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LISA RYAN (reporting): Spoken like a true outdoorsman who was honored as the 1997 American Sport Fishing Man of the Year and a former pastor who once served as president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. But there's also much more to Mike Huckabee.
JANET HUCKABEE: You can look back in our high school annuals. People honestly wrote in there almost 30 years ago, 'I know you will be governor someday.' He lived up to it.
LISA RYAN (reporting): He certainly did. In July 1996, Mike Huckabee ascended into the office of governor of Arkansas when the previous governor resigned. He later became Arkansas 44th elected governor on November 3, 1998.
MIKE HUCKABEE: One of my major roles to play was that of pioneer, to create a competitive political environment as well as to be the voice for the pro-life community and for not just Republicans, but for Christians and conservatives, who frankly have not been represented much in Arkansas over the past few decades.
LISA RYAN (reporting): That's putting it mildly. When Huckabee was elected lieutenant governor, he was only the fourth Republican in 150 years to be elected to a statewide office.
MIKE HUCKABEE: I was so welcomed that my door was nailed shut from the inside by the then secretary of state, who just wanted to let me know that he really didn't like the idea of a Republican being in the state capitol. So it was a rough and tough start.
LISA RYAN (reporting): But not too tough for this bold leader who has refused to raise taxes in spite of a budget shortfall. He created the "tax me more" fund that allows Arkansans to voluntarily contribute to the state's general revenue fund. Huckabee also signed a ban in 1997 that called for doctors who perform partial birth abortions to be punished with jail time. He's not the only tough one in the family, however. In 1997 Janet Huckabee ran for secretary of state.
LISA
RYAN: In the last election the two of you had simultaneous campaigns. You
were both running for office. What was that like?
MIKE HUCKABEE: We virtually didn't see each other, and it was a real challenge.
LISA RYAN (reporting): A challenge that Mike won...and Janet lost.
JANET HUCKABEE: It wasn't a win, but I still won because he won. We won together. A disappointment is halved and a joy doubled. I still have the wonderful opportunity to serve as first lady.
LISA RYAN (reporting): That spirit of togetherness has characterized the Huckabees' relationship ever since their high school courtship. They married at the age of 18. Two years later, Janet was diagnosed with cancer in her spine.
MIKE HUCKABEE: They weren't sure if she would live, and if she did, they weren't sure if she would be paralyzed from the waist down. They told us that we'd never have children.
JANET HUCKABEE: Of course, I've survived that. I had three beautiful children. I'm not paralyzed from the waist down. I count my blessings everyday because of that. God showed us a lot at a very early age--and helped us. We lost a child in an early pregnancy, which to me was another thing that said that God lost a child. He knew what that was all about. He took us through.
MIKE HUCKABEE: That, from sort of the get-go in our relationship, tested and tried us, but it also let us find out as one of our pastor friends said, 'A lot of people say "Jesus is all you need," but you really don't know that until He's all you've got.'
LISA RYAN: Have you ever felt the pressure to keep your personal faith out of public life?
MIKE HUCKABEE: I feel the pressure all the time, and the pressure comes in some interesting ways. Editorial writers, or others will be very critical, political opponents. What I find interesting is the double standard that we live under in this country. If I were a liberal in my theology, I would be praised for having such boldness as was Joe Lieberman for coming out and being so expressive in his faith. If I had been half as expressive in the public arena as Joe Lieberman was during the presidential campaign of 2000, I can assure you that I would be written up as a religious fanatic. It's a remarkably hostile environment in the public square for people who are outspoken Christians and people, not even ramming it down someone else's throat, but just people who are honest about their faith and are willing to articulate it. Those folks find themselves on the receiving end of a pretty stiff club sometimes.
LISA RYAN: What kind of message do you think that sends? How should we respond?
MIKE
HUCKABEE: Jesus said we're salt and light. Salt was a preservative, and that's
what Jesus meant to convey when He talked about us being salt. So the more
rotten things are, the more we need salt. Christians really need to
be involved in those very arenas--not just politics, but advertising, fashion,
business, media, whatever. Christians need to be the salt and light in every
arena.
LISA RYAN: I heard that you play in a '50s rock band named Capitol Offense?
MIKE HUCKABEE: We ended up forming a band, and we decided to give it an appropriate name since most of us worked on the governor's staff in the capitol. So we named it "Capitol Offense." So now we've played at inauguration events of George Bush, we've opened for Dionne Warwick in a concert, we've played in a lot of festivals, in a number of cities, things like the Council of State Governments, Southern Governor's Association Conferences, and we really have a lot of fun.
JANET HUCKABEE: You're just a "Little Rock" star!
MIKE HUCKABEE: I got to play with Grand Funk Railroad. That was a trip.
LISA RYAN: The two of you caught a lot of attention when the Governor's Mansion was being renovated. The two of you were living in a trailer on the property?
JANET HUCKABEE: We like to call it a manufactured home, but we did.
MIKE HUCKABEE: For us, it wasn't that big of a deal. Our first place was a 40-dollar-a-month duplex. I really can't say that we're any happier living in the Governor's Mansion than we were living in the 40-dollar-a-month duplex. It gave us an opportunity to remind people it's not where you live, but it's how you live that matters.
LISA RYAN: You have written a book called Character Counts. You also govern a state that gained national attention because the two previous governors' characters were called into question. Why does character count?
MIKE HUCKABEE: The reason character counts for public officials is because you can't separate our public and private lives. People try to do it, and they say there's no connect, but there is a connect. And the fact is that if we go back to the words of Jesus, He said that what comes out of our mouth reveals what is in our hearts.
LISA RYAN: How does your faith guide you as a man and as a governor?
MIKE HUCKABEE: As a believer, I know that my ultimate accountability is not going to be to reporters, editorial writers, not even voters. It's going to be to God. And I'm going to not be governor someday. This is a temporary title, but my faith is eternal. One hundred years from now I will not be the governor of Arkansas, but I still will have a relationship with Jesus Christ because it is going to transcend my death. It gives me a real peace, it gives me a freedom, that I need to do what I do not so much just to be re-elected but do what I do so that at the end of my life I hear six words: 'Well done, good and faithful servant.'
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