Huckabee's jumping into the GOP race for White House

Republican Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and a favorite of conservatives, will take the first step in a 2008 presidential bid, an official told The Associated Press on Friday. Huckabee speaks with reporters on Oct. 18, 2005, in Little Rock, discussing his opposition to stronger U.S. military authority in responding to natural disasters.(AP Photo/Mike Wintroath)

It appears that former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is jumping into the presidential race. This is off CNN.Com:

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) -- Conservative Republican Mike Huckabee, seeking to repeat the success of another former governor from Hope, Arkansas, said he is taking the first step in what he acknowledged is an underdog bid for the White House in 2008.

"I think this is an opportunity to show the American dream is still alive and there's hope and optimism that can be awakened in a lot of people's lives if they think that a person like me can run and actually become president," Huckabee told The Associated Press on Sunday.

The 51-year-old Huckabee, who took over as governor at the height of President Clinton's Whitewater scandal, comes from the same small town -- Hope -- in the same rural state as the former Democratic president.

Huckabee, who left office January 9 after serving 10 1/2 years as governor of a Democratic-leaning state, faces steep odds in a crowded GOP field that includes well-known and well-funded hopefuls such as Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

"One of the reasons that I'm running for president is because I think that America needs folks who understand what it is to start at the bottom of the ladder and climb their way to the top," Huckabee said in a broadcast interview. "We've got a lot of people who are born on third base and think they've hit a triple.

"America loves an underdog. America loves people who have had to struggle and for whom every rung of the ladder has been sometimes three rungs up and two back down, Thank God for the one you've gained, and keep climbing," Huckabee said.

Huckabee appeared on "Meet the Press" on NBC.

Huckabee is going to be an interesting candidate for this race. According to the CNN story, Huckabee is "is a staunch opponent of abortion rights and gay marriage, but faces a tough fight from other conservatives in the field for support from the GOP's right flank." Two of Huckabee's stronger competitors would be either Arizona Senator John McCain, or Kansas Senator Sam Brownback. McCain has been constantly courting the Religious Right for his own bid to the White House. Brownback, however, is a favorite among the conservatives and Religious Right.

But the interesting dynamic here would be Iraq. The 2008 elections will not be about the social issues of abortion, or gay marriage, but rather how will the United States resolve the Iraq war. So far, the Republican Party has followed along with the Bush administration's surge plan for "winning the war" in Iraq. McCain has been on record for supporting the Bush administration's escalation of the Iraq war. Brownback is now opposing the Bush administration's troop surge, however Brownback refuses to support the Democrats' Iraq resolution opposing the Bush White House troop surge. So there is a serious contradiction with the Brownback campaign. Huckabee will need to find some U.S. policy on Iraq which could tap into the American public's desire for getting out of the war, with that of the Republican Party and Bush administration's insistence of escalating the war. It will be interesting to see how the Huckabee campaign can navigate through this issue of Iraq.