| Former
Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who ended some 16 years of Democratic control of
the state's top job when he came into office in 1996, formed an exploratory committee
for president just after he left office in January 2007. A Republican official
in a historically Democratic state, Huckabee compiled a record that spans the
political spectrum. He passed the state's first broad-based tax cuts, implemented
a state insurance plan for low-income children and advocated providing services
for illegal immigrants. On social issues, he has struck a clear conservative
tone, supporting restrictions on abortion and opposing gay marriage and civil
unions. Huckabee started his professional life as an ordained minister,
serving at several Southern Baptist churches around Arkansas prior to his first
foray into politics, a failed bid for U.S. Senate in 1992. But he capitalized
on his second opportunity months later, in early 1993, when he won a special election
for lieutenant governor and was elected for a full term in 1994. He became
governor in 1996, when Democratic Gov. Jim Guy Tucker resigned following a felony
conviction in the Whitewater scandal. Huckabee won re-election in 1998 and
in 2002, making him the only Republican governor of Arkansas to be elected to
consecutive terms. At the start of his last term, Huckabee, who then weighed
close to 300 pounds, was diagnosed with adult-onset diabetes, but managed to shed
110 pounds and has become a vocal proponent of healthy lifestyles. At the same
time he oversaw one of the nation's most aggressive campaigns to combat childhood
obesity, establishing a model for other states struggling with the issue. | 
