Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee (2015)

Michael Dale "Mike" Huckabee [ hʌkəbiː ] (* 24. August 1955 in Hope , Arkansas ) is an American politician of the Republican Party and was from 1996 to 2007 governor of Arkansas . He was a candidate for the Republican Party in the fight for the nomination for the US presidential election in 2008 , but could not prevail against John McCain . For the 2016 election he made a second attempt to stand for his party, but after a few months he supported Donald Trump . He is also the author of several books and a past pastor of the Southern Baptist Convention .

Life

youth

Mike Huckabee was born in Hope, Arkansas . His father worked as a fireman and mechanic, his mother as an employee for an oil company. Huckabee has an older sister. In 1972, he was given the leadership position of the Arkansas Boys / Girls State youth program and became president of his high school. On May 25, 1974, he married Janet McCain. With her he has three now grown children, two sons and a daughter. His daughter Sarah Huckabee Sanders was the White House press secretary from July 2017 to the end of June 2019 .

Training to become a pastor

Huckabee completed his Bachelor of Arts in Religion at Ouachita Baptist University with magna cum laude after two and a half years in 1975. He then went to a theological seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) in Fort Worth , Texas . He broke off his studies there after a year. Huckabee has pastored SBC churches in Arkadelphia , Texarkana, Arkansas and Pine Bluff , Arkansas. From 1989 to 1991 he was president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention . He also served as president of a religiously oriented television station.

Early political activity

In 1992, Huckabee tried for the first time to run for the United States Senate , but failed against the Democratic incumbent Dale Bumpers with 40:60 percent. In the same elections, Bill Clinton , then governor of Arkansas, was elected President of the United States, which resulted in Democrat Jim Guy Tucker becoming the new governor. On July 27, 1993, Huckabee was elected the new lieutenant governor with a narrow majority in a by- election. In new elections on November 8, 1994, he was able to prevail with 59% against the defeated Democrat Charlie Cole Chaffin.

Arkansas Governor

Mike Huckabee (2nd from left) with (from left) Rod Paige , Winthrop Rockefeller and Tim Hutchinson (2002)

In 1996, Huckabee first tried to reapply for the US Senate. However, when it became known in May of the same year that the then Democratic Governor Jim Guy Tucker wanted to resign as a result of the Whitewater scandal , Huckabee was appointed governor of Arkansas on July 15. Huckabee, who was one of only three Republican governors of Arkansas so far, won the 1998 gubernatorial election with 60% of the vote; In 2002 he was re-elected with 53%. Also in 2002, his wife Janet applied as Secretary of State , but only got 38% of the vote.

In 2003, Huckabee was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes , whereupon he lost more than 45 kilograms by completing several marathons (e.g. Little Rock Marathon , Little Rock , Arkansas : 4:38:31 hours). In November 2005, he made it onto the list of the five best US governors in Time magazine and became chairman of the National Governors Association . When Huckabee had to resign on January 9, 2007 because he was not allowed to run again after two terms had ended, he held the third longest term after Democratic governors Orval Faubus and Bill Clinton.

2008 presidential candidacy

Election campaign logo

On January 27, 2007, Mike Huckabee announced an interest in running for the US presidential election . The Republican asked for a sponsorship committee to be set up to raise funds for his election campaign. Due to an acute lack of money, Huckabee conducted an extremely economical election campaign, his supporters were mainly volunteers and great emphasis was placed on word-of-mouth propaganda. Therefore, Huckabee was the only candidate to use appearances on the US comedy show The Colbert Report to increase his national awareness and to present himself as an alternative to the established Republican candidates. One of the most famous supporters of Huckabees was the actor Chuck Norris , who actively supported him in his election campaign.

Initially, Huckabee was considered an outsider in the battle for the Republican nomination, but a poll published November 28, 2007 by Rasmussen Reports showed that he was ahead of Mitt Romney in the state of Iowa at 28% , who came in at 25%. At the end of 2007, Romney, whose campaign spending in Iowa alone is 20 times that of Huckabees, was still 25%, while Huckabee was up to 38%. In the primary elections for the presidential election in Iowa on January 3, 2008, Huckabee was able to claim victory with 35,342 votes (34%). After the unimportant primary in Wyoming , however, he was overtaken by Mitt Romney. In New Hampshire Huckabee finished third and lost in Michigan , Nevada , South Carolina and Florida . On Super Tuesday he won five states, on February 9, 2008 he was able to win in two states ( Louisiana (Primary), Kansas (Caucus).) He narrowly lost another area code on February 9, 2008 after the count was broken off in a dubious manner ( Washington (Caucus)), as well as the primaries on February 12, 2008 in Virginia , Maryland and Washington, DC and on March 4 in Texas , Ohio and other states. As a result, he could no longer win the nomination.

In terms of content, Huckabee tries to address both the evangelical and the progressive wing of Republican voters. Several times he criticized President George W. Bush , whose foreign policy he described, among other things, as "arrogant and lonely" .
Main articles : 2008 United States Presidential Election and 2008 United States Presidential Election Primary Results

In the run-up to the 2012 presidential election , Huckabee was once again seen as a promising candidate for the Republican nomination. On May 14, 2011, however, he stated that he did not want to apply for the office again.

From 2008 to 2014 he worked, among other things, as a television presenter for the Fox News Channel . In January 2015, he left Fox News and expressed an interest in running for the 2016 presidential election .

2016 presidential candidacy

On May 5, 2015, in his hometown of Hope, Arkansas , Huckabee announced his candidacy for president and will participate in the 2016 presidential election in the United States . He participated in the Republican Party debates on August 6, 2015 in Cleveland and on September 16, 2015 in Simi Valley. After his poor performance with the caucuses in Iowa, he announced the end of his candidacy on February 2.

Political positions

Mike Huckabee at a campaign rally

As a Baptist Southern Republican, Huckabee represents positions that reflect social conservatism in the US political system. He is an opponent of same-sex marriage and registered partnership , as he regards same-sex partnerships as sin for a religious motive and rejects them, comparable to lying or stealing. In 1992, Huckabee campaigned for the isolation of AIDS patients.

He told the Associated Press :

If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague. It is difficult to understand the public policy towards AIDS. It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents.

"If the federal government is really serious about fighting AIDS, we must ensure that the carriers of this epidemic are isolated. It's hard to understand AIDS policy. It is the first time in the history of civilization that the carriers of a real plague are not isolated from the population and that this deadly disease is treated as a civil rights issue rather than a health crisis. "

- Mike Huckabee

Huckabee opposed increasing the budget for AIDS / HIV research, saying Hollywood celebrities could donate. Huckabee is against abortion and against stricter gun laws, advocates the death penalty and supports the call for the teachings of creationism and intelligent design to be taught in schools on an equal footing with the theory of evolution . In the past, Huckabee has repeatedly emphasized that he personally "does not necessarily believe" the current view of Darwinism . Huckabee is one of the leading exponents of Christian Zionism . He believes that Palestine was given to the Jews by God and that the Jews have a God-given right to claim this land from the Palestinians. He gave an interview to the Jewish Russian Telegraph in which he said: “I was in favor of a Palestinian state, but not in Palestine , but in Saudi Arabia or Egypt .” () In August 2008, he and liaison Dov Hikind visited Israel and was there guest of the organization Ateret Cohanim . This organization has set itself the goal of settling more Jews in the Muslim quarter of the Israeli annexed East Jerusalem . Huckabee said he wasn't denying the Arabs the right to live anywhere, but that didn't have to be in Jerusalem. He called the division of Jerusalem unimaginable. "

In August 2009, Huckabee met with Israeli settlers and spoke to them about a controversial settlement project in the territories occupied by Israel since 1967. On the occasion of this conversation he said that he was worried that there were people who wanted to tell the settlers where to settle. He spoke out in favor of the release of the Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard , who is serving life imprisonment in the USA.

Huckabee supports the Iraq war , the increase in troops announced in 2007, but is against maintaining the controversial Guantanamo prison camp . He emphasizes that the so-called war on terror, from his point of view, is a war against “ Islamic fascism ” and that this war is a theocratic war.

Huckabee recommends hiring migrant workers from Mexico in agriculture, but spoke out against the McCain - Kennedy bill for a more liberal immigration policy and sees the protection of the borders as the most important task of US policy. However, he rejects the militarization of the border with Mexico. In a campaign interview with CBS during the Iowa campaign, he said that he intends to focus more on ethnic minorities, trade unionists, and other traditionally democratic groups: "If Republicans don't get majorities and votes that we don't normally get, Hillary Clinton will be the next president. ”
On economic and social issues, however, Huckabee is seen as more moderate or as contradicting. On the one hand, he advocates lower taxes, on the other hand, he increased state spending and staffing levels during his tenure as governor. While on the one hand he advocates higher taxes for higher earners and tax exemption for low wage earners, he also supports the so-called FairTax Act , which replaces the previous system of various federal taxes / duties (in particular income tax and payroll tax) with a national value added tax and thus tax progression would largely abolish.

Following the publication of cables from US embassies by WikiLeaks , in November 2010 he called for the death penalty for "the person who leaked diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks". In the trial against Chelsea Manning , however, the military prosecutor had already stated in 2011 that they would not demand the maximum sentence. In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre , Huckabee said that one should not be surprised to see God banished from schools. In a radio interview with radio host Jan Mickelson, who advocated the reintroduction of slavery, Huckabee campaigned for the reintroduction of slavery to convicted criminals.

Works

• Kids Who Kill (1998)
• Living Beyond Your Lifetime (2000)
• Quit Digging Your Grave with a Knife and Fork (2005)
• Character Makes a Difference: Where I'm From, Where I've Been, and What I will do (2007)
• From Hope to Higher Ground, My Vision for Restoring America's Greatness (2008)
• Can't Wait Till Christmas (2010)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ n-tv: McCain is through
2. ↑ Domenico Montanaro, Lauren Appelbaum: HUCK ON 'THEOLOGY' DEGREE , MSNBC. December 14, 2007. Retrieved December 16, 2007. 
3. ↑ Zev Chafets: The Huckabee Factor , New York Times. December 12, 2007. 
4. ↑ TIME: America's 5 Best Governors
5. ↑ n-tv: Searching for candidates in the USA
6. ↑ ^{a b c} Die Welt : "A Republican rebel shoots against Bush" (December 31, 2007)
7. ↑ Comedy Central : Interviews with Huckabee from the US comedy show "The Colbert Report" (English)
8. ↑ Reuters : "Huckabee beats Romney in first vote" (January 3, 2007)
9. ↑ Ftd: Ex-preacher Huckabee in New Hampshire unpopular ( Memento from August 1, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
10. ↑ Time: Last chance - used
11. ^ FAZ: Victories for Clinton, Romney and McCain
12. ^ The New York Times: Election Guide 2008
13. ↑ ftd: Huckabee's Way of the Cross to Washington ( Memento from February 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
14. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/us/politics/15huckabee.html
15. ↑ cnn.com
16. ^ Trip Gabriel: Mike Huckabee Joins Republican Presidential Race . In: New York Times , May 5, 2015. "After describing a childhood of school prayer, fishing trips and running for student council in Hope, Mr. Huckabee said," So it seems perfectly fitting that it would be here that I announce I. am a candidate for president of the United States. "" 
17. ↑ http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/01/politics/mike-huckabee-drops-out-of-2016-presidential-race/
18. ↑ Huckabee's Marriage Web Site
19. ↑ politico.com: “Huckabee called homosexuality 'sinful'” (December 8, 2007, English)
20. ↑ Huck defends AIDS stance. In: First Read / NBC News. December 8, 2007, accessed December 18, 2010 . 
21. ↑ ANDREW DeMILLO: Huckabee wanted to isolate AIDS patients - Associated Press, 2007-12-08 ( Memento of December 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
22. ↑ Michael Luo: Rapist's Parole and AIDS View From 1990s Follow Huckabee , New York Times. December 9, 2007. 
23. ↑ votesmart.org
24. ↑ ontheissues.com to Mike Huckabee
25. ^ The missing link. (No longer available online.) Arkansas Times, archived from the original September 28, 2007 ; Retrieved August 8, 2007 . 
26. ↑ Yglesias, Matthew (February 18, 2011) Mike Huckabee on Israel ( Memento of the original from March 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , ThinkProgress 
27. ↑ Seth Gitell European Huckabee NY Sun, August 14, 2007
28. ↑ Shmuel Hakoton: Gov. Mike Huckabee: Create Palestinian State Outside of Israel - Jewish Russian Telegraph, 2007
29. ^ Huckabee in Israel backs united Jerusalem ( August 22, 2008 memento in the Internet Archive ), Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA), August 19, 2008
30. ^ Huckabee on Jerusalem ( February 16, 2012 memento in the Internet Archive ), Interview with Dina Kraft, Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA), August 19, 2008.
31. ↑ Cnaan Liphshiz: Mike Huckabee: A divided Jerusalem is 'unimaginable' , Haaretz . August 19, 2008. Archived from the original on August 1, 2009. Retrieved on August 17, 2009. 
32. ^ Republican Huckabee supports Israeli settlements . In: Associated Press , Ynetnews , August 17, 2009. 
33. ^ Matthew Kalman, Barcha, Har: Huckabee's First 2012 Campaign Stop: Israel , Time Magazine . August 19, 2008. Retrieved August 22, 2009. 
34. ^ Smith, Ben (February 1, 2011) Huckabee for Pollard , Politico
35. ↑ Focus : "Hunting Scenes from Iowa" (January 2, 2007)
36. ^ Huckabee calls for execution of person who leaked diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks ( Memento of December 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), The Florida Independent, November 30, 2010
37. ↑ Huffington Post
38. ↑ Huffington Post
39. ↑ Politic USA

Web links

Commons : Mike Huckabee  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikiquote: Mike Huckabee  - Quotes

• Mike Huckabee in the National Governors Association (English)
• Arkansas Encyclopedia (English)
• Online biography of the governor of Arkansas (English)
• Link catalog on Mike Huckabee at curlie.org (formerly DMOZ ) (English)
• Interview with Mike Huckabee (English)