Why I Endorse Mike Huckabee

Recently, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee called to brief me on the progress of his campaign for the presidency.

I subsequently invited him to speak to the Liberty University students in our Nov. 28 convocation.

I was so impressed with the governor’s sincerity and his positions on the issues that are important to conservative Christians that I personally endorsed his candidacy before he left Lynchburg.

I am well aware that, if my endorsement is meaningful and helpful to Huckabee, it is because my father devoted so much of his life and ministry to cultural reform. Dad truly believed that Christians should be involved in the political process and should make their voices heard.

I am also aware that some Christian leaders have endorsed other candidates, but I truly believe Huckabee represents the greatest hope for pro-life, pro-traditional family, pro-national defense, and pro-America conservative voters.

Since I carry my father’s name, I believe it is my responsibility to use that name as he would have to support the causes that were so dear to his heart. Dad strongly supported Huckabee when no one thought that he had any chance to succeed in the presidential race.

I believe with all my heart that, if my father had witnessed Huckabee’s surge in the polls and his ascension to first place in the Iowa polls, he would have endorsed him without hesitation.

During the Nov. 28 service at Liberty, our students embraced Huckabee with enthusiastic support. The electricity in the Vines Center arena that day was so inspiring that the governor’s daughter-in-law wrote me later to say that his visit to Liberty energized him before the YouTube and CNN debates later that day and was partly responsible for his stellar performance in the debates.

Many declared Huckabee to be the clear winner of the debate that evening.

I find it interesting that Huckabee, 52, is from Hope, Ark., the same hometown of Bill Clinton. It would be even more interesting if Huckabee were to rise from near obscurity, as the former governor did, to claim the presidential nomination of his party.

I think that Gov. Huckabee is one of us. I know that a lot of the other candidates try to talk like evangelicals, but he’s actually one of us. He believes like we do on all the issues, which energizes me as a voter.

“Believing that there are moral absolutes in this world is critical to the survival of this great republic — and not only believing in but doing something about it,” Huckabee said during his Liberty address. “In many ways, it is more up to you [the students] than it is to me . . . that we protect, preserve and we pass on the greatness of this land that the Founding Fathers gave us.”

In a question-and-answer period after his speech, one student asked Huckabee how he explains his sudden surge in the polls, especially in Iowa. Huckabee sagely replied that “ordinary folks” from around the country have been praying for him.

“They’re a lot of just people who aren’t big shots; they’re not the people with big names. They’re just people who care about this country, care about their kids, and they’re worried . . . about the future of America,” he stated. “And that’s who my support comes from.”

I believe those are words that will resonate with voters across this nation. And that is why I am hoping that Mike Huckabee becomes our nation’s 44th president.