Exclusive interview with Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee

Click the media player below to listen to complete audio of our interview with Mike Huckabee.

This past Sunday, PoliticalBuzz.com editor Matthew Parker had the great privilege of chatting with ‘08 Republican candidate and former Arkansas governor (Another “Man from Hope” - literally) Mike Huckabee about his presidential run. Governor Huckabee was in the midst of a mini-jaunt in Florida on his way to last night’s “Values Voter Debate” in South FLA and had a good 20 minutes of phone time to spare to offer his opinion on Iraq, criticism of his Arkansas tax record, and how he plans to compete with such names as Romney, Giuliani, and Thompson for the GOP nomination.

Huckabee is still feeling plenty of positive buzz coming off last month‘s Ames straw poll surprise (he calls it a “stunning“ accomplishment), finishing second with virtually zero funding and little effort. Though, like his Florida visit, his grass roots campaign is continually overshadowed by the constant press and bulging coffers of the GOP‘s top tier, Huckabee is not deterred and sees signs that the tide may be turning in his favor concerning the debate as to who best represents all facets of the Republican platform. “The checkbook isn’t going to, ultimately, trump the character and the message” of any candidate, he says.

As in all of his appearances and stump speeches, the term “consistent conservative” was brought up by Huckabee, the closest thing one could find to a derisive comment about his rivals in the race. There’s a reason for that, as he notes that “it’s not necessary for me to go negative” against Republican rivals, going back to his core message that voters will only choose to look at “consistency in what they say and what they have done” in a candidate. He saves his harshest words for the conservative economic group Club for Growth, railing against their attacks on his tax record as Arkansas governor and labeling them the “Club for Greed.”

The most controversial aspect of Huckabee’s campaign is his deep Christian faith, with some viewing that as a major plus among the highly-conservative primary crowd, but marking him as “unelectable” with moderate Republicans and independents. When posed a question about whether his religiously-tinted beliefs - including (famous from a CNN debate) that the by-the-book description of evolution is a falsehood - should pose a concern both to conservative thirsting for electability and to voters queasy about sensitive religious topics, Huckabee shot it down. “It shouldn’t at all,” he said, “if they’ve really heard what I’ve said.”

Foreign policy and Iraq is where pundits see Huckabee struggling the most, mainly due to his “lack of experience“ - only serving at the state level - and to his campaign‘s decidedly domestic outlook. This argument seems a little shaky, with Huckabee’s most memorable moment in the debates coming in his duel with Ron Paul over why we should be fighting in Iraq. He doesn’t come across as completely sold on the current status of the war, but he has thrown himself 100% behind staying in Iraq until some sort of victory is achieved, and also enthusiastically backs the troop surge strategy of President Bush,. “It’s pretty evident that the surge is having a positive impact in bringing stability (to Iraq),” notes Huckabee, pointing out the success in pacifying Anbar province. However, he believes that the overall sectarian strife pulverizing Iraq is something that can’t be easily rectified by the U.S., calling it an “unsolvable situation.”

We also gave Gov. Huckabee one minute for a special personal message on topic of his choice, but we’ll force you to listen to the audio or wait until our transcript comes out to find out what he had to say.

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A full text transcript of the interview will be posted shortly, and most of the interview along with commentary will air on the next edition of Political Buzz Radio.

SEE BELOW: AUDIO OF OUR INTERVIEW WITH MIKE HUCKABEE (click the “play“ button)-

[audio:http://www.political-buzz.com/huckabee.mp3]

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