration.-Biography:...
, President and founder of Vision AmericaVision AmericaVision America is a conservative American Christian organization founded in 1994 by Baptist pastor Rick Scarborough, which describes itself as formed to "inform, encourage and mobilize pastors and their congregations to be proactive in restoring Judeo-Christian values to the moral and civic... - Liberty UniversityLiberty UniversityLiberty University is a private Christian university located in Lynchburg, Virginia. Liberty's annual enrollment is around 72,000 students, 12,000 of whom are residential students and 60,000+ studying through Liberty University Online...
chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr. - Jerry Cox, President of Arkansas Family Council
- Janet Folger, President of Faith2Action
- Jim Pfaff, President and CEO of Colorado Family Action
- Mathew StaverMathew StaverMathew D. Staver, J.D., is an American lawyer, academic, professor, and former Seventh Day Adventist pastor. He has been a founding member and Chairman of Liberty Counsel since 1989, and dean of Liberty University School of Law since 2006.-Biography:...
, Founder and chairman of Liberty CounselLiberty CounselLiberty Counsel is a non-profit public interest law firm and ministry that provides free legal assistance in defense of "Christian religious liberty, the sanctity of human life, and the traditional family." Liberty Counsel is headed by attorney Mathew D. Staver, who founded the legal ministry with... - Kelly Shackelford, President of Free Market Foundation – Plano, TX
- Phil Burress, President of Citizens for Community Values
- Donald WildmonDonald WildmonDonald E. Wildmon is an ordained United Methodist minister, author, former radio host, and founder and chairman emeritus of the American Family Association and American Family Radio.-Biography:...
, Founder of the American Family AssociationAmerican Family AssociationThe American Family Association is a 501 non-profit organization that promotes conservative Christian values, such as opposition to same-sex marriage, pornography, and abortion, as well as other public policy goals such as deregulation of the oil industry and lobbying against the Employee Free...
. - Neal BoortzNeal BoortzNeal A. Boortz, Jr. is an American Libertarian radio host, author, and political commentator. His nationally syndicated talk show, The Neal Boortz Show, airs throughout the United States on Dial Global . It is ranked seventh in overall listeners, with 4.25+ million per week...
, Libertarian broadcaster - Boxer, Roy Jones Jr.Roy Jones Jr.Roy Jones, Jr. is an American boxer. As a professional he has captured numerous world titles in the middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight divisions...
. - Conservative political activist, Paul WeyrichPaul WeyrichPaul M. Weyrich was an American conservativepolitical activist and commentator, most notable as a figurehead of the New Right. He co-founded the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank and the Free Congress Foundation, another conservative think tank...
- Bobby Schindler, Brother of Terri SchiavoTerri Schiavo caseThe Terri Schiavo case was a legal battle in the United States between the legal guardians and the parents of Teresa Marie "Terri" Schiavo that lasted from 1998 to 2005...
- Former New York Yankee Bobby RichardsonBobby RichardsonRobert Clinton "Bobby" Richardson is a former second baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the New York Yankees from through . Batting and throwing right-handed, he was a superb defensive infielder, as well as something of a clutch hitter, who played no small role in the Yankee baseball...
. - Texas State Senator Dan PatrickDan PatrickDaniel Patrick Pugh , professionally known as Dan Patrick, is an American sportscaster, radio personality, and actor from Mason, Ohio...
- Former Arkansas Republican Party chairman Odell PollardOdell PollardOdell Pollard is a retired attorney in Searcy, the seat of White County in central Arkansas, who was a pioneer in the revitalization of the Republican Party in his state.-Early years:...
- Former Dallas Cowboy'sDallas CowboysThe Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...
safety Cliff HarrisCliff HarrisClifford Allen Harris is a former professional American football safety who played for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League for ten seasons.-Professional career:...
. - International Association of Machinists and Aerospace WorkersInternational Association of Machinists and Aerospace WorkersThe International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers is an AFL-CIO/CLC trade union representing approx. 646,933 workers as of 2006 in more than 200 industries.-Formation and early history:...
List of newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s endorsing Mike Huckabee
- The Dallas Morning News
- Adel Dallas Co. News Newspaper.
- Albia Union-Republican Newspaper.
- Chariton Leader Newspaper.
- Iowa City Press-CitizenIowa City Press-CitizenThe Iowa City Press-Citizen is a daily newspaper published in Iowa City, Iowa, that serves most of Johnson County and portions of surrounding counties...
Newspaper. - Sheldon N'West Iowa Review Newspaper.
- Shenandoah Valley News Today .
Governor Huckabee's notable endorsements included five current United States congressmen (including former presidential candidate Duncan Hunter
Duncan Hunter
Duncan Lee Hunter is an American politician. He was a Republican member of the House of Representatives from California's 52nd, 45th and 42nd districts from 1981 to 2009....
), conservative leaders such as Focus on the Family
Focus on the Family
Focus on the Family is an American evangelical Christian tax-exempt non-profit organization founded in 1977 by psychologist James Dobson, and is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Focus on the Family is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations that rose to prominence in the 1980s...
chairman James Dobson
James Dobson
James Clayton "Jim" Dobson, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian author, psychologist, and founder in 1977 of Focus on the Family , which he led until 2003. In the 1980s he was ranked as one of the most influential spokesman for conservative social positions in American public life...
, Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist
Jim Gilchrist
James "Jim" Walter Gilchrist, Jr. is the American co-founder and president of the Minuteman Project, an activist group whose aim is to prevent illegal immigration across the United States's southern border.-Early life:...
, Liberty University
Liberty University
Liberty University is a private Christian university located in Lynchburg, Virginia. Liberty's annual enrollment is around 72,000 students, 12,000 of whom are residential students and 60,000+ studying through Liberty University Online...
chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr., and Libertarian talk-radio host Neal Boortz
Neal Boortz
Neal A. Boortz, Jr. is an American Libertarian radio host, author, and political commentator. His nationally syndicated talk show, The Neal Boortz Show, airs throughout the United States on Dial Global . It is ranked seventh in overall listeners, with 4.25+ million per week...
.
Huckabee also benefited from the support of actor Chuck Norris
Chuck Norris
Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris is an American martial artist and actor. After serving in the United States Air Force, he began his rise to fame as a martial artist and has since founded his own school, Chun Kuk Do...
, with whom he recorded a TV ad and who held a fundraiser for him. Huckabee was also endorsed by professional wrestler "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair
Ric Flair
Richard Morgan Fliehr is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Ric Flair. Also known as "The Nature Boy", Flair is one of the most well-known professional wrestlers in the world....
and boxer Roy Jones Jr.
Some Huckabee endorsements came from groups who don't typically support Republicans. He was the only Republican endorsed by a major labor union (having the support of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers is an AFL-CIO/CLC trade union representing approx. 646,933 workers as of 2006 in more than 200 industries.-Formation and early history:...
) and has been endorsed by 50 African-American political and religious leaders.
He also had the support of one of Texas's largest newspapers, the Dallas Morning News.