Huckabee: GOP race not over yet
By Mark Gunderman, Chippewa Valley Newspapers
Wednesday, February 20, 2008 10:35 AM CST
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Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee gestures during a campaign stop at UW-Eau Claire Monday. From left are Huckabee state campaign chairman Tim Michels, his wife Barbara, and Huckabee’s wife, Janet (partially visible).
Photo by Mark Gunderman
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EAU CLAIRE — The Republican race isn’t over yet, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told the crowd of about 500 people at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire campus Monday. He urged them to get out and vote in the Wisconsin primary (held Tuesday), and was not shy about asking the people to vote for him.
“If you’re not going to vote for me …, there’s really no point in your getting out of bed,” he joked. “If you’re not going to vote for me — the election for you has been moved to March for better weather to come.”
Huckabee’s well-known sense of humor came through several times during a 40-minute address, but he wasn’t there just to get laughs. He outlined some of his conservative views on a variety of issues and touted his record as governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007.
Huckabee started out by dismissing the notion that he should get out of the race, since Arizona Sen. John McCain presumably has the nomination wrapped up.
“There’s a Wisconsin word for your response to that: ‘Baloney!’” he said. “This is not a coronation; it’s an election. It involves a campaign and it involves the exchange of ideas.”
Huckabee then went on to spell out some of the differences between himself and the Republican and Democratic candidates remaining. He noted that he’s the toughest candidate remaining on immigration.
“I’m the only candidate who believes we ought to have control of our borders, and has set a very specific process of getting that done.”
He presented himself as a fiscal conservative, criticizing government spending that has built up a $9 trillion deficit for the students in the room to pay.
“I’m the only (candidate) who’s ever been a chief executive of a government and actually balanced a budget every 10 and a half years as governor… the only person running in the race that understands you can’t spend more money than you take in.”
Huckabee said the U.S. has to stop funding both sides of the war on terror, using our military spending to fight the war and our oil dollars to fund the governments that fund the fight against us.
Huckabee said he’s the only 100-percent pro-life candidate left.
“Our respect for human life goes to the very heart of who we are as a nation,” he said.
Huckabee voiced support for a human life amendment. He supports overturning the Roe v. Wade decision, but went beyond that by saying it’s not enough. If Roe v. Wade were overturned, it would leave the issue up to each of the 50 states individually. He likened that to the days of slavery, when there were different standards on a key moral issue in different parts of the nation.
Huckabee spent a good deal of time talking about his so-called “Fair Tax,” abolishing the income tax and replacing it with a consumption-based tax. He noted that the current system penalizes productivity through taxes.
“If I leave this race we have no one left standing for a complete overhaul of the tax system in this country,” he said. “Folks, I don’t want to just tinker with the tax code, I want to destroy the IRS.
“Taxing would be at the point of consumption, at the retail level,” he said.
Huckabee’s speech was interrupted by a medical problem with a young woman in the front, who apparently fainted or came close to it. Huckabee asked for help and asked the audience to stand aside and make room, which it did. The audience then remained silent, as did Huckabee, while the woman was attended to. After she was removed with help, he praised the audience for the class and sensitivity it showed. When he was able to resume, Huckabee moved directly to questions from the audience, which he said is called “Q and A” for “questions and avoidance.”
He quipped that he would avoid saying anything that would end his career then and there. In response to questions, Huckabee declined to name his greatest weakness, besides being unable to talk about his weaknesses. He joined John McCain in vowing to veto bills with wasteful earmark spending, and called for all government expenditures to be posted on the Internet. He again talked about the Fair Tax when asked what he would do to revive the economy.
The last question came from a boy of about 10, recognized by Huckabee’s wife, Janet. The boy asked what Huckabee changed in Arkansas that he would like to change for all America.
Huckabee praised the question, and answered with a list of initiatives he took as governor to help children in the most difficult areas, including education reforms, and passage of children’s health care.
“If we’re not thinking of the next generation, but only of the next election, then God help us,” he said.
Mark Gunderman can be reached at mark.gunderman@lee.net. |
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