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This is the first in a special five-part series, "The Other Contenders." Each installment looks at one Republican and one Democratic presidential candidate who is less well known than the leading candidates.

Nov. 26, 2007

The Other Contenders: Huckabee and Richardson

By Chris Heagarty

(l-r) former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR) and current Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM)

RALEIGH - The N.C. Center for Voter Education presents the following candidate profiles as a public service to voters who have not been exposed to information about the overlooked campaigns of candidates that are not their parties’ leading fundraisers.

The Center is providing only positive information in the profiles, not because these candidates are without their faults, but because we feel there are plenty of other outlets for negative news.

As the first part of our series, “The Other Contenders,” we look at Republican Mike Huckabee and Democrat Bill Richardson.

Huckabee is the former governor of Arkansas. Richardson is the current governor of New Mexico. Recent history has favored governors over members of Congress in presidential elections, with only one non-governor -- George H.W. Bush -- being elected since 1976, and with one of Huckabee’s Arkansas predecessors, Bill Clinton, serving two terms as commander in chief.

Huckabee became governor of Arkansas in 1996 and was one of the youngest governors in the country at the time. He was elected to a full term in 1998, attracting the largest percentage of the vote ever received by a Republican gubernatorial nominee in Arkansas, and was re-elected to another four-year term in November 2002.

Before serving in elected office, Huckabee was a pastor and denominational leader. He became the youngest president ever of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention and has said those experiences gave him a deep sense of the problems faced by individuals and families.

As a former governor, Huckabee touts his school accountability programs, increasing the number of charter schools, and reforming workforce education. He signed legislation providing health insurance for more children without coverage and supported better insurance access for small business owners and their employees. He claims fiscally conservative tax cuts and welfare reform that reduced state welfare rolls by almost 50 percent as other major accomplishments.

An interesting personal side of Huckabee’s life has been his efforts to improve his own health. Diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2003, he lost 110 pounds. Barely two years later, he had completed four marathons and created the Healthy Arkansas initiative, an effort to encourage Arkansans to stop smoking, exercise more and eat healthier.

Huckabee, 51, and his wife, Janet, live in North Little Rock. They have three grown children: John Mark, David and Sarah. He enjoys playing bass guitar in his rock 'n' roll band, which has opened for artists such as Willie Nelson and the Charlie Daniels Band. Professional wrestler Ric Flair has campaigned with him in South Carolina.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has served as a United States congressman, ambassador to the United Nations and secretary of energy.  Last year he won re-election to his second term as governor with 69 percent of the vote, the largest margin of victory in state history, while garnering almost 40 percent of the Republican vote.

Richardson campaigns on his record as governor, claiming aggressive efforts to improve education, build a high-wage economy, expand health care access and make New Mexico safer. Richardson maintained a balanced budget, cut $230 million in government waste and returned more than $1 billion dollars in taxes to working families.

Before becoming governor, Richardson served in Congress for 15 years. Appointed by President Clinton as the ambassador to the United Nations, Richardson worked with world leaders to build alliances and help prevent the development of nuclear weapons in North Korea.

He has been nominated four times for the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the release of hostages, American servicemen and political prisoners in North Korea, Iraq and Cuba and recently negotiated a 60-day cease fire in war-torn Darfur following direct talks with rebel leaders and the president of Sudan.

As secretary of energy to President Clinton, Richardson implemented higher efficiency standards to save energy. As governor, he has required utility companies to produce energy through renewable resources and reduce carbon emissions.

Richardson, 60, was born to an American father and Mexican mother, and grew up in Mexico City before moving to New England, where he attended high school and college.
He has been married to his high school sweetheart, Barbara, for 33 years.

Chris Heagarty is the Robert Morgan Senior Research Fellow with the N.C. Center for Voter Education, a Raleigh-based nonprofit and nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving elections in North Carolina.