Our Campaigns - Candidate

"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."

Huckabee, Mike

CANDIDATE DETAILS

Affiliation


<-	2015-01-01

Name

Mike Huckabee

Address

Little Rock, Arkansas , United States

None

Website

[Link]

Donate

Born

August 24, 1955 (68 years)

Contributor

Ralphie

Last Modifed

RBH
Dec 24, 2020 12:53pm

Tags

Caucasian - Married - Baptist - Christian - Protestant - Straight -

Info

Michael Dale Huckabee

Mike Huckabee is the former Republican Governor of the U.S. state of Arkansas, (1996-2007).

Governor of Arkansas Boys State in 1972.

He graduated magna cum laude from Ouachita Baptist University completing his 4 year degree in just over 2 years, and attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

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

In 1993 Huckabee was elected to the post of Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas. Huckabee, as the only Republican in statewide office, expanded the part-time position and actively used it as a platform to reach the public. Huckabee and Democratic leaders clashed over many issues. He was re-elected as Lieutenant Governor in 1994.

On 15 July 1996 he was sworn in as Governor of Arkansas to fill the vacancy created by Governor Jim Guy Tucker's resignation due to a felony conviction in the Whitewater scandal. This was a dramatic moment for Arkansas as Tucker at first resigned, and then rescinded his resignation as Huckabee was preparing to be sworn in. For a short while the event had the makings of a constitutional crisis not seen in Arkansas since the Brooks-Baxter War in the 19th century. Huckabee remained calm and won praise for his handling of the situation from both citizens and state leaders of both parties. Within a few hours Tucker reinstated his resignation and Huckabee was sworn in.

Soon after taking office, Huckabee signed legislation creating a health insurance program designed to provide insurance to children of families who could not qualify for Medicaid but could not afford private insurance. He signed legislation to cut taxes, and simplified the automobile registration procedure which had long been a source of complaint from the average citizen.

In November of 1998, Huckabee was elected to a full four-year term, receiving the highest percentage of votes for a Republican seeking statewide office in Arkansas history.

At the beginning of his first full term, Huckabee led a successful public relations campaign for a massive bond program to pay for major road reconstruction (Arkansas had, at that time, the lowest-rated highway system among the 50 states). This campaign drew praise because 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.

Huckabee, an avid outdoorsman, also led a successful campaign to dedicate via constitutional amendment 1/8 of one cent of the state sales tax to improvement of the state's park system and natural resources, which had fallen into serious disrepair (and was an embarrassment for a state billing itself as "The Natural State"). The improvements could not have come at a better time: the rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker in eastern Arkansas has led to increased tourist activity among bird watchers.

In 2000, Huckabee also led a widely praised campaign to convince the public to funnel 100 percent of the state's tobacco settlement revenues into the state's healthcare system, rather than into the general fund (as other states had done, where it could be used for non-health related purposes).

In November of 2002 he was reelected to another four-year term (due to term limits, this will be his final term as governor). By the end of his term Huckabee will have the third-longest tenure of any Arkansas Governor (only Orval Faubus, who served 6 consecutive 2-year terms (1955-1967), and Bill Clinton, who served 11 years, 11 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, and the National Governors Association.

In 2003, the courts in Arkansas 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. The court order has not yet been satisfied.

After Hurricane Katrina made landfall and numerous evacuees fled to Arkansas (the total number was estimated at around 70,000, but see below), Huckabee ordered state agencies to "take care of those human needs first and worry about the paperwork later". State parks offered deep 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, have been reopened or kept open to process a "second wave" of Katrina evacuees being moved from Texas in the wake of the arriving Hurricane Rita.

Huckabee has also made use of his authority as Governor to pardon or commute the sentences of felons. The most (in)famous of these was Wayne Dumond, a convicted rapist who would later commit murder in Missouri. However, a thorough anaylsis of his actual commutations by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette actually found that the commutations he issued were similar to those of most governors in recent times.

Political opponents have often criticized his former career as a Baptist minister and he has been dubbed "Bro-Gov" by some wags.

For a time, the Governor lived in a "triple-wide" mobile home on the grounds of the Governor's Mansion while it underwent renovation. The home was donated by the state manufactured home association; Huckabee agreed to live in it since the industry is a key part of Arkansas' economy both in terms of sales and employment. However, some citizens criticized the move, saying that it played into common stereotypes of rural Arkansas.

During the 2002 elections his wife, Janet Huckabee, ran unsuccessfully for Secretary of State, and both received criticism for the dual election effort.

He has been mentioned as a possible candidate for President in U.S. presidential election of 2008 or to defeat incumbent Democratic senator Mark Pryor (also in 2008). Regarding a possible Presidential candidacy, similarities have already been drawn between Huckabee and Clinton:

-both are from Hope, Arkansas,
-both chaired the National Governors' Association (considered a stepping-stone for governors with Presidential aspirations),
-both are Southern Baptists
-both are musically inclined (Clinton plays the saxophone, Huckabee plays the guitar)

JOB APPROVAL POLLS