Huckabee touts conservative credentials in Le Mars campaign stop

Approximately 30 party activists were on hand to meet former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee when he broght his presidential campaign to Le Mars' Olson Cultural Events Center Wednesday. Huckabee, a Republican, touts himself as being a "consistent conservative" who hopes his stands on economic and social issues will resonate with those attending the August 11 Iowa straw poll in Ames. [Click to enlarge]

"The folks in Washington seem to have forgotten that it's the people that we're working for," the Republican presidential hopeful told a crowd of 30 party activists, "and not the lobbyists."

The former governor of Arkansas was making a campaign swing through northwest Iowa Wednesday, including a stop at Le Mars' Olson Cultural Events Center.

Huckabee was touting his "national consumption tax" or "fair tax" to replace the current complex federal tax code.

"For far too long," he noted, "the government's been spending your money as if it was a credit card with no limit. And it has been penalizing your productivity through its tax code."

According to Huckabee, his fair tax would allow what a person buys determine how much he'd pay in taxes.

"If you don't buy it," he stated emphatically, "you shouldn't have to pay taxes on it."

Huckabee was introduced by his campaign's state chairman (and Plymouth County resident) Bob Vander Plaats who said he was endorsing the two-and-a-half term Arkansas governor's presidential bid because "I knew I'd never have to apologize to my four boys for making that decision."

Calling the former Baptist minister a "consistent conservative," Vander Plaats said he had no worries "of seeing three-year old videos of Mike on YouTube flip-flopping on social issues."

Huckabee said he wanted his campaign to "bring real leadership not only to the election but to the White House."

He recalled growing up poor in his his native Hope, Arkansas.

"There was never a time in his life that my dad didn't have two jobs," Huckabee remembered. "He was a fireman and he was a mechanic. Dad had to work hard. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to support his family."

Huckabee noted that he was the first male member of his family to have ever graduated from high school.

"Dad never made it through high school," Huckabee observed. "Neither did his father or his father before him."

"They were all 'dirt under the fingernails' sort of guys," he chuckled. "And the soap that they did use was Lava. It wasn't until I got to college that I realize that showers didn't have to hurt."

Acknowledging that his current standings in the polls puts his candidacy in single digits, Huckabee hopes his gubernatorial record will separate him from other conservatives seeking the GOP nomination.

"There are other people running in this race who are calling themselves conservatives," he said, "but they are senators and congressmen, not governors."

"They haven't had to balance a budget like I have," Huckabee maintained. "They are like board members while I have been a CEO."

"This country needs someone who have had to make the tough decisions," he said decisively. "I have done that."

In April, Huckabee's campaign reported that it had raised only $50,000 in the first quarter for 2007, one-sixth of the total raised by Republican Kansas senator Sam Brownback, one-30th of the total raised by former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, and one-52nd of the total raised by New York senator and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton during the same period.

Although Huckabee said his financial report due out in the next couple of weeks will show his campaign has raked in some more money, he acknowledges he has a long ways too go.

In a swipe to the recent upheaval of Arizona senator John McCain's campaign, Huckabee said: "At least, we are doing better than we expected and haven't had to lay anybody off."

"We're taking things one day at a time, one event at a time," he suggested.

Huckabee allowed that he is counting on a good showing at the Iowa Republican Party's August 11 straw poll in Ames to demonstrate that his election "has legs."

"I want to prove the national media and the political pundits wrong," he said, shaking his head. "They have been telling Republicans that they have only three possible choices."

"This isn't 'Let's Make a Deal,'" Huckabee laughed. "There is no Monty Hall down of the trading floor and Carol Merrill is not pointing at only three possible curtains."

"Republicans have many more choices than that," he smiled. "A lot more."