Huckabee’s Republican Paradox

by Patrick Briney, ARRA President

Nov 2, 2007

 

In an interview with "This Week's" George Stephanopoulos in Nashua, N.H., presidential candidate Mike Huckabee announced that he is a ‘paradoxical Republican,’ and explained that to him this “means that I take sides of issues that I think people don't expect Republicans necessarily to join up with.”1 Huckabee should be applauded for coming out and stating plainly that though he is a Republican in name, he does not hold too many of the principles that are Republican.

 

But this raises another paradox for Huckabee because in another setting, he tries to sound like a conservative Republican; but then in yet another setting he declares that he is “not running for President of the Republican party.” Though Ronald Reagan certainly was not ashamed to be called a Republican President, Huckabee obviously wants to put distance between himself and the Republican Party, especially the conservatives in the party.

 

Republican legislator and chairman of the Eagle Forum in Arkansas, Randy Minton, tells it like it is from personal experience with Governor Huckabee saying that Huckabee is a RINO, a Republican In Name Only.

 

Apparently, Huckabee feels the need to appear to be everything to all people because he wants to be president. He wants to be perceived as a conservative among conservatives and liberal among liberals because he needs their votes. But what does he really stand for? What are his real core values?

 

His record in Arkansas reveals that he despises conservatives and their principles on taxation, spending, and illegal immigration. According to Arkansas Eagle Forum President Betsy Hagan and former Republican state senator Peggy Jeffries, once he gained power in the Governor’s office with the support of the conservatives, he alienated his conservative based, and at one point referred to them as the Shiites in the Republican Party. Hagan was a key backer and number one fan of Huckabee’s early political career. But to her dismay, Huckabee did not practice what he preached. "He was pro-life and pro-gun, but otherwise a liberal," she says. "Just like Bill Clinton, he will charm you, but don't be surprised if he takes a completely different turn in office."2 It is little wonder that Huckabee’s strongest opponents are in the ranks of Arkansas conservatives. He may have fooled them once, but they will not be fooled again. And they do not want their fellow conservatives to be fooled.

 

Phyllis Schlafly, president of the national Eagle Forum, is even more blunt. "He destroyed the conservative movement in Arkansas, and left the Republican Party a shambles," she says.2

 

No wonder many Huckabee supporters among conservatives insist that he be judged by what he's saying on the campaign trail and not by what he has done. However, others are heeding the wiser counsel of John Locke who wrote, “I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.”

 

Most, if not all, conservatives agree with staunch Huckabee supporter Lucas Roebuck that, “Huckabee is not the perfect candidate.”3 He is truly a paradox in the Republican ranks. On the one hand, he supports conservative policies, and on the other he favors liberal policies.

 

Some think this is strategic political trickery to be the candidate to all people, which ultimately means he becomes the candidate to none. Others think he is a liar and deceiver, while still others believe he is sincere and genuine but confused in his philosophical understanding of issues. Either way, he is a paradox of contradicting principles and certainly not a conservative Republican as measured by Republican principles.

 

Ironically, Huckabee told the participants at the Values Voter Summit in Washington that one thing voters, “look for is consistency, and consistency is a good indication of authenticity. I do believe those are qualities that people want in a leader.’”4 But being a consistent contradiction and a paradox is hardly a desirable quality. For good reason then, his authenticity as a conservative is called into question.

 

Huckabee backs up his claim to be a “paradoxical Republican.” While he is decidedly not a fiscal conservative and makes statements to distance himself from conservatives in his party, his national campaign manager John "Chip" Saltsman wrote to the American Spectator insisting that, “Without doubt, Mike Huckabee is a fiscal conservative who cut taxes almost 100 times in the state of Arkansas and returned almost $400 million to Arkansas taxpayers, including the first broad-based tax cut in the history of the state.” He goes on to say that, “A fair appraisal of Governor Huckabee's record reveals that he is an authentic, consistent conservative whose goal is to reduce both taxes and spending when he is President.”5 Saltsman’s list of achievements makes Huckabee look like a solid conservative who likes to cut taxes and reduce government spending, which is a contradiction to what Huckabee claims he is. A closer look at the whole picture and noting what has been omitted from Saltsman’s list reveals what Huckabee means when he says he is a paradox and does not hold to positions typically expected of Republicans.

 

Paul Weyrich, chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation and spokesman for Americans for Tax Reform, concluded that, "Huckabee's tax and spending policies are ugly."6

 

Weyrich points out that, “Gov. Huckabee has increased spending by $4.61 billion. That is an increase of 65.3%, or 7.4% annually. This is three times the rate of inflation. The rate far exceeded the growth of personal income and economic growth in the state. Worse yet, spending outpaced revenue growth by $1.4 billion and that was the reason for the state's significant fiscal shortfall. He sought an income tax surcharge. He sought huge tax hikes on cigarettes, and a whole raft of other tax increases.”6

 

Timothy P. Carney of the National Review Online concurs with Weyrich’s conclusion writing that, “Huckabee … looks more like a Bill Clinton for the new millennium.”7

 

The “paradoxical Republican” as Huckabee likes to refer to himself is eager to grow government and is, “… a Republican governor eager to raise taxes.”7 During the 2003 legislative session, Governor Huckabee announced, “Now is the time for interested parties to encourage the Legislature to pass a budget that aids all of the groups that turn to the state for help.”8 Huckabee believes that raising taxes and growing government is the solution to social problems. This is hardly a conservative position. So why is it that Huckabee’s campaign manager is trying so hard to present Huckabee as a fiscal conservative? Because he needs conservative votes.

 

The Cato Institute’s Fiscal Policy report card, which grades America's Governors based on 23 objective measures of fiscal performance, gave Huckabee an ‘F’ for 2006. Of the fifty Governors, Huckabee ranked with five others at the bottom of the pack. Governors who have cut taxes and spending the most receive the highest grades. Those who have increased spending and taxes the most receive the lowest grades.9 Though Huckabee and his manager point to tax cuts he supported and spending he opposed, they are careful to omit the tax cuts he opposed, the spending he supported, and the net effect of taxes and spending on Arkansas during his tenure.

 

“During Huckabee’s tenure as governor, the average Arkansan’s tax burden increased 47 percent, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. A dyed-in-blue tax hiker, Huckabee supported raising sales taxes, gas taxes, grocery taxes, even nursing home bed taxes.”10

 

“He virulently opposed a congressional moratorium on taxing Internet access, and sat on the sidelines while his Democratic legislature pushed the largest tax hike in Arkansas history into law.”10

 

“On his watch, and frequently at his behest, state spending increased by 50 percent, more than double the rate of inflation, and the number of state government workers rose by 20 percent.” 10

 

Former GOP state Rep. Randy Minton tells of his experience with Governor Huckabee from 1999. He was urged by the Governor to back an unnecessary gas-tax increase. "I'd taken a pledge against higher taxes, but he sniffed that my constituents didn't understand what we have to do in state government to make it work," Mr. Minton says. "His support for taxes split the Republican Party, and damaged our name brand."11

 

At that time, Conservative Republicans led by Minority Leader Jim Hendren proposed obligating $11 million from General Improvement Funds to meet the obligation to fund highway improvements rather than raise taxes. Huckabee rejected that plan in favor of raising taxes. When Representative Minton of Lonoke said that he would not vote for a tax increase when there was an alternative plan, Huckabee threatened him by saying, his “district could drive on gravel roads.”11

 

Minton is not alone in his disappointment of Huckabee’s tax and spend philosophy. The Club for Growth notes that only a handful of the 33 current GOP state legislators back their former governor.2

 

Also, in 1999, Arkansas was scheduled to receive $1.6 billion dollars over a 25 year period from Tobacco Settlement Funds as a result of the national tobacco settlement. Governor Huckabee developed the CHART plan to spend the money on education, research, and meeting medical needs. The plan estimated the beginning costs at about $60 million annually, and it would create over 450 new government jobs. A group of conservative Republican legislators proposed putting the funds in a trust and spending only the interest earnings thereby expanding the program over time with interest earnings only. Huckabee responded by saying that their plan, rather than his, was ‘reckless and irresponsible.’ Legislators disagreed, and when Huckabee’s CHART plan was rejected in special session, he campaigned to place it on the ballot. Minton explained that the Chart Plan was passed by the voters based upon misleading advertising and the fact that 40 special interest groups would receive portions of the Tobacco Settlement Funds from the various programs that were created. This plan added 479 additional state jobs.11

 

Huckabee’s unquenchable thirst for raising taxes and government spending is highlighted by his intense efforts in 2005 to lobby legislators and voters to vote in favor of the Arkansas Interstate Highway Financing Act Of 2005. This Act proposed to hand over to a highway commission the issuance of bonds without voter approval. Many questioned whether the Act violated Amendment 20 of the Arkansas Constitution, which says that, “creating a perpetual debt vehicle on the voters is unconstitutional, fiscally unsound, and highway robbery.” Removing empowerment from the people to vote on taxation and increasing the size and spending of government is contrary to Republican principles. Huckabee’s effort was soundly defeated by the voters. Huckabee spins this as a loss of revenue for highways, but the opponents point out that giving a commission license to issue bonds perpetually without voter approval is just plain wrong as well as not Republican.

 

Huckabee may try to dodge responsibility and blame the legislature, the Arkansas Supreme Court, and the voters for tax increases during his tenure as Governor, but, if this were the case, then all this serves to prove is that his leadership is ineffective in protecting the citizens from falling prey to increased taxation and big government. There is no way to escape the fact that under his leadership, the average Arkansan’s tax burden increased 47 percent.10

 

Free-market advocates oppose Huckabee’s brand of paradoxical Republicanism. "He has zero intellectual underpinnings in the conservative movement," says Blant Hurt, a former part owner of, and columnist for, Arkansas Business magazine. "He's hostile to free trade, hiked sales and grocery taxes, backed sales taxes on Internet purchases, and presided over state spending going up more than twice the inflation rate."2

 

These actions are consistent with Huckabee’s more recent positions during his campaign. For example, Mr. Huckabee was the only GOP candidate to refuse to endorse President Bush's veto of the Democrats' bill to vastly expand the Schip health-care program. Further, only he and John McCain have endorsed the discredited cap-and-trade system to limit global-warming emissions that has proved a fiasco in Europe. Alan Greenspan blasts cap-and-trade in his new book as not feasible, noting that, "jobs will be lost and real incomes of workers constrained." Mr. Huckabee defends his plan, in spite of the economic wizard’s conclusions, as an "innovative" way to attain complete energy independence from foreign oil by 2013.2 Other’s interpret this as consistent with RINO principles and turning a deaf ear to wiser, conservative counsel.

 

How should voters think about Huckabee’s signing of the Americans For Tax Reform no new tax pledge? Arkansas conservatives caution not to be duped by his lip service to gain conservative votes. There is no substance or history to suggest that he has any intention of keeping this promise. Huckabee supporter Lucas Roebuck’s statement is terribly naïve when he writes, “I believe Mike Huckabee is a man of his word and if elected president, will not raise taxes”3 Voters must look pass the words and look at the actions. The fact is, Huckabee will find some way of spinning the need for new taxes in spite of his pledge. During the 1999 Arkansas legislature session, Huckabee told the Representatives that “if they made pledges to their districts to not raise taxes they were silly.”11 Huckabee’s pledge not to raise taxes is no better than George Bush, Sr.’s famed, empty rhetoric, “Read my lips, no new taxes.” Huckabee the candidate will do and say whatever he deems is necessary to win.

 

As with taxes, the paradoxical Republican Huckabee is trying to attract conservative voters on illegal immigration. But his record shows that he does not hold conservative positions when it comes to dealing with illegal immigrants. He claims to be as conservative on illegal immigrants as the other candidates. But as his staunch supporter, Lucas Roebuck admits, “If an absolute hard line on immigration is more important to you than say, ending abortion, then Huckabee isn’t your candidate.”3

 

“Roy Beck, president of Numbers USA, says Huckabee's past record on immigration has not matched his recent rhetoric, citing several instances when the former governor ‘stood up for illegal aliens’ during federal immigration raids in Arkansas.” “Beck says Huckabee received an "F" for his past record on immigration….” Beck continued saying that Huckabee’s current rhetoric passes with ‘B.’12 But one is left to ponder this paradox: do you believe the words of one campaigning for president or his deeds.

 

In 2005, several journalists reported as did Laura Kellams of NWAnews.com that, “Gov. Mike Huckabee is proposing extending eligibility for state-funded college scholarships to illegal aliens who graduate from Arkansas high schools.”13 Once again, Huckabee turned a deaf ear to the voters of Arkansas. Huckabee’s spin is to claim that it is "terribly unjust" for a child of illegal immigrants to be denied state-funded college scholarships. Yet taxpayers are wondering why they should pay for the college education of illegals’ children when there is a lack of funds to pay for many of the children of tax paying Arkansans. And further, conservatives puzzle over how Huckabee justifies spending to care for and protect illegals rather than upholding the laws to discourage and prevent illegal activity. The conservative position on illegal aliens in America is to discourage them from coming and staying illegally not to make life easy for them.

 

Huckabee responds by saying that taxpayers should pay for the education of illegal children because, "frankly I think we would want to make sure that their kids were getting an education because an educated society is a society that can work and do a job and do a better job and make money."14 Somehow Huckabee fails to see that his solution to the illegal alien problem is like throwing gasoline on a fire. He is not offering a solution. Rather he is arguing for ways to secure and encourage the entrenchment of illegals in our society.

 

In 2005, Huckabee opposed an immigration bill, “which would have required proof of citizenship to register to vote and also force state agencies to report suspected cases of people living in the country illegally.” He claimed it was “un-Christian,” and “un-American”15 Huckabee described the bill as "inflammatory . . . race-baiting and demagoguery." He also challenged the Christian values of its main sponsor Republican Senator Jim Holt, … saying, "I drink a different kind of Jesus juice.” But the legislation proposed was not radical. “Republicans in Arizona were successful in putting such a measure to a referendum that passed and survived a constitutional challenge in that State. Arkansas State Senator Dennis Altes summed the problem that Huckabee seems to ignore or not understand saying, “Citizens don't like it if they can't receive benefits that illegals get.”

 

Huckabee redirects the point of dealing with illegal immigrants with a spin by saying, "If we send a message that essentially if you don't look like us, talk like us and speak like us we don't want you, it has tremendous economic repercussions"14 Of course, any conservative knows this is a smoke screen. The problem is about illegal activity not about nationality or skin color.

 

Not only has Huckabee lobbied for support of securing illegals in America, but he brought a Mexican consulate to Arkansas. As one Mexican consul explained:

"[I came to Arkansas to] continue the negotiations with the state and city authorities for making sure that we are going to inaugurate a Mexican consulate in the coming year in Little Rock... Governor Huckabee was a large part of this... He went to Mexico City and met with President Fox and proposed this... [when you get your MC we] don't care if you are documented or undocumented... I like Arkansas... It is so green. It's so clean, nice, with very warm, open people, and many friends of Mexico."16 Huckabee struck a deal with Mexican officials to house the consular office in a state agency office for $1 a year while the consulate facilities were being refurbished.16

 

Robert Trevino, Huckabee’s economic development adviser, signed an agreement with Mexico to lease the state property to Mexico. “Robert Trevino is the former President of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), funded by taxpayer dollars who are lobbying to obtain amnesty for 20 million or more illegal Mexican aliens, etc. LULAC is actively involved in the anti-American Mexican reconquista (take over) of the southwestern US by colonization and occupation.”24

 

Long-time border-security activist Joe McCutchen explains, "When he was governor of Arkansas, Huckabee ran what amounted to a sanctuary state . . . Huckabee's real goal was to create the Mexican consulate as a magnet to bring illegal alien workers into the state . . . to benefit companies like Tyson Foods, Wal-Mart, OK Foods, Simmons Foods, George's Farms, Inc. and a host of smaller operations who wanted to employ the illegals for their cheap labor."25

 

In light of Huckabee’s pro-tax, pro-spend, big government, illegal alien protectionist preferences, it is paradoxical that Huckabee’s words about Hillary could also be said of him: "There's nothing funny about Hillary Clinton being president. Let me tell you why. If she's president, taxes go up, health care becomes the domain of the government, spending goes out of control, our military loses its morale, and I'm not sure we'll have the courage and the will and the resolve to fight the greatest threat this country's ever faced in Islamofascism. ... We'll sign crazy bills like the Law of the Sea Treaty and give away our sovereignty. And that's why, with all of the fun we're going to have talking about it, there's nothing funny about Hillary being president."17 There are a lot of conservatives who find nothing funny about Huckabee in the White House.

 

If Huckabee practiced what he preaches, then he would not have to spin and redirect criticism of his positions, and he would not have to excuse himself as being a paradoxical Republican. Unfortunately, conservative Arkansans discovered the hard way that Huckabee says one thing and does another.

 

The lack of a truly, strong conservative in the field of GOP candidates is disheartening to true conservatives, and in their desire to beat Hillary and to assuage their moral conscience, some want to believe Huckabee is as conservative as he talks, but the facts show that he is a Republican in name only.

 

In defense of Huckabee’s consistency as a paradox Republican, just as Huckabee lobbies for the benefits of illegal aliens, he shows favoritism toward criminals over their victims. Huckabee has shown complete disregard for victims of crimes, for court rulings, for trial by jury, and for the outcry of many of his supporters and public opinion. Bad judgment and unwillingness to listen to reason and common sense makes Huckabee a scary presidential choice.

 

Huckabee lobbied for the pardon of convicted rapist Wayne DuMond with no regard for the victim or her family or for the public outcry across the state. To Huckabee’s shame and embarrassment, after his release and shortly after moving to Missouri, DuMond was charged with first-degree murder of Carol Sue Shields, of Parkville, Mo., who was found murdered in a friend’s home sexually assaulted and suffocated.

 

Though today, Huckabee is understandably distancing himself from the shameful paroling of this accused murderer, the record has long been clear that Huckabee was an advocate of DuMond’s freedom. On the day of the parole board’s vote, Huckabee released a statement in support of the board’s action: “I concur with the board’s action and hope the lives of all those involved can move forward. The action of the board accomplishes what I sought to do in considering an earlier request for commutation.”18 Huckabee denies that he issued clemency for DuMond, however, “Board members said Huckabee visited with them privately to discuss the case.” And someone suspiciously using a state computer edited out web references to Huckabee's role in the DuMond clemency.19 This has since been reintroduced in the site.

 

While the DuMond blunder is egregious, there were a total of 111 sentence commutations issued by Huckabee, and eleven of these were murderers.20 As a result, Robert Herzfeld, district attorney for Saline County, upset with Huckabee’s decision to grant clemency to convicted murderer Don Jeffers, asked the Governor to re-evaluate his clemency policy by adopting a reasonable approach that is more public and that offers specific reasons for granting clemency out of respect for the victims and the citizens. Rodney Bowers reported that Huckabee laughed at the suggestion and his lawyer mockingly recommended that Herzfeld cut down on his caffeine consumption.21 Huckabee’s compassion for the criminal, disregard for their victims, and utter contempt for those who defend the victims is very disturbing.

 

The paradox of Huckabee’s Republicanism can be seen in his rhetoric of today. On the one hand he is trying to distance himself from the Republican Party principles to garner votes from liberals by saying that he is not running for president of the Republican Party. Then on the other hand, and in contradiction to Huckabee, his campaign manager is stating that Huckabee is a solid conservative and tries to prove it by listing Huckabee’s conservative accomplishments while omitting his anti-conservative policies from the list.

 

Huckabee’s solutions for problems such as employment, health care, and business promote government intervention and reliance, not self-reliance; raising taxes, not cutting taxes; spending tax payer money to create or sustain entitlement programs rather than reduce spending; growing government not reducing government; and protecting illegals to gain their support. For example, Huckabee proudly points to how as Governor he promoted preventive health care to government workers.22 One might ask, why he did not promote his policies through incentives in the market place. Rather he implemented these policies in and by government, paid for by tax payers. Could his love for government and disdain for business owners and corporate executives be explained by his comment that, “Current standard is focused on Greed, Not Capitalism. The greedy corporate entities need to share with those who are making them rich. There is no reason why a CEO makes 2,200 times as much as the technician on the floor!” Is it any wonder that this comment helped earn him an endorsement from the IAM Labor union along with Hillary Clinton.23 This comment sounds like something Hillary would say. It does not sound like a conservative Republican. One has to wonder how a true conservative can garner the endorsement by a labor union who also endorses Hillary Clinton. Even George W. Bush failed in his attempt to gain their endorsement.

 

Do these lists of liberal deeds and bad judgment calls by Huckabee suggest that no good can come from his administration? Not at all. Huckabee supported conservative policies and even cut taxes in Arkansas. But then, the same can be said of Bill Clinton and all Democrats too. Every Governor and President can list positive, even conservative supported policies. But this does not make them conservative. Unfortunately, for all the good that Huckabee has done, the net effect of his paradoxical positions and policies have earned him the title of Republican In Name Only - RINO.

 

Huckabee may be the candidate of choice if you want great sound bytes, memorable one-liners, funny anecdotes, and a paradox. But a candidate for president must offer more than rhetoric. There should be a track record that backs up his words. And a Republican presidential candidate must offer more than lip service to Republican principles and certainly not confess to being a contrarian to Republican principles. The Democrats are already offering an alternative to Republican principles. Voters do not want more of the same from both parties.

 

Arkansas conservatives know Huckabee. They have “been there, done that.” He turned on them and betrayed their trust and their confidence. They put him in office, and once there, he not only abandoned them, he attacked them referring to them as the Shiites of the party.

 

By stating that he is running for President of America and not for the Republican Party, he has already signaled his intent to betray the very principles upon which the Republican Party sits. Huckabee wants to be president; but Republicans want a Republican in office, not a Democrat. And the Republicans will vote for their man in the primaries. More specifically, Americans want a Reagan Republican in office. If Huckabee is already confessing that he is not running for President as a representative of Republican principles and more importantly has the track record to prove it, then why would a Republican vote for him in the primaries? It is this attitude and philosophy that fractured the Republican Party in Arkansas.

 

Actions speak louder than words, but words supported by actions scream. When Huckabee says that he is a paradox among Republicans, his message is loud and clear: “I am not a conservative!”

 

References

 

1 Stephanopoulos, George. Feb. 11, 2007. ABC News, http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/story?id=2866795&page=1

2 Fund, John. Another Man From Hope. Wall Street Journal. October 26, 2007. http://opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110010782

3 Roebuck, Lucas, 10/26/2007. http://roebuckreport.blogspot.com

4 http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/10/huckabee_talks_tough_on_illega.php

5 http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=12217

6. (Weyrich, Paul M. Is Governor Huckabee Too Taxing For Fiscal Conservatives? CNSNews.com June 17, 2003. (http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCommentary.asp?Page=%5CCommentary%5Carchive%5C200306%5CCOM20030617a.html

7 Timothy P. Carney, May 19, 2003. A Tale of Two Senators, National Review Online. http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-carney051903.asp

8 Blomeley, Seth, Arkansas Democrat Gazette, April, 1, 2003

9 (Cato Policy Analysis No. 58, October 24, 2006, http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa581/reportcard_table.html

10 National Review Online, Pat Toomey (president and CEO of the Club for Growth), Dump the Huck, http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YzNiY2M5NzIxZDJlMDUxNzUwYmQ4ZDU5ZDAzY2U3YWU

11 Personal communication and notes from Arkansas Rep. Randy Minton, October 29. 2007.

12 http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/10/immigration_activist_welcomes.php

13 http://www.nwanews.com/story.php?paper=adg&section=News&storyid=104629; Brown, Wesley. Jun 30, 2005. Huckabee promotes 'open door' policy at LULAC convention. Arkansas News Bureau. http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2005/06/30/News/323746.html

14 Robinson, David. Feb 3, 2005. Huckabee, callers go toe-to-toe on immigration. Arkansas News Bureau. http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2005/02/03/News/316813.html

15 Brown, Wesley. Jun 30, 2005. Huckabee promotes 'open door' policy at LULAC convention. Arkansas News Bureau. http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2005/06/30/News/323746.html

16 http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/003406.html

17 The Associated Press, FOX News, Quotes From the GOP Presidential Debate, October 21, 2007, http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Oct21/0,4670,RepublicansDebateQuotes,00.html

18 Read more in this well documented article- http://www.arktimes.com/Articles/ArticleViewer.aspx?ArticleID=154e1aad-fd18-4efd-8d80-b5dab8559419

19 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20537073

20 Seth Blomeley, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, August 1, 2004

21 Bowers, Rodney. January 26, 2004, Arkansas Gazette

22 http://coloradoforhuckabee.blogspot.com/2007/08/on-phone-with-mike-huckabee.html

23 http://coloradoforhuckabee.blogspot.com/2007/08/on-phone-with-mike-huckabee.html; http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-endorse31aug31,1,3531241.story?coll=la-news-a_section&ctrack=1&cset=true; http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN3044334620070830?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true]).

24 McCutcheon, Joe, 3/30/2007, Huckabee defies the U.S. constitution, Arkansas Freedom dotcom, http://arkansasfreedom.com/2007/03/30/huckabee-defies-the-us-constitition.aspx

25 Corsi, Jerome R., October 31, 2007, Mexican consulate deal dogs Huckabee campaign, ©2007 WorldNetDaily.com, http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58430