Meet the Candidates

Mike Huckabee

Age: 52

Hometown: Hope, AR

Party Affiliation: Republican

Career Highlights:Arkansas governor from 1996 to 2007; ordained Baptist minister; lost 110 pounds in 2003 after doctors told him he had less than ten years to live

RS Fun Fact: Huckabee ran the 2005 Little Rock Marathon against then-Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack and beat him by 50 minutes with a 4:38:31 time.

Major Positions

Iraq

Governor Huckabee supported the war then and supports the war now. In fact, he's even likened the struggle to World War III. He supports the troop surge, and he believes training the Iraqi forces is the best way to get out of the country.

Compare Positions: Hillary Clinton Barack Obama John McCain

Climate Change

Huckabee argues for complete energy independence, a Manhattan Project-level endeavor that would include ditching fossil fuels and developing nuclear, hydrogen, wind and solar energy by the end of his second term. He favors drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Compare Positions: Hillary Clinton Barack Obama John McCain

Health Care

Huckabee doesn't approve of universal health care or have a mandate to provide it. The goal is to focus more on "preventive" health care to drive down costs, and he prefers that programs come from the private sector rather than government agencies. He hopes to reform medical liability and make insurance tax-deductible, and argues for tax credits rather than deductions for lower-income families.

Compare Positions: Hillary Clinton Barack Obama John McCain

War On Terror

Huckabee supports our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan but would take a softer approach toward Iran. He would engage in direct diplomacy with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a way to mend the tattered thirty-year relationship between the two nations. That said, Huckabee says congressional approval for launching a military strike is a "luxury" of time.

Compare Positions: Hillary Clinton Barack Obama John McCain

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RS Poll

His administration has known for at least six months that Iran shut down its nuclear weapons programs in 2003, but President Bush told the American people he only found out about the new intelligence "last week." Is Bush:

  • Fibbing
  • Clueless
  • When does the impeachment start?

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