Mike Huckabee Positioning Himself as the True Conservative Candidate

Conservatives everywhere bemoaned the lack of a truly conservative major presidential candidate when Rudy Guiliani came out of the closet as a pro-choice candidate. In fact, the three Republican front runners all have faulty conservative credentials. McCain has gone on record (August 1999) as opposing the overturning of Roe v. Wade and has voted to provide money for stem cell research. He also voted cosponsored a bill with Ted Kennedy- a no-no in conservative circles. Mitt Romney had marriage licenses in Massachusetts reading "Husband" and "Wife" changed to "Party A" and Party B" to accommodate same sex marriages. These are serious problems for conservative evangelicals determined to stay in power. Lesser known candidates have been quick to point to their own conservative credentials, and perhaps none is so conservative as former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

As a Baptist minister, Huckabee has wasted no time firmly establishing himself as a true compassionate conservative. He is solidly pro-life. In a 2006 interview with the Washington Post, Huckabee said "If I'm going to err, I'm going to err on the side of life...I'm not going to be reticent about supporting laws that would help us to preserve human life." He also backed South Dakota's restrictive abortion ban that did not make exceptions for rape, incest or the life and health of the mother.

On the thorny issue of evolution, Huckabee was one of three candidates who admitted to not believing in evolution. Huckabee has been vocal about allowing creationism to be taught alongside evolution in science class. Said Huckabee in a press release: "Evolution... is a theory. But a goal of education is to teach kids to think, not to indoctrinate them, so we should expose them to a lot of theories."

Huckabee has also been a strong defender of another pet conservative cause, traditional marriage. While governor of Arkansas, he signed legislation banning same sex marriage and also opposed gay adoptions. He also supported Arkansas's "Covenant Marriage Act," which allows couples to divorce for a limited number of reasons and requires them to seek counseling and wait two years before the divorce is granted. Mike Huckabee and his wife Janet converted their marriage to a Covenant Marriage before a crowd at Alltel Arena in 2005.

Huckabee has suffered from a lack of name recognition and funds, but he hopes his conservative views will endear him to a group of motivated voters in search of a leader.