Huckabee Points to Romney's Record in Massachusetts

Huckabee took a $200 million deficit and turned it into an $850 million surplus; Romney left Massachusetts with over a billion dollars of unpaid bills. He left them with a road system that was in shambles, bridges that are about to collapse. Huckabee left Arkansas with a road system that was completely rebuilt.

read more | digg story

WAPO: Unusual Speech

This is an article about a speech given by Mike Huckabee - you have to read this - it tells of a story of when his son was young tried to cook a cake for the Huckabee family and used a cup of salt in the place of a dash of salt - it is great - this is from MikeHuckabee.com / check out my blog http://mikehuckabee-has-my-vote.blogspot.com/

read more | digg story

Mike Huckabee Tells Romney That’s Enough

In Mike Huckabee’s newest TV ad he says “enough is enough.” This ad is in response to the slew of ads pointing out many of Huckabee’s weaknesses.

read more | digg story

Huckabee Leading In Iowa

A new Bloomberg/LA Times poll:

Huckabee 37%

Romney 23%


Permalink: http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=984

read more | digg story

One Mom:

Blogger sums up the nasty attacks by Romney and others in their desperation. One has to consider the kind of character within a man whose only contribution to the process is to lie and distort the truth to get elected.... Do we really want a negative man like that as our nations leader?

read more | digg story

Club for Growth Attacks Mike Huckabee on Christmas Day w/ Ad

The Club for Growth came out with a negative ad in Iowa opposing Mike Huckabee.

read more | digg story

Shuster Says: Huckabee Next President

While Shuster might just have been looking to make mischief, there's something in his background that helps explain his regard for Huckabee's political skills. From 1994 - 1996, Shuster was a political reporter for ABC-affiliate KATV in Little Rock, and thus had a prime perch from which to view Huckabee in action. In the course of his reporting during this electoral season Shuster has often drawn on that experience to extol Huck's political talent. This morning, for example, Shuster related an anecdote from 14 years ago, when Huckabee was Lt. Governor and Governor Jim Guy Tucker got convicted in a Whitewater-related trial but was refusing to resign from office.
read more | digg story

Huckabee Proves He Is A Regular Guy And Shoots A Bird

Mike Huckabee used the day after Christmas to go hunting instead of campaigning, proving he is just one of the guys.

read more | digg story

Huckabee Response to Misleading Club For Growth Attack Ad

"...Huckabee's record on taxes as a steward of the public’s money has been CLEAR and consistent as a conservative with strong pro-growth.policies. The fact is that when Governor Huckabee began in office, the tax rate was 1% for the poorest taxpayers and 7 percent for the richest – the tax rates remained exactly the same when he left office..."

read more | digg story

The Dallas Morning News Endorses Mike Huckabee

"Many Republican voters are dissatisfied with the GOP presidential candidates this year. We share that frustration. But one of these men is going to be the party's nominee. Of this field, Mike Huckabee is the best choice."

read more | digg story

Video: Huckabee Talks About Christmas Ad

Hardball Recap on Huckabee

Former Hastert Spokesman And MSNBC Commentator John Feehery Said The Former Speaker “Sees This White House As Pretty Arrogant.”

read more | digg story

Huckabee Crowds Rudy in Fla. GOP

Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee has risen to second place among Florida Republicans and now trails Rudy Giuliani by a narrow margin, a new poll reveals.

read more | digg story

Huckabee Proposes National Sales Tax In Lieu Of Income Tax

Boscawen, NH (AHN) - In a campaign pitch to woo American taxpayers, Republican presidential hopeful and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee proposed scrapping federal income taxes. Instead, he is pushing for national sales tax - a consumption tax called the FairTax - to help save Social Security.

read more | digg story

New Iowa Poll---Huckabee Leading by 8% Over Romney

Huckabee is up 11% in one month. Romney is unchanged. In addition, Romney's level of definate support is 11% less than Huckabee's.

read more | digg story

Huckabee Says He's Not Soft on Crime

Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee said Monday he was tough on crime as Arkansas' governor, rejecting a new television ad by rival Mitt Romney that implied he was soft.

read more | digg story

Response To Romney Attack Ad

This shows that the attacks by Romney aren't what they seem


TRUTH: Governor Huckabee was tougher on methamphetamine manufacturers than Governor Romney
In a new attack ad released today, Governor Romney attempts to contrast his position on drugs with that of Governor Huckabee. The ad says that Romney got "Tough on Drugs Like Meth," while Governor Huckabee "Reduced Penalties for Manufacturing Meth." What Romney fails to mention is that -- even with the reductions -- Governor Huckabee was tougher on methamphetamine manufacturers than Governor Romney was.

¢ The "reduced penalty" in Arkansas was a requirement that meth manufacturers serve 50 percent of their sentence rather than 70 percent before being eligible for parole. In Arkansas, the average meth dealer spends an average of 10 years in prison.
¢ In contrast, the source quoted in the Romney ad that claimed Romney "got tough" on drugs notes, "The punishment would be either 2 1/2 years in jail or five years in prison."

Let's compare: Under Huckabee, 10 years; Under Romney, 5 years

The ad also states that Romney "never pardoned a single criminal." But this begs the question: how many clemency cases did he actually review while he was governor of Massachusetts? Or did he simply avoid his responsibility as chief executive of the state to review clemency cases and give petitioners a fair hearing?
The ad also points out that Governor Huckabee granted more clemencies than the "previous three governors…combined." It doesn't mention that two of the previous three governors were Bill Clinton and convicted felon Jim Guy Tucker. Governor Huckabee's clemency rate, however, was in line with other governors who have served the state.

Romney also fails to acknowledge that in Arkansas, every person who is convicted of a crime and every person in prison is eligible for clemency. Because of this, the number of clemency applications is extraordinarily high. Governor Huckabee had 8,698 applications during his 10 ½ years in office.

Some Governors are content to simply deny the vast majority of clemency applications without bothering to consider their merit.
Governor Huckabee, however, believed that respect for the legal process required that he give them the consideration for which they were entitled.
During his tenure, Governor Huckabee denied 88 percent of the applications.

Before granting clemency, the Governor issues a notice of intent and opens a 30-day public comment period in which people can protest the decision. Very rarely does the public oppose a clemency because almost all are granted for minor offenses, involve reductions in fines, or reduced prison sentences that were longer than the average for a particular crime.

During the 10 ½ years Mike Huckabee was governor the number of government agencies and businesses that conducted background checks increased at an incredible rate. The terrorist acts of September 11, 2001, have resulted in increased concerns regarding security. Potential job candidates and long-time employees considered for promotion are under increased scrutiny.

Before the mainstream use of background checks, most people could have some youthful arrest, change their lives and become good, tax-paying citizens without that earlier arrest coming back to haunt them.

Governor Huckabee found during his time in office that each year the number of people needing clemency to clear their record increased. Denying their request prevented them from continuing to earn a good living and pay taxes. The majority of the clemency requests he granted were for this reason.

Nevertheless, on behalf of the Mike Huckabee for President campaign, we want to wish Governor Romney, his family and his staff, a very merry Christmas.
Additional Notes:

What is Clemency?
Clemency is the process through which the Governor considers requests for granting reprieves, commutations of sentence, and pardons after conviction.

What is a Pardon?
A pardon is the exemption of a convicted person from the penalties of an offense or crime. A pardon can be requested by someone who is no longer incarcerated.

Who May Apply for Clemency?
Any person serving a term of any number of years, life, life without parole, or a sentence of death may apply for executive clemency. A person who is not presently incarcerated may also apply.

What are the Steps in the Clemency Application Process?

1. Any person making a request for clemency must first have their application processed by the Board of Parole in what is called a screening. This will determine if there is any merit to the application. A victim can only make written recommendations to the Board of Parole during this step of the process.

2. If the application is found to have merit, it will most likely be scheduled for a hearing before the Board of Parole. A victim will be notified (if they have requested these notifications) when a hearing is scheduled and can contact the Board of Parole about providing written or oral recommendations. Once the hearing is complete the Board will vote on a recommendation to send to the Governor for final action.

3. The Governor will review the application, the recommendation of the Board of Parole, and all other pertinent materials before making his decision. If the Governor intends to grant the application for clemency, he will announce his intent and allow a 30 day period for public comment. If the Governor decides to deny the application it will be announced and no further action will be taken.

http://www.acic.org/justice/Clemency%20Process.htm




read more | digg story

WAPO: On Debate: Huckabee

Analysis on the Iowa Debate

read more | digg story

Governor Huckabee Receives First Georgia Congressional Endorsement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: DERICK CORBETT (678) 773-4866
December 11, 2007

Duluth, GA- John Linder (R-GA) released the following statement announcing his support for Mike Huckabee for the GOP presidential nomination:

"I am proud to announce my endorsement of Mike Huckabee for the GOP presidential nomination. The values and character Mike has shown throughout this campaign are reflective of what America should strive to be. Most importantly, he has shown that he has the tenacity to confront our nation's problems head on. A good example of this is his zeal to replace a broken, crippling, tax system and replace it with the FairTax. This is an idea that I have worked on for over 10 years and I have had the opportunity to talk with Mike about it on numerous occasions. He understands the need for change, and he understands that we are far past quick fixes."

"Our country has reached a point where we need big ideas to affect real change. Mike Huckabee is the only candidate I have seen with the vision and fortitude to bring big ideas to the table, and for that reason, he has my full support."

DIGG This

The Spotlight is on Huckabee in Georgia

People in Georgia are turning toward Huckabee. "They're excited now about Huckabee," Beck said. "Clearly Huckabee has generated some excitement and some enthusiasm. There are a lot of people who had bought the story that the day for conservatives to have a voice had sort of passed." Now they see they have a candidate to vote FOR.

read more | digg story

Romney attacks Huckabee on Immigration record

Romney launched a 30-second television ad Tuesday in Iowa blasting Huckabee's record on immigration. Huckabee defended his immigration stance by welcoming the support of James Gilchrist, the founder of the Minuteman Project. Huckabee said attack ads like Romney's are usually generated out of desperation.

read more | digg story

Huckabee Seen as Most Presidential Among Republicans

Among Republican adults, 21% say that Mike Huckabee looks the most Presidential. Seventeen percent (17%) of the GOP faithful say that title belongs to Rudy Giuliani and 16% think it describes Mitt Romney. Ten percent (10%) see John McCain as most Presidential while 8% hold that view of Fred Thompson.

read more | digg story

Huckabee First in Georgia

Strategic Vision (being released tomorrow)Huckabee – 23% (+18)Thompson – 20% (-19)Giuliani – 17% (-3)McCain – 11% (+2)Romney – 10% (+4)

read more | digg story

Republican Presidential Candidates On Immigration Issues

Americans for Better Immigration has reassessed the candidates stands on illegal immigration.

read more | digg story

Special Report: Government Border Fence Trickery

One more example how our government tells us one thing publicly while doing the exact opposite behind our backs. More proof that they can't be trusted.

read more | digg story

Home-Schoolers Help Propel Huckabee.

The God Squad are on the march!

read more | digg story

Huckabee Receives Endorsement From Minuteman Founder

Jim Gilchrist endorses Huckabee

read more | digg story

Georgia For Huckabee

Are you from Georgia and want to help Team Huckabee?

read more | digg story

Huckabee Up In Michigan

Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee is 1st in Michigan

read more | digg story

206 New Bloggers For Huckabee

We just added 206 new bloggers for Huckabee to the blogroll. There are 694 bloggers for Huckabee and with the next update the total looks like it will be well over 800 bloggers for Huckabee.

read more | digg story

Secure America Plan

Strategy for Immigration Enforcement and Border Security

read more | digg story

Video: The Rules Are About To Change

Primary politics, it's been all about SPEND SPEND SPEND... that's no longer the case.

read more | digg story

Gingrich: Huckabee Can Win

Mike Huckabee may be soaring in the polls, but is it for real, and can he win the Republican presidential nomination? “Absolutely,” Newt Gingrich told Alan Colmes.

read more | digg story

FORMER HUCKABEE AIDE DENOUNCES HUFFPO DISTORTION

FORMER HUCKABEE AIDE DENOUNCES HUFFPO DISTORTION;
Corroborates Huckabee Account of Disputed Meeting:
"He was not trying to influence the Board"

A report on the left-wing blog, The Huffington Post makes allegations against Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee that are inaccurate and distort the truth. According to the HuffPo article, Olan W. "Butch" Reeves, a former senior aide of former Governor Mike Huckabee, "directly contradicts" the Governor's account of a meeting between himself and the Arkansas state parole board that took place on October 31, 1996.

In fact, Mr. Reeves completely corrobates Mr. Huckabee's account of the meeting.

As background to the controversy, in 1985, Wayne DuMond was convicted of raping Ashley Stephens and was sentenced to life in prison. Subsequently, in 1992 then-Governor of Arkansas, Jim Guy Tucker granted executive clemency for DuMond which commuted his sentence to 39.5 years. This act made DuMond immediately eligible for parole.

In 1996, Mike Huckabee became Governor of Arkansas. That August the Post Prison Transfer Board reviewed a request for a pardon from DuMond and decided to recommend to the Governor that the request had "no merit." That decision was sent to the Governor. The Board's decision is a recommendation and not binding on the Governor.

When the Governor received the file with the recommendation from the Board, his review of the case led him to issue an "intent to grant" the clemency. There then followed a mandatory period for the Governor to receive comments from the public. The DuMond case was very controversial and the Governor received many comments, both supporting and opposing his consideration of a pardon.

During this time period, the Board - which was composed entirely of Democrats appointed either by Bill Clinton, or Jim Guy Tucker -- issued an invitation to the new Republican Governor to come to a meeting to become acquainted and discuss his philosophy of clemency.

Please note a crucial distinction: clemency (or pardon) is separate and distinct from parole. Only the Governor can grant clemency or pardon; the Parole Board reviews and grants parole. The Governor is not involved in parole decisions.

It is this October '96 meeting which is now the focus of attention. One of the Board members, Charles Chastain, is now alleging publicly that the Governor used that meeting to pressure the Board to grant DuMond parole.

In fact, just the opposite is true: Mr. Chastain attempted to dissuade Governor Huckabee from his intent to grant clemency to DuMond.

"They are saying that the Governor was trying to persuade them to grant parole," said Reeves, "it was the other way around, they were trying to persuade him not to grant clemency."

At the time Mr. Reeves served as chief counsel to the Governor and attended the October meeting with Governor Huckabee in his official capacity.

Mr. Reeves asserts categorically that parole for DuMond was "never mentioned" during the meeting. ("I told this guy [Waas], that's not why we had that meeting.") The quotes attributed to Reeves in The Huffington Post article, authored by Murray Waas, all relate to a conversation which was about Governor Huckabee's stated intention to grant DuMond clemency.

This is a very simple distinction that Waas fails to make. The context of the discussion that occurred - and Governor Huckabee has not denied that a discussion occurred - was the question of whether or not Governor Huckabee would grant clemency, not whether or not the Board would grant parole. The Board's decision had already been made and their recommendation was already on the Governor's desk.

In the midst of a general discussion about the Governor's general philosophy related to clemency, one of the Board members asked the Governor about the DuMond case and his intention to grant clemency (which was public knowledge due to the notice of intent.)

The Governor responded by stating that he believed the facts warranted his decision to initiate a notice of intent. As has been reported, he added that he believed DuMond had gotten a bad deal from the justice system. (This goes to the stated purpose of the meeting which was for the Governor to communicate to the Board his clemency philosophy.) Note that this does parallel the quotes attributed to Reeves by Waas in the Huffington Post:

"But, according to Reeves, Huckabee actually told the parole board members that the prison sentence meted out to Dumond for his rape conviction was "outlandish" and "way out of bounds for his crime."

Again, the Governor made these comments to explain his position on the clemency request, not to persuade the Board to grant parole. The Board had already decided against parole. "Parole was not an issue; it didn't come up," said Reeves.

In response to the Governor's explanation of why he intended to grant DuMond clemency, Chastain then stated why he was against it. The Governor, according to Reeves replied, "Well, okay, it's a difference of opinion." And the discussion ended.

The Huffington Post article asserts that the Reeves account contradicts the Governor's version when, in fact, everything Mr. Reeves describes corroborates Governor Huckabee's statement on the issue, as quoted by Waas:

"This stands in stark contrast to Huckabee's assertion, repeated at a press conference today that he "did not ask [the board] to do anything." When asked directly about trying to influence the board, Huckabee responded: "No. I did not. Let me categorically say that I did not."
"He never mentioned parole at that meeting," says Mr. Reeves. "The Governor was talking about clemency."

On January 16, 1997 the Board took up a reconsideration of DuMond's parole request and voted to grant parole with the stipulation that DuMond be paroled out of state.

The vote was as follows:
4 members voted yes. LeRoy Brownlee, Chairman; Fred Allen, Jr.; Ermer Poindexter; Railey Steele;
1 voted no. Dr. Charles Chastain.
There were 2 abstentions. Deborah Suttler and August Pieroni.

That same afternoon the Governor denied the clemency request. He sent a letter to DuMond that has been widely reported saying, (excerpted):
"Dear Wayne, I have reviewed your applications for executive clemency, specifically a commutation and/or pardon. ... My desire is that you be released from prison. I feel now that parole is the best way for your reintegration into society. ... Therefore, after careful consideration ... I have denied your applications."
The Governor's approach to the DuMond case has been consistent. As he expressed in the letter, he did believe that DuMond should be released from prison. However, he denied clemency/pardon FOUR TIMES. Even after the Board granted parole with the out-of-state stipulation, Governor Huckabee denied two subsequent clemency requests. DuMond could not find a state which would take him, so he remained in prison for TWO MORE YEARS. It was during this time that the Governor continued to deny him clemency.

If the Governor was actively seeking to release DuMond, he could have easily done so by granting him clemency. He did not do so.

Finally, September 16, 1999 the Board, during a regular progress report on DuMond, dropped the out-of state condition for parole. The Governor took no action to promote this decision and did not know it was coming.

In October of that year, DuMond was released.

Read Story

LA Times: Here Comes Huck!

A new national Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Poll released a minute ago reveals that the Mike Huckabee phenomenon has exploded far beyond Iowa; the former Arkansas governor is now threatening the national lead of longtime Republican frontrunner Rudy Giuliani.

read more | digg story

Huckabee Brings on Dr. Charmaine Yoest as Senior Advisor

Former Arkansas Governor and Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee announced today the addition of noted political analyst Dr. Charmaine Yoest as a Senior Advisor in policy and communications to his presidential campaign.

read more | digg story

December 6 is Mobilize for Mike Huckabee Day!

December 6 is Mobilize for Mike Huckabee Day!

read more | digg story

Huckabee Leads in South Carolina

According to the latest Rasmussen Reports poll out of South Carolina, Mike Huckabee is now in the lead...

read more | digg story

Truth Squad: Governor Huckabee's Repsponse to the Wayne Dumond Incident

December 05, 2007This is the transcript from his answer at the press conference today on the Wayne Dumond Case. Governor Huckabee was asked if he had pressured the parole board to release Dumond.

read more | digg story

Huckabee on Michael Medved Show

Listen to the recorded interview with "The candidate everyone is talking about" Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee.

Leading The Majority

Leading the Majority: Last week, Rick and Vince welcomed 2008 Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee. Huckabee was joined by Hollywood action star, Chuck Norris who endorsed him last month. Norris and Huckabee spoke about the upcoming November 2008 election, their travels together on the campaign trail, and issues they feel are pertinent to voters.

Elmo and the Governor

I had not seen this before - I was able to take a look at The POTUS Blog this evening and I found the video above. I really think it is great how Mike Huckabee is working toward a nation of healthy people.

How are the main contenders handling the faith issue?

Religious politics are nearly impossible to miss in the 2008 presidential campaign. A look at religion and the top contenders in each party:

read more | digg story

Huckabee Takes on Clinton

Mike Huckabee told media today that he is on to Hillary Clinton’s tactics like no other GOP candidate.

read more | digg story

Grant Swank's Right About Huckabee!

Huckabee is right. Abortion is a moral issue just as slavery was a moral issue. It wasn't right to leave slavery, or even segregation, as an issue to be decided by the individual states precisely because these are absolute moral issues as well as public moral issues.

read more | digg story

Huckabee: I'm no 'lifelong politician'

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee defended his resume yesterday from increased attacks by fellow Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, while a new poll shows that Mr. Huckabee has taken the lead in Iowa from the former Massachusetts governor.

read more | digg story

Grist interviews Huck on ecology

Yup, that is the Mike Huckabee I have come to know. His attitude toward the creation of God’s is the high road. Mike’s character will leave this planet in better shape then how he found it. Mike is the biggest Green Elephant I know. HIs energy plan for this Country, this planet, has great merit and deserves our needed support.

read more | digg story

CBS Early Show Interview with Mike Huckabee

See Mike Huckabee's 12-3-07 interview on the CBS Early Show.

read more | digg story

Ads paint Huckabee as taxer, but record more complicated

Leslie Wayne, New York Times
Sunday, December 2, 2007

As Mike Huckabee rises in the Republican presidential polls, fiscal conservatives have been raising alarms about a series of tax increases he spearheaded while governor of Arkansas - new taxes on gasoline, nursing home beds and even pet groomers.

The Club for Growth, a politically influential anti-tax group, has dubbed Huckabee Tax Hike Mike and poured money into anti-Huckabee advertisements that were broadcast in early-nominating states, with more on the way. Huckabee "spends money like a drunken sailor," according to the group's news releases, and it has sprinkled YouTube and the airways with videos that mock him and his policies.

But the record offers a more complex and nuanced picture. While taxes did rise in the 10 years that Huckabee was governor, the portrayal of him as a wild-eyed spendthrift is hardly apt. For the most part, Huckabee's tax initiatives had wide bipartisan support, with the small number of Republicans in the overwhelmingly Democratic state Legislature voting for the tax increases and many maintaining that the state was better for them.

In addition, when Huckabee left office in January, he had turned a $200 million budget shortfall into an $844 million surplus. Still, as the attacks on his fiscal policies have stepped up, the Huckabee campaign has also cited examples of about 90 taxes that went down under his tenure. But on balance, tax increases outweighed the tax cuts by nearly $500 million.

The biggest increase under Huckabee was mandated by the Arkansas Supreme Court, which in 2002 ruled that the state's school financing procedure was unconstitutional and ordered a more equitable plan - which led to $400 million in new taxes.

Some other taxes came about directly because of Huckabee's efforts. After becoming governor in 1996, he traveled the length of the Arkansas River within the state to win support for an additional one-eighth-cent sales tax to improve the state parks system.

Early in his tenure, Huckabee pushed through a 3-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax increase and a 4-cent increase on diesel fuel, along with a bond issue, to improve a road system that was considered one of the worst in the country.

And when the state lacked enough of the necessary matching money for federal Medicaid payments to its nursing homes, Huckabee and the Legislature enacted a $5.25-per-day "bed tax" on nursing homes, which won the grudging approval of the state's nursing home industry.

All of this has become fodder for the Club for Growth and other anti-tax groups. At the Republican YouTube debate on Wednesday, an advertisement shown by a rival candidate, Fred Thompson, directly attacked Huckabee's tax policies.

"We've been making noise about Huckabee since Day 1 of his candidacy," said Nachama Soloveichik, a spokeswoman for the Club for Growth, which analyzes the tax policies of Republican candidates. "There is a groundswell among conservatives that this cannot be our guy."

Both Democratic and Republican politicians and political observers say the Legislature had little choice but to raise taxes from 2002 to 2004 given the fiscal challenges facing Arkansas.

The biggest tax increases came in 2003 and 2004. A sagging economy had cut into revenues, and the state faced the 2002 court order to equalize financing among school districts.

"We had our backs against the wall; we had no choice," said state Sen. Bobby Glover, a Democrat who has been in the Legislature off and on since 1973. "Our only other choice was to take more from prisons and heath care and other agencies."

In the end, the $400 million tax increase package was passed by an overwhelming majority, with Republican legislators taking the lead in pushing for it along with Democrats.

In general, Huckabee supported tax increases when he had a defined goal in mind, whether it was schools, roads or parks.

"He tended to raise taxes for specific government programs," said Jay Barth, an associate political science professor at Hendrix College in Conway, Ark. "He does believe in a robust government as an active force in the lives of its citizens, especially in helping the little guy."

The Club for Growth is circulating a video of Huckabee speaking to the Legislature and going through a litany of all the taxes he could support, leaving the impression that there is no tax he would not embrace.

But the purpose of Huckabee's address was specific: Arkansas was facing a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall and Huckabee was pleading for a tax increase to cover it - any tax, and listing all the possibilities.

In the face of criticism from fiscally conservative Republicans, Huckabee has been spending more time talking about the taxes he cut than the ones he raised. For instance, at the Republican debate last week, Huckabee said that he had cut 90 taxes and that the sales tax was only a penny higher under his stewardship.

Of the 90 tax cuts cited by Huckabee, one was large: an increase in the standard deduction for income taxes. But most were very small, with some reducing state tax revenues by as little as $15,000 to $20,000, according to an Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration study that was reported in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Still, the Huckabee campaign has set up a "Truth Squad" specifically intended to rebut the Club for Growth.

"Anti-tax radicals will never be convinced that tax monies can be legitimately spent on highways, bridges, schools and Medicare," the campaign said in a response to the Club for Growth.


http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/02/MNOBTMNEV.DTL


This article appeared on page A - 20 of the San Francisco Chronicle



read more digg story

Huckabee Has the Buzz

Huckabee is gaining momentum. Opening his lead against Romney, Huckabee is gaining on Guiliani.

read more | digg story

Huck mania - behold it

Record this date: Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2007. That's when it began to appear credibly that Mike Huckabee actually could become the Republican nominee for president.

read more | digg story

Huckabee rocks with students in Tilton

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, whose Republican Presidential campaign is gaining momentum in early primary states, brought his road show to town Friday afternoon, where he demonstrated that that Bill Clinton isn't the only former Arkansas Governor with a flair for the musical scene.

read more | digg story

Ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee gains in poll of Alabama voters

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has pushed his way into the small pack of leading Republican presidential contenders favored by Alabamians, according to a new poll.

read more | digg story

Clinton News Network

The CNN/YouTube Republican presidential debate serves as a perfect example of why conservatives refer to CNN as "Clinton News Network." Republicans should have declined CNN's invitation, just like Democrats declined Fox News, though it's doubtful Fox would have orchestrated or permitted a similar ambush of Democratic candidates.

read more | digg story