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Mike Huckabee

Mike HuckabeeAKA Michael Dale Huckabee

Born: 24-Aug-1955
Birthplace: Hope, AR

Gender: Male
Religion: Baptist
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Politician
Party Affiliation: Republican

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Governor of Arkansas, 1996-2007

Preacher-turned-politician Mike Huckabee was born in Hope, Arkansas, the same town where Bill Clinton was born nine years earlier. Described in childhood as a natural leader and smooth talker, he preached his first sermon at the age of 15, worked as a disk jockey and news reader on Hope's only radio station, and played bass in a rock'n'roll band. In high school he dated classmate Janet McCain (no relation to John McCain), and they were married when he was 18. After attending Ouachita Baptist University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, he worked for several years for televangelist James Robison. He later served as minister at Baptist churches in Pine Bluff and Texarkana, Arkansas, and as President of two Christian TV operations.

For his entry into politics, Rev Huckabee aimed high: He ran against long-time Senator Dale Bumpers in 1992, and lost in a landslide. Clinton won the Presidency in that election, which meant Lieutenant Governor Jim Guy Tucker was promoted to Governor, and Huckabee won Tucker's job in a special election. In 1996 he was leading in polls to challenge Senator David Pryor, but reversed strategy when Gov. Tucker was convicted of fraud charges in the Whitewater investigation in 1996, making Huckabee the Governor of Arkansas. In that office, he oversaw enactment of a state health program for un-insured children, made improvements to the state highway system, and cut taxes. Morbidly obese and diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2003, he went on a crash diet and lost 110 pounds, then wrote a book about his new healthy lifestyle.

In his 1992 campaign for Governor he called for quarantining AIDS patients, years after it was known that the disease can not be spread through casual contact. He has described Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia as "my own personal hero on the court... not least because I duck-hunted with him." In 1998 he signed a full-page ad in USA Today stating that "a wife is to submit graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ."

During his 2008 run for President, Huckabee said, "I hope we answer the alarm clock and take this nation back for Christ." He described the war on terror as "a world war", called for a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, and rejected Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. He said he would support a federal law against abortion, even in cases of rape and incest, and blamed abortion for the increase in illegal immigration, explaining that since Roe v Wade, "we have aborted more than a million people who would have been in our workforce". He supported the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq, opposes universal health care and embryonic stem cell research, and has said that as President he would not propose any tax increases.

Huckabee's comments at a 2011 "Rediscover God In America" conference held for Dominionists generated some controversy, when he called for compulsory indoctrination of Americans: "I almost wish that there would be, like, a simultaneous telecast, and all Americans would be forced -- forced at gunpoint no less -- to listen to every David Barton message, and I think our country would be better for it. I wish it'd happen." His troublesome remark was edited out of later webcasts.

After his 2008 Presidential run, he hosted a chat show on Fox News, called Huckabee. He left that program in 2015, to consider running again for President.

Father: Dorsey Wiles Huckabee (mechanic, b. 17-Jul-1923, d. 31-Mar-1996)
Mother: Mae Elder Huckabee (office clerk, b. 14-Dec-1925, d. 30-Sep-1999)
Sister: Patricia Huckabee Harris ("Pat", teacher)
Wife: Janet McCain Huckabee (m. 25-May-1974, two sons, one daughter)
Son: John Mark Huckabee (campaign worker, b. circa 1977)
Son: David Huckabee (mortgage broker, b. Jul-1980)
Daughter: Sarah Huckabee Sanders (Deputy White House Press Secretary, b. 13-Aug-1982)

    High School: Hope High School, Hope, AR (1973)
    University: BA Religion, Ouachita Baptist University, Arkadelphia, AR (1975)
    Theological: Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (attended, 1975-76)

    Governor of Arkansas (1996-2007)
    Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas (1993-96)
    Jobs for America's Graduates Board of Directors (former)
    Cambridge Communications (President, 1992-96)
    KBSC-TV (President, 1987-92)
    American Christian Television Systems (Founder and President, 1983-1986)
    Ducks Unlimited
    John McCain 2008
    Ordained Southern Baptist Convention (1974)
    Issued Concealed Carry Permit
    Evolution Skeptics
    Global Warming Skeptics
    English Ancestry
    Risk Factors: Obesity, Diabetes

    TELEVISION
    Fox News Channel Host of Huckabee (2008-15)

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    God's Not Dead 2 (1-Apr-2016)
    An Inconvenient Tax (15-Apr-2011) · Himself
    I Want Your Money (28-Jul-2010) · Himself

Official Website:
http://www.mikehuckabee.com/

Author of books:
God, Guns, Grits and Gravy (2014)
Character Is the Issue: How People with Integrity Can Revolutionize America (1997)
Kids Who Kill: Confronting Our Culture of Violence (1998)
Cutting Taxes and Other Great Ideas for Congress from An Arkansas Governor (1999)
Living Beyond Your Lifetime: How to be Intentional About the Legacy You Leave (2000)
Quit Digging Your Grave with a Knife and Fork (2005)
From Hope to Higher Ground: 12 Steps to Restoring America's Greatness (2007)
Character Makes a Difference: Where I'm From, Where I've Been, What I Believe (2007)


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