The Preacher's New Flock
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has been riding a wave. Considered a second-tier GOP presidential candidate, the Baptist minister and steadfast social conservative has watched his political fortunes—and meager campaign coffers—swell since he came in as runner-up last month in Iowa's Republican straw poll. Huckabee, who shares Bill Clinton's hometown and wants to replicate the former president's trajectory from statehouse to White House, now counts himself a contender. After last week's debate in New Hampshire, U.S. News caught up with the preacher with the wry sense of humor. "You've got to be pretty nuts to do this, you know," he says.
You support the war and oppose a timeline. What is the imperative in Iraq?
The key thing is to leave it in such a way that the Iraqi people can be on their way to a level of stability and security. It doesn't mean that everything is going to be perfect, because it never will be. It wasn't before we ever got there and won't be after we leave.
What about proposals that would partition Iraq as part of a solution?
You have to avoid two things. One is creating sections of the country that become uniquely Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish. Then you create a divided rather than a united nation. The second thing is that some of the conflict is not always just between Shia and Sunni. The lines of demarcation are not quite as clear as maybe we wish they were. The surge is working. Some of the war's most staunch critics have come back acknowledging that there's vast improvement. We are seeing the kind of progress that gives us a light at the end of the tunnel.
What would you do about illegal immigration?
I don't think that the American people will have any confidence [in] the government touching this issue until they know it's at least as hard to get across the international border as it is for them as U.S. citizens to get on an airplane in their hometown. Let's not be angry at immigrants. I don't resent that people want to come; I resent that our government hasn't said there's a process that you have to use to come here.
How would you stop the flow?
There has to be a wall. Physical and electronic. It's just absurd for us to say we're really concerned about national security, but by the way, if you can't get a passport and fly over on British Airways from London, just go down south of the border, help yourself across on the Rio Grande. We do have to start working on the supply issue. You go to the employers and say there will be a tamperproof ID card that will be required; if this person doesn't have it and you hire them anyway, then here's the penalty you're going to pay. The people have a choice: They either go back home and get their process started or they don't get employed.
How will Fred Thompson's entrance into the GOP race affect you and others in the field?
We don't really know what kind of campaign he's going to run. If he's going to run it by remote control and not show up at the debates, it's a risky strategy on his part. I'm distinctly different—an executive position as a governor, not a Senate position, don't have a Washington address, never been a lobbyist, never been paid to lobby for a pro-abortion group.
What is the biggest hurdle Republicans face in retaining the White House next year?
If we nominate an establishment, conventional, and more traditional Republican seen as an extension of Wall Street or K Street, I think we lose. I think we have to get back to our basic principles and roots as the party of Main Street.
How would you frame your opposiion to abortion and gay marriage to appeal to voters beyond social conservatives?
It's not that I'm against anything. I believe that valuing every life as having intrinsic worth and value is a key to the uniqueness of our culture. That's really at the heart of the pro-life movement. I'm for making sure we maintain the definition of a marriage because it is the foundation and the heart of families and therefore, ultimately, our civilization. What people do privately and personally is totally their business. But when they want to redefine the concept of family, that is a matter for public discussion.
How does a guitar-playing, wisecracking minister sell himself as presidential?
I think people are looking for somebody that is more authentic or more like them. I seem to come right out of the same earth they come from. If a person's grown up and never had a day of real want in their life, they just have a different perspective than if you lived most of your life not sure about would there be groceries next week.
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