MOSCOW, Idaho – Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee kicked off Idaho’s GOP Convention on Thursday in front of hundreds of state delegates charged with selecting a new state chairman and amending the party platform.

The GOP convention is meeting in Moscow over the next three days.

Huckabee, who was a 2008 presidential candidate, received a warm welcome from the GOP delegates attending the event while speaking on limiting the federal government and strengthening states’ rights.

“We need folks who think that the best government is local government,” Huckabee said.

Huckabee added that he was jealous of Idaho’s Republican-dominated legislature. When he was elected as governor in Arkansas, Huckabee said, he faced a Democratic legislature. The story was met with groans from the audience.

Huckabee acknowledged the differences in the Republican Party but stressed that the party’s core values would benefit the country’s economy.

“There are all kinds of Republicans, even in this room,” Huckabee said. “I don’t know anybody in this room who believes that we need more power in Washington, D.C., and less in places like Idaho.”