He was born in Hope, was governor of Arkansas, he plays in a rock band and though he isn’t Bill Clinton, Republican Mike Huckabee often compares his own underdog status in the 2008 presidential race to the former Democratic president’s election trajectory in 1992.

When Huckabee began campaigning, he was best known as the governor diagnosed with Type II diabetes in 2003 who subsequently lost 110 pounds, reversed his diagnosis, and wrote a book published two years later, "Quit Digging Your Grave With A Knife and Fork." Despite the book tour, Huckabee remained a virtual unknown to many voters at the outset of his presidential bid.

Huckabee spent nearly all of 2007 as a minor player, maintaining that once his campaign message was widely disseminated, the all-important fundraising support and national attention would follow. And sure enough, after months of abysmal poll numbers and with just a fraction of his competitors’ fundraising power, Huckabee surged in the polls in the fall of 2007 for the first time since he entered the race in January 2007.

Huckabee exceeded expectations in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucus, finishing ahead of Mitt Romney despite being heavily outspent by the former governor of Massachusetts. He translated that win into necessary media exposure and fundraising dollars to ride a wave of momentum through the Super Tuesday contests, winning Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee. But those wins were dwarfed by Sen. John McCain’s capture of the majority of states that day, which made McCain virtually impossible to beat.

As an ordained Baptist minister, Huckabee describes himself as an evangelical with strongly conservative beliefs on most issues and has strongly courted Republican voters who expressed doubts about the conservative credentials of McCain and the other candidates in the race. His campaign asserts that his success in Arkansas politics shows he can also have the sort of bipartisan appeal that succeeds in general elections. Huckabee was only the fourth statewide Republican officeholder in Arkansas since Reconstruction when he won a special election in 1993 to become lieutenant governor.

In the presidential debates, he has used his plain-talk oratory skills to effect, with memorable zingers such as his comment in a May 2007 debate about Democratic contender John Edward’s controversial $400 hair cut: “We’ve had a Congress that spent money like John Edwards at a beauty shop.”

Creationism and Covenant Marriages

Huckabee also made headlines in May 2007 when he was one of three Republican candidates who raised his hand to indicate he did not believe in evolution during a candidate debate in a Simi Valley, Calif. He expounded on those beliefs a month later at a debate in Manchester, N.H., saying: “If anybody wants to believe that they are the descendants of a primate, they are certainly welcome to do it . . . But I believe that all of us in this room are the unique creations of a God who knows us and loves us and who created us for his own purpose.”

Huckabee supports the teaching of creationism in public schools.

He does not support abortion rights, including in cases of rape and incest, and he has pledged to vote for a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

As president, Huckabee would want to promote the practice of “covenant marriages,” in which a couple accepts more limited grounds for divorce and counseling prior to being wed. Huckabee believes that such marriages could help lower the nation’s divorce rate, and he led his state’s effort to allow covenant marriages. Huckabee and his wife, Janet, renewed their wedding vows on Valentine’s Day 2005 by taking covenant vows.

Huckabee supports the war in Iraq and the Bush administration’s call for additional troops to secure the country. But he has also been highly critical of the administration’s foreign policy, which he says has resulted in America being perceived as an “arrogant bully” that has to earn back the respect of other nations.

Huckabee says a secure border is one way to stop terrorists from entering the country but he’s been accused of being “soft” on immigration because he would not outlaw public benefits to immigrants such as prenatal care, which he says his faith would not allow him to do.

On tax issues, Huckabee advocates a radical restructuring of the American system. He would eliminate all payroll and federal income taxes and replace them with a “fair tax” based on consumption. It would tax individuals on what they purchase, not what they earn; low-income taxpayers would receive a monthly rebate on some purchases, which, in theory, would ease their burden by not taxing them for necessities.

Still, the political action arm of the influential anti-tax Club for Growth has taken him to task for tax increases he signed into law in Arkansas, and the group claims state spending went up on his watch. Huckabee responds by saying he pushed tax cuts as well and that the spending increases were for vital public services.

On the environment, Huckabee says his religious faith directs him to care for nature, which is why he’s supported conservation efforts in Arkansas. The nation is too reliant on oil, he says, and he has pledged to make the country energy independent by the conclusion of his second term as president.

Huckabee, as governor, championed government funding of music and art education in schools, an issue with personal meaning for him. Huckabee has long played bass guitar and is in rock band called Capitol Offense.

Road from Religion to Politics

On the stump, Huckabee frequently notes he is not a silk stocking Republican. Like Clinton, he was born in tiny Hope, Ark., though he is younger than the former president by nine years, born Aug. 24, 1955.

His father was a fireman who repaired cars on his days off, though he sometimes still did not earn enough to make ends meet for the family, which included Huckabee’s mother and one sister.

Each fall, Huckabee began elementary school with two pairs of pants that would be cut to make shorts when the warmer months came, according to his recollections in his book “From Hope to Higher Ground”. But he says growing up without money was “not a curse but a blessing” because he learned appreciation and gratitude.

The family rented their modest home and finally bought it when Huckabee was in high school. He was the first male in his family to graduate from high school. Huckabee jokes that it wasn’t until college that he discovered that all soap wasn’t painful like the workman’s pumice Lava soap he used at home.

He attended church as a child but says he was more profoundly affected by the Bible study groups he attended as a teen.

Huckabee was also interested in communications from an early age and worked at a local radio station at the age of 14 reading announcements and playing music. He started to play the electric guitar at age 11, influenced by the Beatles and other rock bands. His parents worked out a payment plan to buy him a guitar and an amplifier in 1966.

While working on his bachelor’s degree at Ouachita Baptist University in 1975, Huckabee married his high school sweetheart, Janet. The newlyweds endured a rough beginning after Janet was diagnosed with cancer of the spine at age 20. She recovered with treatment and contrary to the worst-case scenarios doctors painted, she recovered her ability to walk.

Huckabee attended Southwestern Baptist Theological seminary in Texas, then took a job as director of a faith-based advertising agency that produced television programs for evangelical organizations.

The couple returned to Arkansas in 1980, and Huckabee became a minister at a church in Pine Bluff for six years, a period he refers to as “the most wonderful time” of his life. He was later elected president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention.

Though religion was the main focus of Huckabee’s life, he was also drawn to politics. Huckabee says he decided becoming a public servant would help him improve the world for his children, and he likes to say he had three reasons for entering politics — his children John Mark, David and Sarah.

Huckabee jumped into the race for U.S. Senate in 1992 but ended up losing to popular Democratic incumbent Dale Bumpers. Another opportunity quickly followed when a special election was called to succeed Democratic Lieutenant Gov. Jim Guy Tucker, who was elevated to governor after Clinton won the White House. Huckabee won the special election in 1993 and was re-elected to a full four-year term as lieutenant governor in 1994.

Just two years later, Tucker was forced to resign amid an ethics controversy and Huckabee moved up to take his place. He was elected in his own right in 1998 and re-elected in 2002, serving until his term limit in January 2007.

He says the ARKids First program is one of his proudest achievements, providing health insurance to more than 70,000 children in the state. He also signed legislation to provide 40 minutes of music and arts education to all children in grades 1 through 6.

A major controversy of Huckabee’s tenure as governor was the case of Wayne Dumond, a convicted rapist who was released in 1999 and later killed a woman in Missouri. Huckabee was accused in the local media of being a driving force behind Dumond’s release. Huckabee said he only supported his parole and ultimately denied his request for commutation.

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