Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee Reaches Out to Bloggers

Former Governor Mike Huckabee (AR) and Republican presidential candidate hit the ground running this morning in Manchester, New Hampshire. The former governor started a day of campaigning with a five kilometer run with supporters in downtown Manchester. Huckabee is in New Hampshire on a two-day campaign trip, where he is meeting with Republican supporters and local voters at numerous public community events throughout the state.

In the afternoon, Huckabee and Debra Vanderbeek, New Hampshire chairman of Huckabee for President, hosted a conference call with bloggers. This was his second conference call for bloggers from campaign events. Bloggers and editors were able to login using a pre-announced phone number.

Huckabee provided insights into his daily events and identified that he is experiencing a wonderful response in New Hampshire. The citizens of New Hampshire surprised him as being very much like his fellow Arkansans who have a close relationship with their elected officials and expect their candidates to come to public events to speak. He said it was "retail politics" and you had to be prepared to "know how to ask" voters what is important to them and them be open to discuss issues with them one on one.

Huckabee then opened discussions with bloggers who asked varied questions. Huckabee was glad to hear from fellow Arkansas Republican, Dr. Bill Smith, editor of the ARRA Blog. Huckabee shared the common themes existing between voters in Arkansas and New Hampshire. Another blogger asked him about the impact of the Ethics on the last elections and its perceived effect on the 2008 election. Huckabee discussed how ethics needs to be an issue in the election. He said the "culture of greed" that existed in prior years with Enron and WorldCom executives taking $10million in bonuses while employees lost their pensions cannot be repeated. He also identified that Republicans participating in congressional pork was one of the reasons Republicans lost their majority in the last election.

Bloggers wishing to participate in future Conference Calls for Bloggers should contact one of the following Media Contacts: Kirsten Fedewa, 202-365-6936, or Alice Stewart, 501-324-2008.

---

Tags: bloggers, GOP, Mike Huckabee, New Hampshire, presidential candidate, Republican To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!