In advance of next Tuesday’s announcement by former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who is to say whether he’ll make another run for president in 2016, a video that will introduce him at the event was released Friday.
It opens with footage of nails being driven into a door, then transitions to a photo of Bill and Hillary Clinton from his first presidential campaign. Then former Huckabee advisor Rex Nelson says, "On his first day in office, Governor Huckabee’s door was nailed shut. It was in Bill Clinton’s Arkansas."
In recent weeks Huckabee has suggested he would be the strongest candidate to take on the Clintons, if Hillary Clinton becomes the Democratic nominee.
By returning to his hometown of Hope to the make the announcement, Huckabee will also be bringing up the place that was key in Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign when he famously said "I come from a place called Hope."
Political science professor Hal Bass of Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia says he’s not sure if that approach will resonate today.
"I think there will be a lot of attention on Arkansas. I think there will be some reliving and replaying of political contests in Arkansas back in the ‘80s and ‘90s. How relevant those are for 2016 voters, I’m not at all sure, but there’s no question that we’re going to be on the national media’s radar screen," Bass said.
Tuesday’s announcement is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. at Hempstead Hall, 2500 South Main Street in Hope. Afterward, Huckabee has a string of appearances scheduled to begin Wednesday in Iowa, which is an early battleground in the presidential contest. He has also already hired on campaign staff members, making it appear certain that he will again make a presidential run.
