Huckebee's Bid: 'From Hope to Higher Ground'

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee became the latest GOP candidate to announce his run for president Tuesday, calling on his supporters to make the journey "from hope to higher ground" for the country.
 
"It would be perfectly fitting that I would announce here that I am a candidate for president of the United States of America," Huckabee told hundreds of supporters from his hometown in Hope, Arkansas.
 
"I governed in a state that was the most lopsided and partisan in the country," he told supporters. "No Republican governor had more Democrats and fewer Republicans. I challenged the deeply entrenched political machine that ran this state. It was tough sledding, but I learned how to govern and how to lead."

This isn't the first time Huckabee has had his eyes on the Oval Office. In 2008 he ran for president, winning eight states.

CBN News Chief Political Correspondent David Brody has spoken privately with Huckabee, who said things will be different for the Southern Baptist minister as he runs for the White House a second time.

"I think there's not only more fire in the belly, I think there's more money in the wallet, and I think that's going to help Mike Huckabee this time around," Brody said.

"Huckabee could be one of the last guys standing here," Brody predicted. "He has likability ratings through the roof - he's a great communicator, somewhat like a Ronald Reagan type of communicator - so he's got those two things going for him."

Brody said Huckabee is addressing two of his biggest problems from the past: a lack of money and a perception of being too much of a nice guy.

"He hasn't been taken as seriously on foreign policy in the past. This time he's determined to change that, coming out with ads, pre-campaign ads, that show him being very tough on radical Islam and taking it to the terrorists, so we'll see," he said.

So far in this campaign, Huckabee stands apart from most rivals in squarely taking on gay rights advocates. He's criticized the "militant gay community" and its opposition to religious liberty laws in Indiana and Arkansas.

"It won't stop until there are no more churches," Huckabee warned. "Until there are no more people who are spreading the Gospel, and I'm talking now about the unabridged, unapologetic Gospel that is really God's truth."