Mike+Huckabee

=Brief bio:=

Mike Huckabee is a former governor of Arkansas and a Republican candidate for president in 2008. Michael Dale Huckabee was born Aug. 24, 1955, in Hope, Arkansas, the same small town where former U.S. President Bill Clinton was born nine years earlier. Huckabee’s strict father worked as a firefighter father who on in his days off worked as a mechanic. In the mid-sixties, he joined Garrett Memorial Baptist Church and became involved in church activities. Timid and a bit of a klutz, Huckabee found salvation in words and music. He started playing guitar at age 11 (to this day, he occasionally plays bass with the Arkansas rock band, Capitol Offense) and became a champion public speaker and debater. He preached his first sermon as a teenager.

The tumultuous national and international events of 1968 spurred his desire for a career in media or public service. At age 14, Huckabee got his first job at a radio station, reading the news and weather. Then in 1972, he was elected Governor of Arkansas Boys State. After high school, Huckabee enrolled at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, where he majored in religion, minored in speech. Following his 1975 graduation, Huckabee attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, before dropping out to work for televangelist James Robison. Huckabee returned to Arkansas in 1979 to serve as a congregational pastor and, in 1989, became the head of the 490,000-member Baptist State Convention. From this power base, he ran for the Senate against the incumbent Dale Bumpers in 1992. During the campaign, he advocated separating people with HIV/AIDS from the general population, telling the Associated Press that “we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague.” Huckabee suffered a resounding defeat. In 1993, Huckabee bounced back and won a special election (after Governor Bill Clinton was elected U.S. President) for lieutenant governor. Then, he became governor in 1996 when Governor Jim Guy Tucker was convicted on federal charges of fraud and conspiracy in events relating to the Whitewater scandal. Huckabee was elected to full terms 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 is a favorite candidate of the religious right; he is an outspoken opponent of abortion rights and gay marriage. Huckabee married high-school sweet heart Janet McCain in 1974. They have three children.

=Stance on each of the campaign issues:= http://www.issues2000.org/Mike_Huckabee.htm http://www.2decide.com/table.htm media type="youtube" key="onHkywYc_1M&rel=1" height="355" width="425"
 * ===__War on Terror/Homeland Security__===
 * Raise enlistment rates with Veterans' Bill of Rights. (Sep 2007)
 * No student visas to citizens of terrorist states. (Sep 2007)
 * Guantanamo prisoners are treated very well. (Jun 2007)
 * Better to make mistakes at Guantanamo to protect Americans. (Jun 2007)
 * Islamic jihadists celebrate death; we have culture of life. (May 2007)
 * Guard & Reserve did their duty; it's beginning to wear. (Jan 2007)
 * Strength is more effective deterrent to war than weakness. (Jan 2007)
 * ===__War in Iraq/Afghanistan__===
 * Supports the support for troops
 * Supports surging with troops
 * Opposes withdrawing the troops from Iraq
 * ===__Education__===
 * Impeach judges for barring legislature prayers to Jesus. (Sep 2007)
 * Equal funds for abstinence as contraceptive-based education. (Sep 2007)
 * Tax-credited programs for Christian schooling. (Sep 2007)
 * I'm running for president, not writing science curriculum. (Jun 2007)
 * Ending school prayer was one step in society's moral decay. (Jun 2007)
 * SmartStart: early character-based education. (Jun 2007)
 * Does not believe in evolution. (May 2007)
 * Sends his kids to public school; says other officials should. (Jan 2007)
 * Reformed AR education with Smart Start & Next Step. (Jan 2007)
 * Incorporate character education into school curriculum. (Jan 2007)
 * Authorize & advance more charter schools. (Jan 2007)
 * Replace entire school board for failing schools. (Jan 2007)
 * Supported creation of Arkansas charter schools. (Dec 2006)
 * Raise teacher salaries; hire more teachers. (Nov 2002)
 * Support displaying the Ten Commandments in public schools. (Nov 2002)
 * First priority: Raise teacher salaries. (Jan 2001)
 * ===__Economy__===
 * Do things differently so people need not sacrifice. (Dec 2007)
 * To reduce spending, get rid of IRS & revamp DHS. (Nov 2007)
 * Rein in out-of-control spending and balance the budget. (Sep 2007)
 * Created state surplus in AR; cut spending to do same for US. (Sep 2007)
 * Bankruptcy reform: limit Chapter 7; protect states' role. (Feb 2001)
 * Uphold commitments to states before other spending. (Sep 2001)
 * Protect local milk supplies with Southern Dairy Compact. (Sep 2001)
 * ===__Taxes__===
 * FactCheck: FairTax would not eliminate IRS; just change role. (Nov 2007)
 * FairTax is 23%; Bush's study missed prebate & other aspects. (Nov 2007)
 * FairTax untaxes productivity & things which we export. (Oct 2007)
 * FairTax eliminates all taxes on productivity & saving. (Sep 2007)
 * Gut this incredibly complex and arcane tax code. (Aug 2007)
 * Attacked as tax-and-spend by several anti-tax groups. (Aug 2007)
 * Tax system penalizes productivity; needs complete overhaul. (Aug 2007)
 * FairTax puts Going-Out-of-Business sign on IRS. (May 2007)
 * FactCheck: FairTax requires 34% sales tax +$600B entitlement. (May 2007)
 * Flatter, fairer, finite, family friendly overhaul: Fair Tax. (May 2007)
 * First governor in Arkansas history to ever lower taxes. (Jan 2007)
 * Wouldn't propose new taxes, but won't pledge against taxes. (Jan 2007)
 * Raised Arkansas taxes 5 times, but lowered taxes 94 times. (Jan 2007)
 * Supports national flat tax to keep up with globalization. (Jan 2007)
 * Eliminated AR marriage penalty & capital gains on home sales. (Jan 2007)
 * Illustrated hypocrisy with "Tax Me More Fund". (Jan 2007)
 * Remove the poorest taxpayers from the tax rolls. (Jan 2001)
 * No national sales tax or VAT. (Feb 2000)
 * Let states independently determine estate taxes. (May 2001)
 * ===__Environment__===
 * Follow Boy Scout rule: leave earth better than we found it. (May 2007)
 * Supported conserving Buffalo River in north AR against dams. (Jan 2007)
 * Conservatives believe in conservation. (Jan 2007)
 * The earth is the Lord's; we are merely its caretakers. (Jan 2007)
 * More state autonomy on brownfields & Superfund cleanups. (Aug 2001)
 * Support State Revolving Loan Fund for flexible Clean Water. (Aug 2001)
 * Supports national drought policy, focusing on readiness. (Sep 2001)
 * Maintain water flow in Mississippi & Missouri Rivers. (Feb 2001)
 * ===__Foreign Policy/Foreign Relations__===
 * It's not OK in Pakistan; bin Laden is hiding there. (Oct 2007)
 * Law of the Sea Treaty gives away our sovereignty. (Oct 2007)
 * Genocide in Darfur matched by infanticide of the unborn. (Sep 2007)
 * We answer to our Constitution, not to international law. (Sep 2007)
 * Don't pressure Israel to give up land for promise of peace. (Sep 2007)
 * Monitor the eradication of legal slavery in Sudan. (Sep 2007)
 * Avoid ratifying Law of the Sea Treaty. (Sep 2007)
 * Not the job of the US to export our form of government. (Aug 2007)
 * Support Israel as strategic ally, but respect Palestine. (Jan 2007)
 * ===__Immigration__===
 * Focus on demand: penalize employers of illegal immigrants. (Sep 2007)
 * Some anti-immigration advocates are based on racism. (Sep 2007)
 * People are angry at government for failing to track illegals. (Sep 2007)
 * Problems with McCain-Kennedy: credibility; secrecy; spending. (Jun 2007)
 * Allow in professionals as legal immigrants, but seal border. (Jun 2007)
 * Change rule barring immigrants from running for president. (May 2007)
 * Path to citizenship if illegals admit guilt & pay fine. (Jan 2007)
 * Share costs of legal immigration between states & federal. (Feb 2001)
 * Federal government should deal with criminal repatriation. (Feb 2001)
 * Import farm workers from Mexico. (Sep 2001)
 * ===__Health Care__===
 * We don't have a healthcare system; it's a healthcare maze. (Oct 2007)
 * Individually-controlled insurance, not government SCHIP. (Oct 2007)
 * Portable medical records that YOU own, not your doctor. (Sep 2007)
 * System is upside down; focuses on intervention after illness. (Sep 2007)
 * Oppose mandated health insurance and universal coverage. (Sep 2007)
 * Insurance reward for avoiding tobacco, alcohol, obesity. (Sep 2007)
 * Give Americans Congress' healthcare, or give Congress ours. (Aug 2007)
 * Dems want government in charge; GOP want consumers in charge. (Jun 2007)
 * ARKids: Prevention less expensive than sick children. (Jun 2007)
 * Focus on health & prevention, not just disease treatment. (Jan 2007)
 * STOP the culture of chronic disease via self-discipline. (Jan 2007)
 * Guaranteed medical care not government's responsibility. (Nov 2002)
 * ARKids First program: record decreases in uninsured. (Jan 2001)
 * No federal pre-emption of employee health plan regulation. (Oct 2001)
 * Protect state tobacco settlement funds from federal seizure. (Apr 1999)
 * ===__Long Term Care__===
 * UNKNOWN
 * Huckabee wants to amend the Constitution to reflect god's law? Here are his own words:

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