Golden Words From a Silver Tongued Salesman

h/t to ARRA News Service on posting this article from Family Security Matters. Here is some stand outs from the original article.

• Golden Words from a Silver-Tongued Salesman
• Mark R. and Renee E. Taylor
• 
  
• Snake oil salesmen of the 19th Century used to comb the countryside, selling their remedies to unsuspecting consumers hoping for a cure, or at least a quick fix, for their ailments. Without much more than golden words out of the silver-tongued salesmen, they set alluring traps for their artful chicanery. Weeks later, those sold a bill of goods by the salesmen’s trickery were worse for the wear, the only benefit going to the deceptive salesmen - now long gone - with the victim’s hard earned gold in their pockets...

• Huckabee’s actions regarding illegal immigration are an often discussed topic on blogs, forums and conservative news sites across the country, and particularly within our state. For instance, as a parting “gift” to Arkansas, we received a Mexican consulate in Little Rock - built in part with $10,000 in taxpayer money from the Arkansas Emergency Fund, while costing the Mexican government only a single dollar per month in rent. Sealing the deal with then-president of Mexico Vincente Fox, Huckabee continued the push for Arkansas to become a “sanctuary state” for illegal aliens...

• The media has portrayed Huckabee as strongly supported by homeschoolers across the nation. But in Arkansas? Not so much. As homeschoolers in Arkansas, we saw Mike Huckabee sign into law on April 5, 1999, HB1724, which gave Arkansas some of the strictest home school rules in the nation, including requiring parents to file a “Notice of Intent” by August 15^th of the school year, in which the home school parent must list courses and curriculum, school day schedule and the homeschooling parents’ education level, among other things.
• According to the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) website, HB1724 also states that homeschoolers refusing to participate in the state-mandated testing program would be subject to prosecution for truancy. Public school students are not subject to the same. Ironically, this is the same HSLDA that has endorsed Huckabee, along with the National Education Association (NEA).

• How would a President Huckabee handle presidential pardons? Like he did in Arkansas? Superb questions. Ask an Arkansan about the career criminal, Wayne Dumond, who was in an Arkansas prison for the 1985 rape of Forrest City, Arkansas, student, Ashley Stevens. According to the Arkansas Republican News Service blog (www.arragopwing.com), which compiled a comprehensive account of Huckabee’s actions in the matter, Huckabee pressured the parole board to release Dumond because, Huckabee thought, Dumond got a “raw deal”. With Huckabee apparently having few real facts into Dumond’s case or background, Dumond was released from prison, thanks in part to Governor Huckabee.
• Dumond subsequently moved to Missouri where he was convicted of the rape and murder of Carole Sue Shields and became a suspect in other cases. Dumond died in a Missouri prison in 2005.

If you recall, when I did post about this, in the full article it states that part of the condition of Dumond's release was that he pack up and leave the state of Arkansas. Meany ol Florida and Texas would not accept him into their state. Hmm, makes ya wonder how harmless Dumond was, huh?

• Pandering to illegals, flip-flopping on home school issues – even as Arkansas’ government schools continue with a dismal track record - and pardoning scandals are just the tip of the iceberg. We cannot afford to take the chance that a President Huckabee will not govern as the Governor Huckabee did.

I truly hope y'all are re-thinking about Huckabee, just like I did.

• Much has been said about Huckabee’s record regarding taxes in Arkansas. While he consistently raised taxes, such as the fuel tax, several sales taxes, corporate tax, cigarette tax, a “nursing home bed tax” and a 16 percent tax on snuff, he is claiming 90 different tax cuts, including the dubiously-needed exemption for the Arkansas Symphony from sales tax. All of this did little for the Arkansas taxpayer, unless of course one benefits from the reduced taxes on bets made at the Oaklawn Park horse track or the Southland Greyhound dog racing track in West Memphis.
• Bingo enthusiasts, I’m sure, were pleased when Huckabee repealed the 20% tax on their bingo cards. While Governor, Huckabee also raised the drivers’ license fee from $14 to $20. It seems he never met a tax he didn’t like. According to a January 14, 2003, report in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, our taxes per taxpayer increased a full 47% from $1,969 in 1997 to $2,902 in 2002.
• His “crowning achievement” seems to be his claim that he left Arkansas with an $800 million dollar surplus. What this tells us is that his various draconian tax increases were not all necessary as it is obvious that Arkansas, a not-for-profit state, has entirely too much of Arkansans’ hard earned money in its till - $800 million dollars worth. [more here]

Mike Huckabee, Tyson and LULAC Oh My!

This article from 2005 in Arkansas News Bureau isn't a horrible hit, but it does make one stop and go hmmm...

• Huckabee promotes 'open door' policy at LULAC convention
• Thursday, Jun 30, 2005
• By Wesley Brown
• Arkansas News Bureau
• LITTLE ROCK - In a impassioned speech before hundreds of influential Hispanic civil rights leaders from across the nation, Gov. Mike Huckabee told a captive audience Wednesday that America is great because it has always opened it doors up to people seeking a better way of life.

• Huckabee was the keynote speaker, along with Tyson Foods Inc. Chairman and CEO John Tyson, at a noon luncheon of the League of United Latin American Citizens, which is holding its 76th annual convention in Little Rock.

• Despite several light moments, Huckabee did not stray away from several controversial issues that made him a target of criticism during the recently ended 85th General Assembly. He said Arkansas needs to make the transition from a traditional Southern state to one that recognizes and cherishes diversity "in culture, in language and in population."

• During the legislation session, Huckabee criticized an immigration bill by Republican senators Jim Holt of Springdale and Denny Altes of Fort Smith as un-Christian, un-American, irresponsible and anti-life.
• Senate Bill 206, which died in the Senate, 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. Holt, R-Springdale, replied later to Huckabee's comments that Christian charity does not include turning a blind eye to lawbreaking.

• Before Huckabee spoke, John Tyson thanked the Hispanic community for standing by the Springdale-based food giant during the federal government's investigation of the company a few years ago. The U.S. Justice Department investigation alleged that Tyson helped to smuggle illegal aliens into the U.S. and employed them at various chicken-processing plants across the Southeast.

• "At the time, it was a very difficult and very tough time for our company," Tyson said. "Thank you LULAC for standing by us." [more here]
  

Truth Squad-Mike Huckabee on Illegals

I want to thank DR from The Maritime Sentry for bringing this to my attention, an article originally from Dec. 13, 2007 from The Constitution Party. I really hate negativity in campaigning, no really I do. Any-hoo, blogging isn't campaigning, just facts and opinions. I feel with tomorrow being election day in Michigan this is something that is very important

• Stop The Illegal Invasion
• Huckabee’s illegal-alien record hit
• Mike Huckabee is overselling his record of cracking down on illegal aliens as governor, claiming he ordered his state police to arrest illegal aliens when in fact he never signed the agreement with federal authorities that would have allowed it.

• Mr. Huckabee signed a bill that began the process, but he never followed through with signing an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security to secure training for state police officers. Without it, they cannot enforce federal immigration law.

Just what we need, a half-ass president.

• "This is a policy difference, but the facts are the facts — under Governor Huckabee’s administration, there was never even any effort to begin negotiating with Homeland Security," said former state Rep. Jeremy Hutchinson, the Republican who sponsored the 2005 law.

• Immigration-control groups say they fear Mr. Huckabee could repeat President Bush’s track record on immigration, which they say amounted to tough talk but a failure to follow through.

Tough talk is nice, but failure is the result of non-actions. My momma always said that actions speak louder than words. The reason Fred Thompson is not jumping hoops for the media is he is too busy with his actions. Too busy with his tough actions to talk actions.

• "The devil is in the details, and Bush has shown a pattern of deception on immigration enforcement again and again and again, and the Huckster is right in line with that technique," said William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, who said Mr. Huckabee is trying to fool the Republican primary electorate.
• "He knows he’s wrong on immigration; he can’t win if he’s wrong on immigration — therefore, lie," Mr. Gheen said.

• In Arkansas, the law Mr. Huckabee signed called for his state police director to negotiate the agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — in this case, Steve Dozier, who Mr. Huckabee appointed after firing his predecessor.
• Mr. Dozier did not return a call seeking comment for this article. He is now an executive with Arkansas-based Wal-Mart.

• Mr. Hutchinson, the former Arkansas state lawmaker, who supports a rival of Mr. Huckabee’s in the presidential race — former Sen. Fred Thompson — said that even though Mr. Huckabee signed his bill, "I don’t think he supported the concept."

• At a press conference last week called to answer charges about his Arkansas record, several state lawmakers who are supporting Mr. Huckabee said they remembered passing the bill, but couldn’t say whether the governor ever followed through.

Couldn't say, or won't say?

• Still, those lawmakers said Mr. Huckabee did what he could. They said he was proactive in signing a bill to prevent illegal aliens from being able to obtain driver’s licenses, though some state Republicans said that was a reversal from earlier in his administration when he wanted to allow licenses regardless of legal status.

• CFR touts Huck’s sympathy for illegals
• While many pro-life supporters trace Mike Huckabee’s rise in the polls to his success in the Sept. 17 Values Voter Presidential Debate, his recent success can also be traced to increased coverage by the Council on Foreign Relations. The CFR’s increased focus on Huckabee began with a speech on foreign policy posted Sept. 28 on the Council on Foreign Relations website.
• The Sept. 28 speech, delivered at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., focused entirely on foreign policy, portraying Huckabee as a cautious supporter of Bush administration policy in Iraq.

• Yet, despite obtaining the endorsement of Jim Gilchrist, the founder of The Minuteman Project, Huckabee is dogged by his pro-illegal immigration record as Arkansas governor.

I am still rather suspicious about this. Unfortunately, when I had found things that gave me suspicions on this I had decided not to post anything negative about Mike Huckabee.

• Which is the real Huckabee – the last, best hope of Jim Gilchrist to secure the border, or the wink-wink border activist just posturing to win conservative votes in Republican primaries?

Do we need someone who says anything people want to hear just to win or does what is in the best interest of the American people?

• The profile of Huckabee posted on the CFR website begins a synopsis of the candidate’s position on immigration by noting, "The former Arkansas governor has openly sympathized with the needs of illegal immigrants."
• Among the points emphasized on the CFR blog are the following:
• Huckabee has advocated prenatal care for pregnant immigrants;
• According to the Associated Press, Huckabee criticized a 2005 federal immigration raid in Arkansas;
• Huckabee has expressed support for illegal immigrants under some conditions;
• In an interview with ABC-TV’s George Stephanopoulos, Huckabee said, "We should have a process where people can pay the penalties, step up and accept responsibility for not being here legally." He added: "The objective is not to be punitive. The objective is to make things right."

• WND has documented Huckabee’s efforts in 2006 to finance with state funds and contributions made by private commercial developers a Mexican customs office established in Little Rock.

• In establishing the Mexican consulate in Little Rock, Huckabee was assisted by his economic development officer, Robert Trevino, who was then also district president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, also known as LULAC, an activist group strongly advocating for rights of Hispanic immigrants in the United States.

• At no cost to Mexico, the consulate was opened on April 25 this year.

• Huckabee told WND he and Trevino traveled south of the border in a state airplane in 2003 to pursue the deal with Mexico because he believed having a Mexican consulate in Little Rock would support Arkansas exports to Mexico.
• Yet, the Mexican office Huckabee sought to put in Little Rock was not a trade mission office, but a consulate office.
• Nationwide, Mexican consulate offices are known for supporting illegal aliens in their effort to get various kinds of identification, work permits, driver’s licenses and bank accounts.

• Yet, the Washington Times quoted Ray Beck, president of NumbersUSA, as saying Huckabee "was an absolute disaster on immigration as governor."

• The evidence of Huckabee’s record as governor, regardless what Gilchrist may say, is that he helped create Arkansas as a sanctuary state, serving the interest of the Arkansas corporations that wanted to exploit the cheap labor readily available from an open flow of illegal immigrants. [read all here]
  

Well, don't that just sound like the "guy you worked with, and not the guy who layed you off"? The guy you work with complains about Americans who are not willing to work combined with businesses who hire illegals.

All the Wayne Dumond Details

h/t to ARRA. When I switched over supports I did not want to say anything negative about Mike Huckabee. But after I read this I just can't keep quite. I have a puking feeling in my stomach. I am almost numb about the whole thing. While reading the post from ARRA and the provided link, I was shaking my head with tears in my eyes. I was going to post some of the things that upset me most and comment, but I just can barely even think.

• The ARRA News Service has until not reported on former Gov. Mike Huckabee -Dumond issue. Most Arkansans, especially Republicans, have previously accepted Huckabee's position that he regretted Dumond's subsequent actions and that he (Huckabee) was not involved in Dumond's release. Most of us went about our business and many had not read Murray Waas' 2002 prize-winning investigative report concerning then Gov. Mike Huckabee actions to win Dumond's freedom. Regretfully, political expediency and wishing for the issue of Wayne Dumond to be over (he died in prison Aug 30, 2005), led most of us to close the book on the Dumond issue. We never dreamed that Huckabee would run for president and as a result, re-open this ugly issue. We expect that if Huckabee were to win the Republican nomination, the Democrats will address this issue. Therefore, it now needs to be fully addressed.
• The victims of Wayne Dumond and others have called attention to former Gov. Huckabee's involvement with Wayne Dumond. We are sure Huckabee wishes that he and his staff had never gotten involved in the Dumond case. There was absolutely no need for Huckabee to get involved. Thus his actions now force the public's to question why did he get involved, what caused him to intervene and risk his political career for a rapist, and why did he dispute Dumond's rape victim account of the rape? Dumond had a previous history of sexual abuse before arriving in Arkansas and eventually being sent to prison for a rape in Arkansas. After being released he went on to rape and murder again. Missouri police believe he did so more than one in Missouri.
• Obviously, the victim's of Dumond are not supporters of Mike Huckabee. It would nice if we could write this off as a mistake by a new Governor if it were not for the fact that reports by Post Prison Transfer Board members in 2002 relate that Huckabee pressured them for the release of Dumond. Also, there was a fellow Baptist minister who campaigned for Dumond's release. Finally, we wonder how Huckabee could have shown compassion for a rapist while evidencing no compassion for the victim who was raped by denying to her that she was raped by Dumond because of new DNA evidence which is now reported to be nonexistent.
• Both previously and now as a presidential candidate, Huckabee has said that it was the Post Prison Transfer (Parole) Board who released Dumond. This is correct - But, Huckabee does not identify that he met with the Board behind closed doors and according to statements by four members made it clear for them to vote as Huckabee desired. Huckabee personally and his staff members pushed through the parole. After his release, Dumond again raped and this time murdered Carole Sue Shields. Also, Missouri identified Dumond was suspected in another rape and murder. The above facts are identified in the below referenced investigative report.

The ARRA News Service adds excerpts and a link to an Arkansas Times article about all the details of Huckabee's involvement. Check out their post here. I encourage everyone who likes and dislikes Mike Huckabee to read this and make up your own minds. When I first supported Mike Huckabee I accepted his explanation that it was just a mistake. I accepted that he didn't have that much part in it. But according to the Arkansas Times article from 2005, he did have quite a hand in it. He also had a sneaky way of being able to "keep his Hands clean" while being involved.
For all of those out there who are supporting him simply for religious reasons, stop it. After all this I can not believe there are women out there who would be willing to support him. I can not believe the way he treated Dumond's victim, after her and her family and the prosecuter met with him. If you are a woman, a husband of a woman or a parent of a daughter, you really need to read this.

Up and down Huckabee's y-axis

As a former Huckabee supporter, y'all don't know much it pains me to do this. I really think he is a nice guy. I think the boy just started playing with the wrong crowd on the playground.

• Up and down Huckabee's y-axis
• Wednesday, Jan 9, 2008
• By David Sanders
• Plotting his presidential candidacy along the y-axis, Mike Huckabee, ever the vertical politician, claims he wants to "change the Republican Party." What exactly does he mean?...

I'm starting to wonder that too. Any of you out there who are afraid of the "Mormon Cult" be like me and see the light. I am more afraid of a Huck-a-cult. Don't any of you out there say I am being prejudiced against Baptists. Because I don't see Mike Huckabee's denomination coming into play in this. I think the Huck-a-cult could come from outside factions, outside of Mike Huckabee, with Mike Huckabee being used as a puppet.

I cut out the last sentence from that paragraph. So here is that part, to make sense of what the author of this article is talking about.

• ...Does he want to do for the national party what he did for the Arkansas party?
• (The numerous out-of-town journalists who've dropped in have focused their on-the-ground assessments, justifiably so, on Huckabee's commutations, lavish gifts and scheme to supplement his income with money from a tobacco lobbyist. The conservative press continues to suffer apoplectic shock trying to figure out how the party of Reagan could possibly nominate a candidate whose populist rhetoric sounds more like John Edwards than the Gipper.)
• In July of 1996, Huckabee entered the governor's office with high expectations. Arkansas had missed out on the rest of the South's Republican realignment during the 1980s. Republicans here thought Huckabee would lead their party into the political promised land.
• But Huckabee's relationship with the party faithful got off to a rocky start when he retained high-profile agency heads who worked in the Clinton and Tucker administrations.
• Despite cutting taxes in his first legislative session, Huckabee also embraced the ARKids First program, which was then the cornerstone of an agenda pushed by an advocacy group started years earlier by Hillary Clinton. Even then, some were concerned that Huckabee's conservative instincts didn't stretch beyond social issues.

During a blogger call I had asked a question regarding welfare reform and he answered back about ARKids. I had onlyu slightly heard about it. And he did give a convincing answer about it and how it helped get welfare mothers into the job sector. I believed in his answer. Although he never did say anything about wanting to reform welfare, if elected president. Perhaps that is because he would rather see low paying jobs go to immigrants who "just wanna come here to pick lettuce and make a better life for their kids."

• What should have been a close working relationship with his party organization wasn't and it wasn't entirely his fault. As early as 1998, distrust of Huckabee by many conservatives, as well as an emerging rivalry between his supporters and those of Hutchinson, turned internal party politics into a family feud. But while Republicans fought each other, Democrats regrouped. Later that year, Blanche Lincoln was elected to the U.S. Senate.
• In 2001, when conservative Republican lawmakers opposed a higher sales taxes and fees the governor supported, he began calling them "Shiites." Huckabee's positions on fiscal policy became indistinguishable from Democrats' positions. A year later, he openly campaigned against a ballot initiative to remove the sales tax on food and medicine. While he and Rockefeller won re-election in 2002, Sen. Tim Hutchinson didn't.
• In 2003, Huckabee not only begged lawmakers for new taxes to make up a budget shortfall, but he rebuffed conservatives' (Republicans and a couple of Democrats) plan to cover the shortfall by tapping one-time money and cutting pork. In 2004, President Bush won re-election, but Huckabee campaigned for some Democrats - even some who had Republican opponents - and Republicans lost state legislative seats for the first time since 1990. [more here]

Ya know, I can understand wanting to work bi-partisanly and come up with solutions that everyone can agree with. But for a Republican governor to campaign for Democrats, that ain't right.

Romney Once said Mike Huckabee would Make a Fine President

I have to thank this article I found in Amerisreal. According to The Morning News of North West Arkansas Mitt Romney said this about Mike Huckabee;

• While at the Arkansas Governor's Mansion in 2005 for a meeting about health care, Romney demurred when asked whether a presidential race was in his future but had nice things to say about his host.
• "Who knows what the future will hold?" Romney said in 2005. "Most likely, we'll all stay as governors or find other offices, but we need to make sure that we have a strong person who can take the baton from President Bush, and Governor Huckabee is certainly one of those individuals. He'd make a fine president."

A few other things I found in this article from The Morning News;

• Another Web site that trades on political futures this week added Mike Huckabee to its list of presidential candidates for whom users can obtain "stock."
• The Iowa Electronic Markets site added Huckabee on Wednesday.

This article was originally published on Dec. 8.

• A commemorative silver dollar that marks the 50th anniversary of the Little Rock Central High School desegregation crisis goes off sale Friday.
• The coin depicts the high school as it looked on Sept. 25, 1957, when President Eisenhower ordered federal troops to Little Rock to ensure court-ordered integration of the school.
• The nine black students who first attended Central were at the school for a 50th anniversary ceremony earlier this year.
• The coin is available until Friday at www.usmint.gov or by calling (800) 872-6468.
• A "proof" coin, which is 90 percent silver, sells for $39. A version of the coin made of mixed metals is $35.

Read the full article here.

Original Huckabee Bloggers in the Spotlight

A while back I said that I would spotlight the original Huckabee bloggers. I have not gotten around to doing that. I really believe without these bloggers, Mike Huckabee would not be in the postition he is now. Those of us who have been around since before the first debate on May 5 braved had to hearing "Who is Mike Huckabee" and/or "He won't make it past the first contribution quarter." Well guess what? Ten months after Mike Huckabee announced he was running for president he is in first place in Iowa, second nationally. Golly, I recall back to when he was at 1% in all the polls. I had attended a Lincoln Day Dinner about two days before the first debate, where long term Republicans attended. These people were big into politics and followed it well. Even many of them had not heard about Mike Huckabee.

Check out some of these posts;
Mike Huckabee President 2008 thanks the Club for Growth. Ya gotta check it out to see why.

• Over the last couple of years, I spent quite a bit of time writing posts to refute the "hit pieces" being issued by the Club For Growth on Mike Huckabee's campaign. I was worried, back in the early days, that the Club's lies and misrepresentations would succeed in harming the campaign. More Here.
  

Illinois 4 Huckabee on the Huckabee Surge

• Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking Poll
• Monday, December 03, 2007
• If the current round of Huck-a-mania is nothing more than Mike Huckabee’s fifteen minutes of fame, the former Arkansas Governor is certainly making the most of it. Today, in the first full round of national polling completed since last week’s “debate” among Republican Presidential hopefuls, Huckabee has pulled to within three points of the frontrunning Rudy Giuliani. Heading into the debate, Giuliani led Huckabee by twelve. More here.

The POTUS Blog has a post that includes thoughts from John Engler on Mike Huckabee.

• ...John Engler, himself a former governor of Michigan and currently serving as the president of the National Manufacturer’s Association, echoed the comments of Thompson. “Mike Huckabee has become a national figure with major appeal to people, regardless of party, because he is focused on results,” said Engler. “He is a marvelous leader with a bright future.”... More here.

Larry Perrault from Stranger in a Foreign Land explains Mike Huckabee's view on smoking, in his most recent posts.

• My last post drew a comment that was insistent about the illegitimacy of a national smoking ban of any sort.After my response became somewhat expensive, I decided to post it.Here is the comment, followed by my response: here

• I have corrected the Star Parker commentary. I posted it, last night. But, after I had left the editor, I saw that I must have accidentally clipped a bit and that I did not present the true statements and sentiments about Huckabee that have been misconstrued or distorted.

• AND, I saw a C-SPAN video of Jonah Goldberg discussing his discomfort with Mike Huckabee, whom he said seems to think that anything he thinks is a good thing to do, he should use government to do it. He calls this a progressive and liberal disposition, and says two important things: here

• Star Parker explains how the attacks against Huckabee are inaccurate and unfair.As she did in her original announcement of support for Huckabee, Parker concedes that there is some I’ve always loved Star Parker and have been to a few pro-life banquets where she spoke. Her article has the signal qualification of being sincere. However, her concessions still bear the great liability of being inaccurate. I will excerpt the paragraph in which she allows these, concessions, insert corrections, and then discuss what Huckabee is guilty of, if you still want to call it guilt. I don’t, incidentally. here

Huck 2008 posts about Star Parker on mike Huckabee

• (Star Parker: "The unfair rap against Mike Huckabee"): "The Washington Post's David Broder provides one hint about the fuel that might be propelling Huckabee. He says that, according to veteran Democratic pollster Peter Hart, the attributes that are pushing voters' buttons this year are 'transparency, authenticity and unity.' A just-released The Economist/YouGov poll shows Huckabee doing well in these areas. Republican voters rate him first in both honesty and morality." more here
  
• Cross-posted at WisdomisVindicated.

God Bless from the Upper Peninsula in Michigan!

Dick Morris Sets the Record Straight on Mike Huckabee's Fiscal Record

More from Dick Morris. I'll tell ya what this dude is smart and knowledgeable. Here is some of what he has to say about Mike's fiscal record in Arkansas.

Dick Morris' Political Insider

Huckabee Is a Fiscal Conservative

Wednesday, November 28, 2007 7:59 AM By: Dick Morris & Eileen McGann

As Mike Huckabee rises in the polls, an inevitable process of vetting him for conservative credentials is under way in which people who know nothing of Arkansas or of the circumstances of his governorship weigh in knowingly about his record. As his political consultant in the early '90s and as one who has been following Arkansas politics for 30 years, let me clue you in: Mike Huckabee is a fiscal conservative. How could anyone in the political sphere have been closer to Mike Huckabee than Dick Morris? Thought so. A recent column by Bob Novak excoriated Huckabee for a "47 percent increase in state tax burden." But during Huckabee's years in office, total state tax burden — all 50 states combined — rose by twice as much: 98 percent, increasing from $743 billion in 1993 to $1.47 trillion in 2005. Way to tell it like it is Mr. Morris! In Arkansas, the income tax when he took office was 1 percent for the poorest taxpayers and 7 percent for the richest, exactly where it stood when he left the statehouse 11 years later. But, in the interim, he doubled the standard deduction and the child care credit, repealed capital gains taxes for home sales, lowered the capital gains rate, expanded the homestead exemption, and set up tax-free savings accounts for medical care and college tuition. Most impressively, when he had to pass an income tax surcharge amid the drop in revenues after Sept. 11, 2001, he repealed it three years later when he didn't need it any longer. He raised the sales tax one cent in 11 years and did that only after the courts ordered him to do so. (He also got voter approval for a one-eighth cent hike for parks and recreation.) He wants to repeal the income tax, abolish the IRS, and institute a "fair tax" based on consumption, and he opposes any tax increase for Social Security. And he can win in Iowa. Again, above. When voters who have decided not to back Rudy Giuliani because of his social positions consider the contest between Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, they will have no difficulty choosing between a real social conservative and an ersatz one. Remember this... Romney, who began as a pro-lifer and switched in order to win in Massachusetts, and then flipped back again, cannot compete with a lifelong pro-lifer, Huckabee. Got that? Good. But Huckabee's strength is not just his orthodoxy on gay marriage, abortion, gun control and the usual litany. It is his opening of the religious right to a host of new issues. He speaks firmly for the right to life, but then notes that our responsibility for children does not end with childbirth. His answer to the rise of medical costs is novel and exciting. "Eighty percent of all medical spending," he says, "is for chronic diseases." Coming up next is Mr. Morris' take on why Mike's view on preventative health care is not a tax and spend liberal view, but rather a conservative tax saving view. Ya ready? Okie-dokie, here ya go. So he urges an all-out attack on teen smoking and overeating and a push for exercise not as the policies of a big-government liberal but as the requisites of a fiscal conservative anxious to save tax money. So what happens if Huckabee wins in Iowa? Read the rest to find out the answer.