PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MIKE HUCKABEE DELIVERS COMMANDING PERFORMANCE DURING LAST NIGHT'S DEBATE
MANCHESTER, NH - Republican Presidential front-runner Mike Huckabee fueled his growing momentum last night with yet another strong presidential debate performance in the Granite State.
The former Arkansas governor, who won a decisive come-from-behind victory at the Iowa Republican Caucuses Thursday, reiterated the driving themes of his campaign: family, freedom and faith.
Huckabee, who is campaigning in New Hampshire with Chuck Norris at events leading up to the Jan. 8 primary, said his positive message for America's future is energizing Republicans, Independents and moderate Democrats to get behind his candidacy. "We must embrace a message of change. We must become a party of unity," he said Saturday.
"We must be for something - not against - or we won't be the party in the White House," he said.
Huckabee, who was a staunch supporter of the 2001 and 2003 Bust tax cuts and other conservative initiatives, said: "I worked really hard to get the president elected, but I am not running for his third term, I am running for president on my own terms."
Huckabee, who advocates enactment of the Fair Tax - and insists on free and fair trade, said government must help unleash the creativity of individuals, including small business owners and entrepreneurs, instead of "regulating and taxing innovation."
Huckabee, a consistent, conservative leader in the Republican presidential field, said: "The greatest principle is that every American and every human being is equal to each other - that sense that all of us have an innate essence of equality and that these rights are inalienable."
Huckabee said "our principles reflect what is deep inside us that can guide us and show the framework of what we will do."
Huckabee also said a strong America is critical to our nation's future. "We're going to do what's best for the American people. I will always do what is best for our country - to make sure our country is the strongest and most prepared."
When we do go to war, he said, "we will have an army we need - we will have a clear definition of what we want to do, and we won't let politicians make the ground calls."
Recognizing the serious threat of radical Islamic terrorists to America, Huckabee said that the United States did nothing to prompt their attack "other than the fact that we live and breathe." However, we must do everything in our power to protect America, including eliminating U.S. dependence on foreign oil within 10 years.
"This is an urgent matter and one of our utmost priorities. We have an issue where we are paying for both sides of the war on terror," he said. "We cannot allow dictators from Venezuela and the Middle East to hold us hostage every time we swipe our credit cards at the gas pump. We must be energy independent within the next ten years."
On the domestic front, Huckabee also said that a major key to solving our nation's health care crisis is through prevention. The health care system in this country is irrevocably broken, in part because it is only a "health care" system, not a "health" system.
"We don't need universal health care mandated by federal edict or funded through ever-higher taxes. We do need to get serious about preventive health care instead of chasing more and more dollars to treat chronic disease, which currently gobbles up 80% of our health care costs, and yet is often avoidable. The result is that we'll be able to deliver better care where and when it's needed."
