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Huckabee announces White House bid Monday, Jan 29, 2007 By Aaron Sadler Stephens Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - Mike Huckabee launched a bid for the White House on Sunday with an appeal to a national television audience and a core group of conservatives to make room for him in a crowded presidential field. Huckabee announced his candidacy for the 2008 Republican nomination on NBC's "Meet the Press." He followed with an appearance before fellow conservatives, telling them a winning candidate must stress low taxes and safe borders and have a strong stance on social issues. The former Arkansas governor said he will file paperwork today to form a presidential exploratory committee, which will allow him to hire staff and raise money. Huckabee then heads to Iowa for campaign appearances Tuesday and Wednesday. Iowa will hold the first GOP caucus of 2008 next January. Huckabee, 51, acknowledged his place as an underdog in a news conference after his speech to the National Review Institute's Conservative Summit. "I'd be the first to tell you that my star is not quite that bright in the firmament just yet," he said. "But throughout our history, what we've often seen is that this country loves an underdog." Huckabee, Arkansas governor for 10 years before leaving office at the beginning of this year, registers little attention in early polling for the GOP nomination, behind front-runners Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York Mayor Rudolph Guiliani. Huckabee said he starts at the "bottom of the ladder," which is why it is important for him to begin the race a year before the first votes are cast. "One of the reasons that I'm running for president is because I think that America needs folks that understand what it is to start at the bottom of the ladder and climb their way to the top," said Huckabee, the first male in his family to graduate high school. "We've got a lot of people who were born on third base and think they hit a triple." Analysts say the Hope native and Baptist minister will compete with Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., for votes among religious conservatives. Huckabee dismissed early poll numbers, comparing them to his experience running marathons. A health advocate known nationally for losing 110 pounds, he has run four marathons. "You don't worry about the people who are in front of you in the early miles, because oftentimes the people who are out front early on are the ones that don't make it to the finish line because they run out of gas by the time they get there," he said. Huckabee faces a challenge raising money and establishing name recognition in order to mount a top-tier candidacy, according to Stuart Rothenberg, a Washington based political analyst. "I don't think anybody giving an honest appraisal can say Mike Huckabee is a leader now. He needs the front-runners to stumble; he needs to interest people," Rothenberg said. Huckabee on Sunday offered few policy details, but advertised himself as someone who can offer "positive, optimistic leadership to kind of turn this country around." Among topics he discussed, he said the federal government needs to find a way to make the flat tax a reality. A flat tax in its simplest form assesses income tax evenly among all Americans based on a percentage of income. Asked about the war in Iraq, Huckabee said it was risky to question the president's plan to send about 21,500 more troops into Iraq. "I think that's a dangerous position to take, to oppose a sitting commander-in-chief when we've got people being shot at on the ground," Huckabee said. However, he criticized the Bush administration for the burden the war places on National Guard and reserve troops. He said reservist call-ups stress families and employers He told "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert that he would not support new taxes unless the nation was "at a different level of war. "I don't think taxes (are) really where we need to go," he said. "It's not that our taxes are too low, it's that our spending is too high." Huckabee defended tax increases he backed as governor, saying they were also supported by Arkansas voters. Anti-tax groups have criticized him for raising taxes, most significantly a sales tax increase for public education and a fuel tax hike for highways. He also defended his role in the parole of convicted rapist Wayne Dumond, who was convicted of murder in Missouri shortly after he was released in Arkansas in 1999. Huckabee spent 10 1/2 years as Arkansas governor before leaving office Jan. 9 because of term limits. He staunchly opposes gay marriage and is staunchly anti-abortion. He said Sunday he believes life begins at conception and long-held institutions like marriage should not be altered without major discussion and debate. In his speech to the conservative group, He said Republicans lost control of Congress in November for failing to deliver to conservatives on key issues like border security and fiscal responsibility. "When we don't do those things, we deserve to lose," Huckabee said. He said he should have a place in the presidential sweepstakes as a southern, conservative governor with executive-branch experience and more foreign policy expertise that some may believe. His trips to 30 countries as governor, including a visit to the Middle East, help solidify his credentials, he said. Also, he said he would seek out military and diplomatic leaders in coming months. |
