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Mike Huckabee

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Michael Dale Huckabee
54th Governor of Arkansas
In office
July 15, 1996 – January 9, 2007
LieutenantWinthrop Paul Rockefeller (1996–2006)
Preceded byJim Guy Tucker
Succeeded byMike Beebe
Personal details
Born (1955-08-24) August 24, 1955 (age 70)
Template:Country data USA-AR Hope, Arkansas
Political partyRepublican
SpouseJanet Huckabee
Alma materOuachita Baptist University
ProfessionMinister
SignatureFile:Huckabeesig.png

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

Early history

Huckabee was born in Hope, Arkansas, to Mae Elder and Dorsey W. Huckabee. He was elected Governor of Arkansas Boys State in 1972. He graduated magna cum laude from Ouachita Baptist University, completing his bachelors degree in 2½ years before attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.[1]

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

Early political career

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

Governor of Arkansas

Ascent to governorship

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 He rescinded his resignation as Huckabee was preparing to be sworn in, however.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

As governor, Huckabee signed legislation that created ARKids First, a health insurance program designed to provide insurance to children of families who could not qualify for Medicaid but could not afford private insurance.[2] A similar program exists in Texas and Pennsylvania that is called CHIPS, or Children's Health Insurance Program. In Pennsylvania, all children have access to the CHIPS program.

First full term

In November 1998, Huckabee was elected to a full four-year term. He defeated retired Colonel Gene McVay of Fort Smith in the primary and Jonesboro attorney Bill Bristow, a Democrat, in the general election.

At the beginning of his first full term, Huckabee led a public relations campaign for a bond program to pay for road reconstruction. Arkansas voters had traditionally shied away from public debt, having experienced a major bond scandal that affected the state's finances for the latter half of the 19th century. This time, however, the voters approved Huckabee's program.[citation needed]

Huckabee also led a campaign to dedicate via constitutional amendment 1/8 of each cent of the state sales tax to improvement of the state's park system and natural resources. As part of the campaign, Huckabee traveled the entire length of the Arkansas River (the part within Arkansas) by boat.[3]

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

In April 2001, Canadian comedian Rick Mercer aired his Talking to Americans special; in it, Governor Mike Huckabee was recorded congratulating Canada on preserving its National Igloo.[4]

Second full term

In November 2002, he was reelected to his second (and final because of term limits) four-year term. Governor Huckabee narrowly defeated Secretary of State Jimmie Lou Fisher, garnering 53% of the vote to her 47%. By the end of that term, Huckabee owned the third-longest tenure of any Arkansas Governor (only Democrats Orval Faubus, who served six consecutive 2-year terms (1955–1967), and Bill Clinton, who served eleven years, eleven months (1979–1981; 1983–1992), had longer tenures).

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

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

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

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

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

Huckabee has voiced his support of creationism. He was quoted in July 2004 on "Arkansans Ask," his regular show on the Arkansas Educational Television Network: "I think that students also should be given exposure to the theories not only of evolution but to the basis of those who believe in creationism." Huckabee also stated "I do not necessarily buy into the traditional Darwinian theory, personally."[6] [7] [8] [9] [10]

Presidential ambitions

On January 27, 2007, the Associated Press reported that Huckabee planned to file papers to form a presidential exploratory committee. He announced his run for the White House on Meet the Press on January 28, 2007.[11]

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"[12]

James Carville, Clinton's former political consultant, said the following about Huckabee: "He likes people, he knows how to relate to people.. His father was a preacher. He can talk the talk. I'm impressed with this guy's political skills".[13] (Carville's statement was mistaken: Huckabee's father was a firefighter, not a preacher; Huckabee is the preacher.)

On April 3, 2007, Huckabee's campaign reported that it had raised only $500,000 in the first quarter of 2007, one sixth of the total raised by Sam Brownback, one thirtieth of the total raised by Rudy Giuliani, and one fifty-second of the total raised by Hillary Clinton during the same period. 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 fundraising goal.[14]

File:Unpoedic huckabee-20070131.jpg
Huckabee addressing supporters in Iowa.

Huckabee has recently said that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is a "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.[15]

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.[16]

Huckabee participated in the May 3, 2007 Republican Presidential Debates along with the nine other 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 among other things. Political analyst and former Clinton 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."[17] Huckabee was one of three candidates who said that they do not believe in evolution.

Huckabee generated even better reviews from his performance in the May 15, 2007 Republican Presidential Debates. He delivered what many commentators 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. [18]

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 choice endorses abortion. "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[19].

The Huckabee campaign announced on Friday, June 8, that the governor would participate in the Iowa Republican Party's Straw Poll, scheduled for Saturday, August 11, 2007 in Ames, at Iowa State University.

Health advocacy

When elected governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee was significantly overweight. During 2003, physicians diagnosed the governor with adult-onset diabetes and informed him that he would not live more than ten years if he did not lose weight. Prompted by this diagnosis (as well as the subsequent death of former Governor White, whose obesity led to a fatal heart attack), Huckabee went on a diet. Huckabee subsequently lost over 110 pounds,[20][21] according to a New York Times article at a pace so rapid that "it was as if he simply unzipped a fat suit and stepped out."[22]

He has publicly recounted his previous burdens as an overweight man: the steps of the Arkansas capitol building from the entrance of the building up to the Governor's office were so long and steep that Huckabee would be out of breath and exhausted by the time he reached the top of the stairs; Huckabee secretly feared that he would be interviewed by media at the top of the steps, and that he would be unable to respond appropriately due to his overexertion and breathlessness.[23]

Huckabee has talked about his weight loss and made health care reform a major component of his later tenure as governor. This has included a series of dialogues between leaders in the food industry and leaders in public health.[24]

Huckabee ran in the 2006 New York City Marathon.[25]

Criticisms

Fiscal record

Huckabee has been criticized for his fiscal record as governor, having increased state spending 65.3 percent from 1996 to 2004 and having supported numerous tax hikes, the largest of which were to fund roads and education in his state.[26] The Cato Institute, a libertarian non-profit public policy research foundation,[27] gave him an F grade for spending and tax policy in 2006, and an overall grade of D for his governorship.[28] The least reported portion of this criticism is that the tax increases were judicially mandated (for the education tax increase) as well as voted on by the citizens of Arkansas at around 80% approval (for the road tax increase).

Handling of the Wayne Dumond case

Huckabee has also come under criticism for his handling of the case of Wayne Dumond, a convicted rapist who was released during Huckabee's governorship and who subsequently sexually assaulted and murdered a woman in Missouri following his release. [29] Dumond's case had attracted national attention in the mid 1990s from critics of President Bill Clinton who felt the former Arkansas Governor had been too harsh with Dumond because Dumond's victim was a distant Clinton relative. Even before taking office, Huckabee met with Dumond's wife and privately announced his intention that Dumond be set free, stating his unhappiness with the way Clinton had handled the case (Dumond had been attacked and castrated by the local sherrif prior to his arrest for the rape).[30] On September 20, 1996, Huckabee publicly announced his intention of commuting Dumond's sentence. There was strong opposition to Huckabee's plan, leaving Huckabee in a difficult situation politically.[29] On October 31, 1996, Huckabee met privately with the parole board to talk about the Dumond case. Some members of the board have since stated that they were pressured to re-examine and vote in favor of Dumond's parole. On January 16, 1997, Dumond was granted parole, just five months after he had been rejected. Huckabee released a statement saying, "In light of the action of the board, my original intent to commute the sentence to time served is no longer relevant."[29] Huckabee has denied influencing the parole board in any way, but acknowledges some responsibility for signing Dumond's parole.[31] His full disclosure of the incident is described in his book From Hope to Higher Ground.

Controversial Comments

Huckabee drew criticism in October 2006 for referring to his significant weight loss as being the result of a stay at "a concentration camp held by the Democrat Party of Arkansas." A Jewish Democratic group released a critical statement accusing him of, "making light of the Holocaust." Huckabee soon responded by saying, "To make such a far-reaching statement is laughable and is the type of allegation that makes people cynical."[32]

Creation of Gift Registry

In November 2006, both Huckabee and his wife drew criticism for creating wedding registries in the amount of over $6000 at both the Target and Dillard's web sites, in conjunction with a housewarming party to celebrate a new house they had purchased in Little Rock. The Arkansas Times, which first reported the story, noted that wedding gifts represent one of the exceptions to a $100 cap on gifts to political leaders under Arkansas law.[33] Huckabee claimed that the registries were intended only for those who were invited to the event, that he was not involved in organizing the event, and that they were classified as wedding registries only because those sites did not have separate categories for housewarming parties.[34][35]

Books

Huckabee has authored or co-authored five books:

  • Character is the Issue (1997), a memoir (inspired by the crisis surrounding the incidents prior to his taking office as governor)
  • Kids Who Kill (1998), a book about juvenile violence (inspired by the Jonesboro massacre, which took place during his tenure as governor)
  • Living Beyond Your Lifetime (2000), a guide for leaving a personal legacy
  • Quit Digging Your Grave with a Knife and Fork (2005), a health and exercise inspirational guide (based on his personal health experience) Publisher: Center Street
  • From Hope to Higher Ground: 12 Stops to Restoring America's Greatness (2007) Publisher: Center Street

Huckabee also wrote the foreword to My Story Your Story His Story (2006) by Larry Toller

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Official biography". Retrieved 2007-02-10.
  2. ^ "AR Kids First website". Retrieved 2007-02-10.
  3. ^ "www.state.ar.us/governor/media/columns/text/c07052003.html". Retrieved 2007-02-10.
  4. ^ "Canadian Content". Retrieved 2007-04-23.
  5. ^ "www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2006/02/02/News/333735.html". Retrieved 2007-02-10.
  6. ^ "Arkansas Ask". Retrieved 2007-02-10.
  7. ^ "Arkansas Ask". Retrieved 2007-02-10.
  8. ^ conservatism article http://progressiveconservatism.blogspot.com/index.htmlProgressive conservatism article. Retrieved 2007-04-05. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. ^ {{cite web|url=http://www.arktimes.com/Articles/print.aspx?ArticleID=e7a0f0e1-ecfd-4fc8-bca4-b9997c912a91
  10. ^ "[http://www.oppodepot.com/huckabee.html accessdate=2007-04-05". {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help); Missing pipe in: |title= (help)
  11. ^ "Former Gov. Huckabee to jump into 2008 race". Associated Press, January 27, 2007
  12. ^ "Mike Huckabee Launches Presidential Bid". Associated Press, January 29, 2007.
  13. ^ "Dark horse Huckabee enters the race". Thefirstpost.co.uk, March 7, 2007.
  14. ^ http://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=43877
  15. ^ Sidoti, Liz (April 23, 2007). "Huckabee calls Gonzales a distraction". Associated Press. Retrieved 2007-04-23. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  16. ^ kornreich, Lauren (April 23, 2007). "McCain fares poorly, Huckabee well in S.C. straw poll". CNN. Retrieved 2007-04-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  17. ^ [1]
  18. ^ Media heaped praise on Huckabee's "sexual dig" at Edwards
  19. ^ http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2007/5/17/81831.shtml?s=al&promo_code=3425-1
  20. ^ "MSNBC article". Retrieved 2007-02-10.
  21. ^ "Washington Post article". Retrieved 2007-02-10.
  22. ^ "New York Times article". Retrieved 2007-02-10.
  23. ^ "www.state.ar.us/governor/media/radio/text/r07242004.html". Retrieved 2007-02-10.
  24. ^ Brian Wansink and Mike Huckabee (2005), “De-Marketing Obesity,” California Management Review, 47:4 (Summer), 6-18.
  25. ^ Jane McManus (November 5, 2006). "At NYC Marathon, there's no telling who you may run into". The Journal News.
  26. ^ "Club for Growth page on Huckabee". Retrieved 2007-02-10.
  27. ^ "About Cato". Retrieved 2007-02-10.
  28. ^ ""CATO Governors Report Card"". Retrieved 2007-02-10.
  29. ^ a b c "Arkansas Times article". Retrieved 2007-02-10.
  30. ^ Dunleavy, Steve (June 2, 1996). "How Gov. Clinton Denied an Innocent Man His Freedom". New York Post
  31. ^ (July 12, 2001). The Morning News
  32. ^ DeMillo, Andrew (2006-10-20). "Ark. Governor Criticized Over Joke". Associated Press. Retrieved 2007-01-24. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  33. ^ "Gifts solicited for Gov. Huckabee", Arkansas Times, November 11, 2006
  34. ^ "Arkansas Governor Defends Gift Registry", Associated Press
  35. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/us/politics/04repubs.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

See also

 
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