April 17, 2015

Mike Huckabee Is Officially Running for President. Read These 6 Stories About Him Now.

Don’t call it a comeback.

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/13000457854/in/photolist-kNNKc5-2EgU9w-kNNTMm-3s7B7g-4kabJv-kNLNx8-kNMAWD-4kabfH-4kabtT-4oPjom-ppGRvp-kNMFTc-kNM3aD-kNLXmk-kNMdZp-d2Eoss-d2Eokd-kNPmQu-kNMWzX-kNM8PV-kNPhNm-4jo2dc-4jo1R6-4jo1EP-JatZT-Jau1F-JatCH-JaoFm-JaoVy-JatXv-JatEt-JaoW1-JatY2-JaoU9-JaoTQ-JaoVf-JatHx-JaoTA-JatHc-5AWiCe-4jo2jM-kNN1m4-kNMMta-kNMTbx-kNPaWL-4SdAoi-4xWT9p-4t7mBA-7oGmPr-ri8rs6">Gage Skidmore</a>/Flickr

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Update (5/5/14): Huckabee is set to formally announce his candidacy on Tuesday in his hometown of Hope, Arkansas. See below for the original piece:

On Friday, Mike Huckabee, the Baptist preacher and former Republican governor of Arkansas, let it slip that he recently formed an exploratory committee in anticipation of a potential presidential bid. He followed up by appearing on Bret Baier’s evening Fox News show to announce that…he will soon be announcing whether or not he will run for president.

The 59-year-old has hinted for over a year that he might run in 2016 after he sat out the 2012 race and failed to win the nomination in 2008. Since leaving office in 2007, Huckabee has maintained a high profile, hosting a Fox show for several years and writing books, including the 2015 manifesto God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy.

Huckabee would face tough competition in a field that could draw plenty of social conservatives—think Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry—but he has had some success before, having taken the 2008 Iowa GOP caucuses decisively.

Here’s some of the best of Mother Jones‘ coverage of Mike Huckabee.

If you need a good chaser after that, read up on the fringe historian beloved by social conservatives, including Huckabee.

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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