Arkansas governor to join race

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Republican Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and a favorite of conservatives, will take the first step in a 2008 presidential bid, an official said Friday.

Huckabee, 51, plans to file papers on Monday establishing an exploratory committee that will allow him to raise money and hire campaign staff, said the official.

Huckabee faces difficult odds as he enters a crowded Republican field topped by better-known, better-funded candidates such as Sen. John McCain, of Arizona; former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney; and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

All three have spent the past few months building their national campaign organizations, courting fundraisers and lining up grass-roots supporters in primary and caucus states. However, they also have records or positions on social or fiscal issues that don’t sit well with conservative voters – and that could give Huckabee an opening.

“My brand of conservatism is not an angry hostile brand. It’s one that says ‘conservative’ means we want to conserve the best of our culture, society, principles and values and pass them on,” the former Southern Baptist minister said last month.

Huckabee, a fierce foe of abortion rights and gay marriage, isn’t the only conservative in the field, and he faces a tough fight for the support of the GOP’s right flank, a crucial voting bloc in the nominating contests.

Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, a favorite son of the religious right, is already in the race and other conservatives, such as California Rep. Duncan Hunter and Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, will be battling for their share of the vote.

Huckabee left office Jan. 9 after serving 10 1/2 years as governor of a Democratic-leaning state; he was ineligible to seek re-election because of term limits. During his tenure, he repeatedly had to defend against slips of the tongue and ethics controversies.

Arkansas’ Ethics Commission has admonished Huckabee for violations five times in 14 years, once for taking money from an organization whose donors have never been listed. He jokingly attributed his weight loss to a “concentration camp” diet and once called his state a “banana republic.”

In November, he lashed out at reporters who questioned wedding-gift registries set up to furnish Huckabee’s new $525,000 home in North Little Rock. Friends had set up the accounts for Huckabee and his wife, Janet, who have been married since 1974.

Despite Arkansas being a predominantly Democratic state, Huckabee won two full terms in landslides. He championed tax increases for public schools, expanded state insurance programs for the children of the working poor and opposed banning state services for illegal immigrants.

Nationally, Huckabee is perhaps best known for his dramatic weight loss and his emphasis on healthy lifestyles. He shed 110 pounds after being diagnosed with diabetes.