Huckabee, Mike (Michael Dale Huckabee), 1955–, American politican and Baptist minister, b. Hope, Ark. He attended Ouachita Baptist Univ. (B.A., 1975) and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Huckabee served as a Baptist minister in Pine Bluff and Texarkana, Ark. (1980–92), was involved in Christian television broadcasting (1983–96), and became the youngest president of the Arkansas Baptist Convention (1989–91). In 1992 he ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for the U.S. Senate, then in 1994 was elected lieutenant governor of Arkansas. When Gov. Jim Guy Tucker resigned in 1996 following his Whitewater convictions, Huckabee succeeded him and was elected in governor his own right in 1998 and again in 2002. In office, Huckabee established a medical insurance plan for poor children, improved the state highway system, and cut taxes. In 2007 he became a candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, running as an evangelical and populist, but lost in the primaries to John McCain. He subsequently was a television talk show host. In 2015 he became a candidate for the 2016 presidential nomination.
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