FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
 

Media Contacts:  Kirsten Fedewa  Alice Stewart

Little Rock, AR – Former AR Governor Mike Huckabee announced today he has received “an historic, early endorsement” of the Home School Legal Defense Association.  The 80,000 member HSLDA is a nonprofit organization working to advocate the rights of parents to home-school their children.

“I’m extremely honored and proud to receive this unprecedented endorsement and show of early support from the Home School Legal Defense Association,” said Huckabee. “This is a significant development in the campaign.”

“We believe that Mike Huckabee , (former) Governor of Arkansas, should be elected the next President of the United States ,” HSLDA President J. Michael Smith said in a call-to-action letter to members.  Smith said HSLDA is taking this “historic step of an early endorsement” because of the process of electing the president is based on a radically different timetable in this election.
 
Smith touted Huckabee’s record as governor of Arkansas , pro-life, pro-family conservative values and presidential campaign platform, which includes a pro-defense plank and support for the FairTax, as reasons his organization stands behind Huckabee.   There are a few other candidates in the race who are properly described as principled conservatives, but none of the media’s “frontrunners” would qualify for this designation, he stated.

“We believe that Mike Huckabee is by far the best communicator in the race – he is able to articulate his conservative principles in an incredibly winsome and articulate manner,” said Smith.

Noting that Americans have not elected a member of the House or Senate to the office of President in nearly half a century, Smith said: “Moreover, among the principled conservatives, Huckabee is the only one who has been a governor.”

Adding that, based on history, only a conservative Republican can win the presidential election, Smtih said: “We believe that Mike Huckabee may be the only candidate in the race who could defeat Hillary Clinton in 2008.”

“The vast majority of the primaries will be earlier than ever before. If we do not act now, all conservatives will be driven from the race by lack of funding and we will be left with only unacceptable choices,” he said.
 
Smith concluded: “Many of us have waited a long time for a presidential candidate who is a truly qualified and articulate man who shares our values down to his core. Mike Huckabee entered politics for the same reason that most of us began: home-schooling. He wants a future that is grounded upon timeless values.”