NEW BERN — “This is The Mike Huckabee Show and we are live from New Bern, North Carolina,” Huckabee said from a New Bern Riverfront Convention Center podium Friday before more than 500 cheering fans.
Hosted by Henry and Hank Hinton, a father-son team of radio stations in New Bern and Greenville, the broadcast was part of a day-long radio Talkfest during which Huckabee was a guest on the Phil Knight TV Show earlier in the morning.
Huckabee was quick to say good things promoting the area: “New Bern is beautiful. I love your town. This is not my first time here. I like New Bern much better than New York.”
The former Arkansas governor held a campaign fundraiser here in 2008 in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination at which time he said he also visited the Birthplace of Pepsi store downtown.
Friday’s fan demographic was decidedly gray and white but the well-advertised event for the colorful, entertaining, and civil conservative politician brought out no detractors and nearly every Republican elected or aspiring elected official whose district touches Craven County. Among those present to meet and greet him were Sen. Norman Sanderson, Sen. Harry Brown, Rep. John Bell, Trent Woods Mayor Chuck Tyson and Commissioner Chip Hughes, New Bern Alderman Denny Bucher and Sabrina Bengel.
Joining him on the show was District 3 U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-Farmville, and Craven County Board of Commissioners Chairman Scott Dacey of Trent Woods who Huckabee said had arranged that campaign fundraiser and “came to Iowa at his own expense to campaign for me.”
He also did a telephone interview with former two-term South Carolina senator, Jim DeMint, who had led a conservative senate caucus. He officially took over Wednesday as president of the Heritage Foundation, a prestigious conservative think tank after a three-month transition with its founding trustee and president since 1977 Edwin J. Feulner.
Huckabee asked Dacey, a Washington lobbyist, if his county commission job turned out to be more tedious work that he anticipated, to which Dacey replied: “Actually, it’s one of the most rewarding things I’ve done in my life.” Even though some of the things you do may seem trivial, “when you get those things right, you improve things” often by just getting people to sit down and talk to each other.
Freedom of religion got a boost from the discourse between Huckabee and Jones regarding Jones continuing effort to get a bill (now H.B. 343) passed to allow military chaplains to close a prayer according to the dictates of their own faith and convictions.
Huckabee said, “I call on (U.S. House Majority Leader Rep.) John Boehner to get this bill on the floor and let elected representatives, Democrats and Republicans, have their stance on the record.”
Obamacare got Huckabee opposition after the owner of a local small home healthcare agency with 65 employees asked him how to make the choice between paying $100,000 to $200,000 out of pocket for insurance, paying a $55,000 to 65,000 fine for not doing it, both of which would put him out of business, or just passing the cost on to his employees.
Huckabee said he doesn’t understand why people can’t see the harm coming from the unintended consequences of the healthcare act, a 2,200-page bill most voting for it had not even read.
“The choice is to elect a new Senate that will repeal Obamacare,” he said.
Asked by Hal James of Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association what is the best way to stop growth of government by both Democrats and Republicans, Huckabee said, “Term limits and a requirement to balance the budget.”
Many attending said they felt that Huckabee picking New Bern for one of the first audience-attended radio broadcasts in the 1 1/2 year-old show was quite a coup for Hinton and the area. His television show has an audience but the radio show is mostly call-in and Huckabee said, “I like seeing the faces of those asking the questions.”
“We developed a relationship with Huckabee’s son when they first signed on,” said Henry Hinton. “As time has gone on, the governor has hinted that he might be running again for president” and events like this might strengthen his base and brand.
“I wish he’d run this past year,” Hinton said. “I have great respect him, his company and sponsors and dealing with the governor has been a pleasure. He is a cut above, a super human being.”
In response to a Sun Journal question asking whether or not he plans to seek the Republican nomination again, Huckabee said he hasn’t ruled it out, “but I’ve not made any decision and haven’t spent much of my time trying to figure it out.”
“I love what I’m doing and I feel like I have impact on political policy, am making a difference, doing what I’m doing now,” he said, which includes television and radio shows, a political action committee, and writing a book. “Now I get to make my point without having to go out and beg for money.”
Sue Book can be reached at 252-635-5665 or sue.book@newbernsj.com.