Meet Mike Huckabee

"Inside every human being there are treasures to unlock."                                                     Mike Huckabee

At the time of his departure from office due to term limits, Mike Huckabee was the third longest serving governor in the history of Arkansas.  Today, Mike is nationally recognized for his leadership capabilities and many accomplishments as governor.  Diverse entities, from Governing Magazine to the American Association of Retired Persons, from Time Magazine to the US Track and Field Association have honored him in recent years.  To read more about Mike Huckabee's many accomplishments and recognition, click here.

Leadership seems to come naturally to Mike Huckabee.  Whether speaking from the well of the Arkansas House of Representatives or addressing a church from the pulpit, whether sharing a duck blind with friends or consoling victims of a flood or tornado or other natural disaster, people seem to naturally gravitate towards Mike for advice, help, and leadership.  To read more about Mike Huckabee's many leadership roles, click here.

Leadership is best provided by those to lead through actions rather than words alone.  Perhaps this personifies Mike Huckabee more than anything else.  Take health for instance.  Diagnosed with Type II diabetes, he embarked on a diet plan and lost 110 pounds.  Not satisfied with merely being a smaller version of his previous self, he then began a program of exercise which but a short time later saw him complete his first 26.2 mile marathon in Little Rock.  Barely two years later, he has now completed two Little Rock marathons in addition to the Marine Corps and New York marathons.  He took his new-found health and converted what he had learned into the Healthy Arkansas program.  This initiative became so successful that he claimed it as his "Chairman's Initiative" during his tenure as chairman of the National Governors Association, expanding it to be known as the Healthy America program.  To read more about Mike Huckabee's efforts to create "truly a better state of health," click here. 

Mike Huckabee grew up in a family who understood the meaning of stretching the family dollar to make ends meet.  A natural fiscal conservative, he approaches government with the same scrutiny of "bang-for-the-buck" displayed by his family as he grew up in Hope, Arkansas.  To read more of Mike Huckabee's efforts in "rewriting the history of Arkansas taxes," click here.

Mike Huckabee often says that education is probably the single greatest responsibility for any state government.  His decade of leadership provided many instances where his leadership resulted in dramatic strides forward in this area.  For years, Arkansas had a poor reputation and continually ranked at or near the bottom in virtually every category of education performance measurement.  However, that is no longer the case.  To read more about how Mike Huckabee has led Arkansas to begin "making the grade in education," click here.

In the decade of the 90s, Arkansas' interstate infrastructure continued to crumble, finally reaching the point where many trucking organizations and publications raked the system as the worst in the nation.  Mike Huckabe set out to do something about it, and did he ever succeed.  Leading a successful ballot initiative effort, he oversaw implementation of a $1 billion improvement plan that in a few short years saw the interstate system receiving national accolades.  To read more about how Mike Huckabee led the way in "paving new ground for Arkansas' highways," click here.

Imagine having to take a half-day off from work, or longer, simply to go through the process of renewing your automobile license.  When Mike Huckabee became governor, the citizens of Arkansas faced that nightmare, sometimes worse.  Hailed by many as one of his brightest accomplishments, Huckabee oversaw implementation of a new program that is now a model for other states around the nation.  Still dissatisfied, Huckabee issued instructions throughout his administration to utilize technology more, including becoming more accessible to the citizens of Arkansas.  To read more about how Mike Huckabee led the way in "advancing Arkansas with new technology," click here.  

From his first day in office, Mike Huckabee has been about making it easier for a family to be exactly that, a family.  As a minister and father, he was well acquainted with the difficulties facing families in today's society and set about making sure that state government would work toward assistance, not hindrance.  Throughout the remainder of his decade in office, Mike would be well known both in the state and nationally for his many family oriented legislative initiatives.  To read more about how Mike Huckabee worked to create "stronger families, safer children," click here. 

If you know anything at all about Mike Huckabee, you know of his great love of all things outdoors.  Whether it is a duck blind just before dawn on a freezing-cold morning, the front deck of a bass boat flipping a worm up next to a log on an Arkansas lake, or that exquisite quiet just before dawn waiting for that first gobbler to fly down from the roost, Mike Huckabee loves it all.  Therefore, it was natural for him to care about protecting what he considers the most beautiful of all states.  To read more about Mike Huckabee and his efforts at "keeping the Natural State natural," click here. 

Most likely, neither of his parents ever suspected the impact their Christmas present of a guitar to a young Michael Huckabee would have.  Growing up in the rock-and-roll years didn't hurt either.  Today, the influence music played in his life defines his approach to education policy.  To read more about "Musician Mike," click here.

Spend any time at all with Mike Huckabee and you know that family comes first.  Spend any time at all with his kids and you know that his approach to being a father paid off handsomely.  To learn more about "Mike Huckabee, the family man," click here.