On Tuesday, he deployed his affability in making a series of jabs at rivals that, in the mouth of another politician, could have seemed angry. He criticized candidates who deceive taxpayers and “live off the government payroll” while running for higher office — an elbow aimed at most of the current Republican field. “Have the integrity and decency to resign,” Mr. Huckabee said. 
 
 One problem for his candidacy is likely to be money. Mr. Huckabee raised just over $16 million in 2008, and despite victories in eight nominating contests saw his campaign expire for lack of funds to advertise in major states like Florida. The rules of campaign finance have changed in the new “super PAC” era, when as few as one or two super-wealthy supporters can fund an outside, parallel campaign. But it is unclear whether Mr. Huckabee has yet attracted such support. 
 
 Unusual for an announcement speech, Mr. Huckabee’s address on Tuesday included a plea for money, specifically donations of $15 or $25 a month. “I will ask you to give something in the name of your children and grandchildren,” he said. 
 
 In recent months, Mr. Huckabee has broadened his policy focus to the threat posed by Islamic extremists, and in his announcement he criticized President Obama for putting “more pressure on our ally Israel to cease building bedrooms for their families in Judea and Samaria than we do on Iran for building a bomb.” 
 
 He has visits planned in the coming days to Iowa and South Carolina, a two-step between early nominating states with large numbers of evangelical voters. He will spend less time courting New Hampshire’s fiscal conservatives. 
 
 Should Mr. Huckabee’s campaign survive the early states, a potential bonus awaits him on March 1, when at least five conservative Southern states — Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee — are maneuvering to vote the same day. He won four of the states in 2008. ||||| HOPE, Ark. (AP) — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is preparing another bid for the Republican presidential nomination, eight years after his first efforts to expand on the support of evangelical Christians helped him win eight states in the 2008 primaries. 
 
 FILE - In this April 18, 2015 file photo, former Arkansas Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee speaks at the Republican Leadership Summit in Nashua, N.H. Huckabee is set to announce he will seek the 2016 Republican... (Associated Press) 
 
 The ordained Baptist minister turned politician returns Tuesday to his hometown of Hope, Arkansas — the same small town where former President Bill Clinton was born — to make official what the local newspaper called "the worst kept secret" in the state. 
 
 In a strategy aimed at working-class cultural conservatives, Huckabee and his aides say his second run would pitch the candidate as an economic populist and foreign affairs hawk who holds deeply conservative views on social issues such as abortion and gay marriage. 
 
 Huckabee, 59, also plans to pitch that he is the best Republican to take on Hillary Rodham Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination who spent more than a decade as first lady of Arkansas. In a recent campaign video, Huckabee argued that in his more than 10 years as governor, he took on Democrats in "Bill Clinton's Arkansas" after candidate Bill Clinton won election to the White House in 1992. 
 
 "Every day in my life in politics was a fight," Huckabee says in the video, released as a preview of his Tuesday announcement. "But any drunken redneck can walk into a bar and start a fight. A leader only starts a fight he's prepared to finish." 
 
 Huckabee advocates a national consumption tax, which is similar to a sales tax, to replace the existing federal taxes on personal income and payrolls. He rejects calls for a minimum wage hike, saying his proposals will yield a "maximum wage" for workers. 
 
 On immigration, he insists on a secure border and bemoans the presence of millions of people who are living in the country illegally, though he favors a creating a path to citizenship for children of immigrant parents who brought them to the U.S. illegally. 
 
 Like other Republican White House hopefuls, Huckabee is sharply critical of President Barack Obama's foreign policy. He has called for "bombing the daylights" out of Islamic State targets in the Middle East, though he says American troops should be deployed to the region only as part of an international coalition that includes nations such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan. 
 
 But whatever the issue, Huckabee — an author and former Fox News host — wraps his appeal as a pitch to everyday Americans who he says "don't feel like anybody understands or knows who they are, much less cares what's happening to them." 
 
 "One thing that has to happen in America is moving the power away from Washington, where people are so disconnected from the way that so many ordinary Americans live," Huckabee says in another recent video. 
 
 Huckabee's potential strength among the growing number of Republican candidates rests with cultural conservatives who wield strong influence in the party's nominating process. 
 
 Evangelical Christian voters helped Huckabee win the Iowa caucuses in 2008 and finish a strong second in South Carolina, the largest of the early-voting states. Huckabee would need to replicate that early success to create an opening to build a wider coalition and compete deep into the primary schedule. 
 
 Huckabee is the third major Republican to enter the race this week. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and former technology executive Carly Fiorina launched their campaigns Monday. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Follow Bill Barrow on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/BillBarrowAP ||||| Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE USA TODAY's Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page explains four reasons why Mike Huckabee's presidential run matters. USA TODAY 
 
 Mike Huckabee officially announces his candidacy for the 2016 presidential race on May 5, 2015, in Hope, Ark. (Photo: Matt Sullivan, Getty Images) 
 
 Mike Huckabee launched his second run for the Republican presidential nomination by promising to take the nation "from hope to higher ground'' and emphasizing his ability to work with Democrats while he was governor of Arkansas. 
 
 "I learned how to govern and I learned how to lead,'' he said Tuesday at his announcement in Hope, Ark., the hometown he shares with former president Bill Clinton. 
 
 Huckabee's wide-ranging, folksy speech included a call to replace all federal taxes with a sales tax, criticism of trade pacts that he said would undermine U.S. workers' wages and a defense of Social Security, saying that Congress should "end their own ... pensions,'' rather than changing the national retirement system. 
 
 "Power and money and political influence have left a lot of Americans lagging behind,'' he said, 
 
 Huckabee's opposition to citizenship for illegal immigrants and to Common Core educational standards is in sync with the rest of the crowded Republican presidential field. 
 
 Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE Mike Huckabee announces presidential run from his hometown of Hope, Arkansas. VPC 
 
 But Huckabee, who left the governor's office in 2007, took a shot at his Republican rivals who are running for president while holding elected office — a group that includes Sens. Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. 
 
 "If you live off the government payroll and you want to run for an office other than the one you've been elected to, at least have the integrity and decency to resign the one you don't want any more,'' he said. 
 
 The one-time radio broadcaster, Baptist preacher and Fox News host appealed to evangelical Christian voters, saying the nation "has lost our way morally'' because abortion and same-sex marriage are legal. He called for term limits for Congress and the federal judiciary. "The Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being and they cannot overturn the laws of nature or of nature's God.'' 
 
 For his first campaign swing, Huckabee will spend Wednesday and Thursday in Iowa and then head to South Carolina, where evangelical voters are more prevalent than in New Hampshire. 
 
 In 2008, Huckabee surprised the GOP establishment with his victory in the Iowa caucuses. The former Arkansas governor eventually won eight states, mostly in the South, but he didn't have the resources to topple eventual nominee John McCain. 
 
 This time, Huckabee vows he'll be competitive, though he said Tuesday he doubted he'd raise as much as other candidates. "I'm not going to be the favorite candidate of those in the Washington-to-Wall Street corridor of power.'' 
 
 Huckabee, 59, has better favorable ratings in national and statewide surveys than former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Rubio. He is also well-positioned with blue-collar voters, senior citizens and conservatives as well as the evangelical voters who helped fuel his 2008 Iowa victory.​ 
 
 However, religious conservatives could have several candidates to choose from in 2016 besides Huckabee, such as Walker, Cruz, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, who won the 2012 Iowa caucuses. 
 
 Bob Vander Plaats of The Family Leader, an influential conservative group, and Huckabee's 2008 Iowa campaign chairman, said the former Arkansas governor should not be dismissed. 
 
 "Huckabee has a great chance to repeat what he did in 2008, but his campaign will have to be different," Vander Plaats said. "When people know you and you're an established figure, you have to have campaign apparatus and money." 
 
 In his Fox News interview with Bret Baier, Huckabee did not declare Iowa as a must-win but said he'll need to set a tone in the early nominating contests. 
 
 "I don't think it is all based on one state. But clearly coming out of Iowa with momentum is important," he said. "We need to do well in South Carolina. We need to show that we at least are competing in New Hampshire." 
 
 As governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007, Huckabee was a foil to the Clinton administration. He has said it is "fair play" to judge Hillary Clinton for her record as a senator and secretary of State, and not by Bill Clinton's personal life. 
 
 After the 2008 presidential campaign, Huckabee turned to broadcasting full-time and became well-known to conservatives through his own Fox News show. He has been a popular draw as a speaker and book author. 
 
 Huckabee flirted with running in 2012 but ultimately decided against it. He quit his Fox News show in January to consider the 2016 race. 
 
 Huckabee's latest book — God, Guns, Grits and Gravy — delves into the impact of Washington, New York and Los Angeles on culture, which he dubs "Bubble-ville." With his chatty, folksy style, Huckabee offers his view on the effect government has on people's lives, the dangers of social media, and his take on immigration, China and other issues. 
 
 During the campaign, Huckabee can expect questions about raising taxes as Arkansas governor. The anti-tax Club for Growth, which ran ads against him in the 2008 campaign, said Huckabee's "big government record" would stand out negatively in the 2016 field. 
 
 The former governor, who now lives in Florida, counters that he balanced the state budget every year for 10 years, cut welfare and raised average family income by 50%. 
 
 Follow @ccamia and @USATMoore on Twitter. 
 
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 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1IbhJuS ||||| In Hope, Ark., former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (R) officially announced on May 5, 2015, that he is running for president. (AP) 
 
 This story was updated at 12:00 p.m. 
 
 Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee announced Tuesday that he will make a second bid for the Republican nomination. 
 
 "Folks, it is a long way from a little brick red house on 2nd street in Hope, Arkansas to the White House. But here in this small town called Hope I was raised to believe that where a person's starting didn't mean that's where he had to stop," he told a cheering crowd at a rally in his hometown of Hope, Arkansas."...So it seems perfectly fitting that it would be here that I announce that I am a candidate for president of the United States of America." 
 
 The challenges are formidable for the man who won the 2008 Iowa caucuses. In that earlier race, Huckabee, 59, a former Baptist preacher, struggled to expand his reach beyond evangelical voters and ran out of money in subsequent contests. 
 
 1 of 67 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Mike Huckabee launches 2016 presidential campaign View Photos The former Arkansas governor announced that he will make a second bid for the Republican nomination. Caption The former Arkansas governor announced that he will make a second bid for the Republican nomination. May 5, 2015 Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee waves to supporters in Hope, Ark., after announcing that he is running for the Republican presidential nomination. Danny Johnston/AP Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
 
 Huckabee is a gifted communicator. Polls have consistently shown that he has relatively high name recognition and popularity among Republicans. Early this year, he quit his television show on Fox News so that he could more deeply explore the possibility of another run. 
 
 This time, his challenge will be finding a way to break through in a field that is likely to include a dozen or more credible, well-financed contenders. Among them are relatively fresh faces, such as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who are challenging him for the financial and political support of conservative Christians. 
 
 On the stump, he has pointed to his Arkansas history as evidence that he has what it takes to run against Hillary Rodham Clinton, the expected Democratic nominee. 
 
 Indeed, Huckabee's career has been intertwined with that of the Clinton family for more than two decades. 
 
 [Huckabee's long and complicated history with the Clintons] 
 
 Huckabee comes from Hope, Ark., the same town where Bill Clinton was born. Early in his career, he was a Baptist minister and broadcaster. He made his first bid for office in 1992, making an unsuccessful run as the GOP nominee to unseat Democratic Sen. Dale Bumpers. 
 
 That same election, however, saw Arkansas politics upended. 
 
 The sitting governor, Bill Clinton, was elected president. His move to Washington elevated the state's lieutenant governor, Jim Guy Tucker, to the top spot, and opened up the number-two job, which Huckabee won in a 1993 special election. That made Huckabee an instant celebrity among Republicans, who hadn't won a statewide office in Arkansas in 13 years. 
 
 Three years later, Tucker was indicted on charges related to the Whitewater investigation, stemming from a failed Arkansas land deal in which the Clintons had invested. Upon Tucker's resignation, Huckabee became governor. 
 
 During his decade as Arkansas governor, Huckabee racked up an impressive record getting legislation through an overwhelmingly Democratic legislature. Among his achievements were expanding health coverage for children and revamping the state's education system. In 2005, Time Magazine named him one of the five most effective governors in the country, and Governing magazine dubbed him one of its "public officials of the year." 
 
 The overweight Arkansas governor also gained national attention when he lost 110 pounds, after being diagnosed with diabetes in 2002. 
 
 Huckabee collected some formidable enemies, including such conservative organizations as the Club for Growth, which deemed his gubernatorial record too liberal. 
 
 Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is known as an ordained Baptist minister and Fox News television personality. Here's the Republican's take on guns, immigration and more, in his own words. (Julie Percha/The Washington Post) 
 
 Jose A. DelReal contributed to this story. ||||| Faces 
 
 Can Huckabee Overcome The 'New Car Smell' Of Other Candidates? 
 
 i itoggle caption Nati Harnik/AP Nati Harnik/AP 
 
 This post was updated at 11:40 a.m. ET. 
 
 Meet Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor. Forget about Mike Huckabee, Fox News host. 
 
 That's the message the GOP presidential hopeful is already conveying as he makes another bid for the presidency. 
 
 "We need the kind of change that really could get America from Hope to higher ground," he said, officially launching his campaign Tuesday in Hope, Ark. 
 
 To recapture the magic that propelled him to second place in 2008, he needs to re-embrace his roots and downplay the political celebrity he has created in the past eight years. 
 
 "What he's got to do is draw a contrast that shows, 'I'm not just a talk show host and I'm not just a Baptist minister, but I governed for over a decade and we achieved results in a very Democratic environment,' " said Iowa conservative activist Bob Vander Plaats, who chaired Huckabee's winning 2008 campaign in the first caucus state. He is so far undecided this go-around. 
 
 That message was also evidenced in the video that Huckabee rolled out last week. 
 
 The video was vintage Huckabee, harking back to how he took on the Clinton machine of the 1990s in what was then a very Democratic state. That's a valuable weapon he has now that he didn't eight years ago, with other Republican candidates now arguing they're best equipped to take on Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee. 
 
 Huckabee boasted of his populist record, touting his work raising family income and cutting taxes during his decade-long tenure as governor. 
 
 There were no clips of his eponymous talk show or his 2008 stump speeches except for the address he made to the GOP convention that year. 
 
 "I'm not a Republican because I grew up rich," he declared at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. "I'm a Republican because I didn't want to spend the rest of my life poor, waiting for the government to rescue me." 
 
 His runner-up slot enabled him to dig out of his humble beginnings. A Fox News contract and radio show soon followed, and Huckabee and his wife were able to build a 8,224 square-foot Florida beachfront home worth $3 million. 
 
 "Janet and I, neither of us grew up thinking we'd see salt water in person," Huckabee told the Northwest Florida Daily News last year of the mansion he and his wife called home. "We both grew up dirt poor in Southern Arkansas ... For us, growing up, the thought that we would ever put our feet in salt water, no that would never happen." 
 
 The newfound financial freedom was reportedly one reason Huckabee passed on a 2012 bid, despite his rumored disdain for the eventual nominee, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. In order to do so, he would have had to sever his media ties, which were his main source of income. 
 
 That's why it surprised many when he announced, without much warning, in January of this year that he would be stepping down from his Fox News Saturday evening show, Huckabee. But it was also a clear signal to those skeptical he would leave the lucrative private sector to re-enter the political arena that he was serious this time. 
 
 Huckabee was underestimated early on in 2008 in Iowa, too. He didn't even begin registering in polling there until the summer of 2007 and never surged into the lead until December of that year. He ended up winning the caucuses by 9 points. 
 
 He starts off the 2016 cycle not having to go from Pizza Ranch to Pizza Ranch praying supporters will show up, as Vander Plaats once recalled their team had to do, but with a sure buzz and a reservoir of good feelings once he heads to the state this week. He still trails Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in the latest surveys, but there's no clear front-runner yet. 
 
 That's both good and bad news for Huckabee. There are higher expectations this time around, both on fundraising and the crowds he will draw and the poll numbers he can expect as he becomes a candidate yet again. 
 
 "While people still genuinely like Gov. Huckabee and they trust Gov. Huckabee," Vander Plaats said, "there's still a certain flirtation with the new car smell of new candidates."
– Mike Huckabee is throwing his hat in the ring—again. The former governor of Arkansas today announced "I am a candidate for president of the United States of America" at the University of Arkansas Community College, in his hometown of Hope—which also happens to be the birthplace of Bill Clinton, USA Today reports. "Every day in my life in politics was a fight," Huckabee says in a video set to introduce him. "But any drunken redneck can walk into a bar and start a fight. A leader only starts a fight that he's prepared to finish." The video also notes Huckabee's ability to rise above "Bill Clinton's Arkansas," includes visuals of both Bill and Hillary Clinton, and describes his plan for a "maximum wage" for workers, per the AP. How his entrance is being framed: RealClearPolitics has Huckabee currently sitting sixth out of 14 current and potential GOP presidential candidates. Writing for the Washington Post, Karen Tumulty notes a few things in Huckabee's favor (he's a "gifted communicator" with solid name recognition), but sees the path as challenging. Though he won the 2008 Iowa caucuses, his funds soon petered out, and this time he'll face "credible" opponents, some of whom "are challenging him for the financial and political support of conservative Christians." At the New York Times, Trip Gabriel frames 2008 as the easier race. "The biggest question in voters' minds about Mr. Huckabee ... may be why he has returned to the fray. Although American politics is full of stories of the ultimate triumph of also-rans, from Richard M. Nixon to Ronald Reagan, Mr. Huckabee would seem to face greater obstacles than during his first presidential campaign, when he battled only a couple of rivals for the party's conservative base." How an NPR headline puts it: "Can Huckabee Overcome the 'New Car Smell' of Other Candidates?"