Mike Huckabee

State Governor

Mike Huckabee is a former governor of Arkansas and Republican candidate for president in 2008. Huckabee is an ordained minister who earned a B.A. from Ouachita Baptist University in 1975 and a master's degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1980. He served as pastor of Baptist congregations in Pine Bluff and Texarkana during the 1980s while also heading up the religious television station KBSC (now KLFI). He was elected lieutenant governor of Arkansas in a 1993 special election (after Governor Bill Clinton was elected U.S. president), and took over as governor in 1996 when Guy Tucker resigned after being convicted of mail fraud and conspiracy. Huckabee was re-elected in 1998 and 2002, then announced in 2007 that he would run for the Republican nomination for president. With his Southern roots and pastoral credentials, Huckabee was a favorite candidate of the religious right; he is outspoken opponent of abortion rights and gay marriage. However, he quit the race in March of 2008 after John McCain locked up the nomination. Huckabee is also known for losing weight: diagnosed with Type II diabetes in 2003, he lost 110 pounds through dieting and running. The events led to his 2005 book on healthy living, Quit Digging Your Grave With A Knife and Fork.

Extra credit: Huckabee married the former Janet McCain on 25 May 1974. (She is no relation to John McCain.) The Huckabees have three children: John Mark, David and Sarah... Huckabee and Bill Clinton are both from the same small town: Hope, Arkansas. Clinton is nine years older than Huckabee... As governor, Huckabee occasionally played bass guitar in an Arkansas rock band, Capitol Offense... His other books include Character Is the Issue (1997, with John Perry) and Kids Who Kill (1998, with George Grant).

Mike Huckabee appears with Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton in our loop on Candidates 2008.

Blog posts mentioning Mike Huckabee:
First In, First Out in Campaign 2008 McCain is the Nominee Romney Stuck at Seven Iowa Caucus Results A Birthplace Called Hope New Profiles, Musical and Presidential