Huckabee

I am very thankful to Thomas Nelson – W Publishing for this free ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was interested in reading this book because I am both very interested and very familiar with the subject matter. I am good friends with Mike Huckabee’s son David. But that relationship does not bias my review, as I will speak about both Scott Lamb and the content of the book. This review will be somewhat longer than my normal reviews because it is a biography. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and Mr. Lamb’s writing style. I was fascinated by the history and stories throughout the book. I am also good friends with Dr. Lester Sitzes III, lifelong friend of Mike Huckabee that is mentioned and quoted throughout the book. Lester told me that Scott Lamb interviewed him and that he is a very nice guy.
Each chapter of the book starts out with a memorable quote either from or about Mike Huckabee that is pulled directly from its respective chapter. I also noticed that the chapter names are unique, many named after famous songs or lyrics. The book is broken down into four different parts, each dealing with a specific time period in Huckabee’s life. Part One gives an extensive history of Hope, AR, and Texarkana TX/AR, the Huckabee family lineage, and a little bit about the Clinton family and how their lives paralleled and intersected at various points. Part One takes you up through age 5. I could tell that Lamb definitely performed hours of research just for this section alone, and you will appreciate the history as it provides a backdrop for the rest of the story.
Part Two talks about Huckabee’s school years: little league sports, the start of his broadcasting career (at age 12), Nixon, desegregation, the start of his political career (junior high student council), charity work, bible studies, the start of his evangelistic career, and two (of four) major trips that would impact the trajectory of his life. Lamb draws from various classmates and community members to provide commentary for these years. My mother-in-law has told me stories of how she remembers a young Mike Huckabee giving student council campaign speeches that would knock your socks off. The two trips from this period that would impact his life were: 1) Representing Arkansas at a space seminar at Cape Canaveral Space Center in Florida, and 2) Attending Boys State, where he was elected “governor”.
Somewhere around this point in the book I began to realize that the author jumps ahead a lot. For example, just when you think you have moved on to Huckabee’s college years, he takes you back to the beginning of his senior year in high school. It is somewhat confusing, but not terribly. The purpose is to show how one event leads to another down the road, then he goes back to where he was in the timeline.
Part Three picks up directly after Boys State and finds Huckabee and Lester Sitzes hitting the road to Dallas to attend Explo ’72, hosted by Billy Graham and Bill Bright (founder of Campus Crusades for Christ), to join nearly 100,000 young Christians for a week of intense Bible study, prayer, music, and discipleship training. This was the third trip that shaped his life. After Boys State, many community and state leaders urged Huckabee, now 17, to pursue a career in law and politics. However, after Explo ’72, Huckabee veered away from the political world and began to turn to a different vocation. In his senior year, Huckabee was very active on the debate team, and he was voted “most outstanding senior” by the school faculty. After graduating he began to lead youth revival services at various local churches, and he worked as a writer for the Baptist Missionary Association. The fourth trip that impacts Huckabee’s life is a trip to Israel in the summer of 1973, just prior to entering college. This would be his first of more than forty trips since then to the Holy Land. Huckabee enrolled in college at Ouachita Baptist University (OBU) in Arkadelphia and plowed through the coursework to graduate magna cum laude three semesters early. He was the first male in his line to ever attend college. During his time at OBU Huckabee pastored a church, DJ’d for a local radio station, worked as a custodian, got married, and helped his new wife defeat spinal cancer. Mike Huckabee married Janet McCain, his high school sweetheart, in May of 1974. There is also a section here that provides a short history of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. After graduating from OBU at age 20 Huckabee enrolled in Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth. During the first year Mike and Janet welcomed their first son, John Mark. While enrolled at the seminary, Huckabee took the advice of one of his professors to put seminary on hold to take an offer of a full-time job in evangelist broadcasting. This advice, Huckabee says, began a whole chain of events in his life that led him to the Arkansas governor’s office. Huckabee was one of the organizers of the Freedom Rally that was held at Dallas Reunion Arena. This rally was sparked by the removal of Huckabee’s boss, James Robison, from local station WFAA because of a sermon in which Robison denounced homosexuality. It was here that the Moral Majority was born, which gave the framework for the National Affairs Briefing. Ed McAteer, a member of Adrian Rogers’ church, formed a political caucus called the Religious Roundtable, with such members as Pat Robertson, Charles Stanley, and Jerry Fallwell. The Religious Roundtable convened at Reunion Arena in 1980 with more than 15,000 evangelicals in attendance. Special guest Ronald Reagan also attended and spoke, a move that helped him move into the White House. At this event, Mike Huckabee first witnessed the convergence of politics and religion, and how both could be used together for the good of the country. But instead of diving into politics after this event, Huckabee moved his family to Pine Bluff, AR, where he became pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church. The Huckabees welcomed their second son, David, in 1980, and a daughter, Sarah, in 1982. While in Pine Bluff Huckabee had to deal with racial tension and racial divides among church members, to which he stood a firm ground that Christians should be color-blind. In 1986, the family moved to Texarkana, AR. Beech Street First Baptist Church was in need of a pastor, and they called on Huckabee to join them and replicate the television ministry he had created in Pine Bluff. During his time here, Huckabee would be elected president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. In 1990, Mike and Janet read and studied the popular book “Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God” by Henry Blackaby. Through their study of this book it became clear to them that God was leading Mike to resign his pastoral ministry to run for political office.
Part Four begins with Huckabee’s first political campaign for U.S. Senate, which was a bold move. Not only did Huckabee not have any national political experience, but he would be up against a democratic incumbent in an election year where Bill Clinton (also a democrat) would likely win the White House. At this time, Arkansas was a blue state. What this meant is that Arkansans would likely show up in force at the polls to vote for Clinton, almost assuring that the senate seat would remain with the incumbent. Many close friends tried to talk Huckabee out of the idea, while others thought that running for that particular seat was a genius plan to actually put him in line for the governor’s mansion instead. Huckabee claims that there was no genius plan, instead he just believed that he could win the election. With his mind made up, Huckabee’s friends and supporters gathered together and swept through the state on a grassroots campaign. Huckabee lost that race, but it did put him in a good position to win a special election for lieutenant governor. Clinton was elected president, Jim Guy Tucker moved up to governor, and that left the lieutenant governor’s office vacant for a special election. So Huckabee, who had state recognition from his recent campaign, was primed to win the office. Then, in early 1996, Senator Mark Pryor announced that he would be vacating his seat. Huckabee jumped at the chance to run for senator again, but the campaign would only last a few months. In May 1996, Governor Tucker was convicted of fraud in a Whitewater-related case and had to resign his office. Huckabee withdrew from the senate race to move in to the governor’s office. Once he was secured in the governor’s office, Huckabee struggled to find common ground with both the House and the Senate because the democrats were in the majority. He initially faced harsh criticism for decisions he made from the media as well as the majority party. Later on in his tenure, the state of Arkansas would develop a website, and email would come along to provide his staff the means to streamline government processes (like vehicle registration and taxes) and push information out to citizens of the state. Huckabee next focused on creating ARKids First, a program to provide insurance for kids from lower-middle class homes. He then set initiatives to support programs affecting environment and conservation. Huckabee went on to easily win re-election in 1998, and he soon began to develop a plan to improve the poor highways of Arkansas. He also gained a better standing with the media during this time. In 2000, the Huckabees planned an extensive renovation of the governor’s mansion. You may remember the many jokes that came out of this period due to the fact that the family relocated to a triple-wide on the grounds. I have been inside that triple-wide home, and it was nothing to laugh about. In his third term, Huckabee set out to improve the educational infrastructure of the state. The Supreme Court of Arkansas called for education reform that would level the playing field for all schools in regards to state and federal funds. His first initiative was the consolidation of small school districts and to streamline the administration of the entire system. The second initiative was aimed at improving students’ math and reading skills. The third (and most controversial) initiative was to pass a bill affording educational opportunities to children of illegal immigrants. Though his staff and supporters pleaded with him that this would be political suicide, Huckabee stood his ground and charged forward. The bill, however, was ultimately defeated. Huckabee received national praise during his final term in office: 1) Named one of the Top 5 Governors of 2005 in “Time Magazine”; 2) Given the AARP Impact Award, which was awarded to those who have done something extraordinary to make the world a better place; and 3) Named Official of the Year by “Governing Magazine”. Of course he was not without criticism either. Some conservative groups attacked Huckabee for his state spending, calling him a liberal in disguise. To this day, these groups are active in funding campaigns against him. Also in 2005, Huckabee gained national attention with three different events: 1) He led a public ceremony of covenant marriage, putting a spotlight on the high divorce rate in Arkansas; 2) He ran a marathon and published a weight loss book highlighting a two year journey of improving his health; and 3) He earned praise in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as 75,000 refugees flooded into Arkansas.
In January of 2007, Huckabee officially declared his intentions to run for President of the United States. Ironically, one major downfall of this campaign was the lack of early evangelical support he garnered. Most evangelicals seemed to think along the lines that Huckabee was not a serious candidate and was unelectable. Despite his exceptional debate skills, and a few victories in key states, Huckabee eventually lost the GOP nomination. To be sure, Huckabee fought to the bitter end of his campaign. Everywhere he turned he came up against advisors, opponents, and even President Bush advising him to throw in the towel. I admire his drive to fight until he was defeated instead of simply quitting and handing the nomination to John McCain. Huckabee did not run again in 2012, citing “All the factors say go, but my heart says no.” Instead he focused on his popular FOX News TV show, his radio shows, and nationwide speaking engagements. He and Janet built a beachside home in Florida where they enjoy spending time together and with their three children and five grandchildren. Huckabee split his time between his new home and the TV studio in New York until January 2015, when he announced that he was leaving his FOX News show to explore the possibility of running for president again. In May of 2015, Huckabee returned to his hometown of Hope, AR, to formally announce his intentions to enter the presidential race. He hit the ground running and launched an aggressive social media campaign to rally the troops. Time will tell what will come of this campaign.

Mike Huckabee is clearly his own man yet faces the dilemma of holding certain fundamentalist principles on issues such as gay marriage and abortion that may frustrate his ambition to become president of the United States. Scott Lamb in this honest biography provides the reader with a frank telling of Huckabee's life and as to how his beliefs were formed. As a result there may be many more amongst the electorate who now also recognise his integrity and humility and so feel encouraged to support his ambition to acquire The White House keys.