Saturday night, 2008 candidate for the Republican Presidential Nomination, Baptist Preacher, former Governor of Arkansas, and erstwhile talk show host Mike Huckabee made the following announcement, concerning a possible bid to seek the Republican Presidential Nomination for the 2012 Elections:

All the factors say go, but my heart says no.

The past few months have been times of deep personal reflection. Even though I wasn’t actively establishing a campaign organization or seeking financial support to run again, polls have consistently put me at or near the top to be the Republican nominee.

But I know that under the best of circumstances, being President is a job that takes one to the limit of his or her human capacity. I can’t know or predict the future, but I know for now my answer is clear and firm: I will not seek the Republican nomination for President this year.

I had not done much toward a race because my life was filled with work that I truly love here at Fox News, doing radio commentaries on my daily Huckabee Report on 600 radio stations, traveling the country for speaking engagements, and helping good conservative, pro-life candidates who were running for office.

To which the majority of Conservatives replied:

Whew!

Why, you ask?

As I did with GOP Elite front-runner du jour, Mitch Daniels, let’s look at Governor Huckabee’s record as Governor of Arkansas (1996-2007) through the measurement of the three-legged stool of  Reagan Conservatism:

Fiscal Conservatism – From an article  published at washingtonpost.com, on January 1, 2008, Huckee’s fiscal record as Governor of Arkansas leaves a lot to be desired:

According to the Tax Foundation, the state and local tax burden on the average Arkansan increased from 10.1 per cent to 11.3 per cent under Huckabee. When he came into office in 1996, Arkansas ranked 30th in the nation as the state with the highest taxes. When he left at the beginning of this year, it had risen to 13th.

Overall tax revenues in Arkansas rose by some $500 million under Huckabee, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. In Huckabee’s defense, $400 million of this increased revenue went to pay for improvements in the state’s educational system mandated in 2002 by the Arkansas Supreme Court, to correct inequalities in education spending. The biggest tax increases came in 2003 and 2004, after the Supreme Court decision.

…The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration has confirmed that there were 90 tax cuts in the period 1995 to 2005, reducing revenues by $378 million. But many of these tax cuts were very narrowly tailored. A list assembled by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette included the following:

Exempting Arkansas Symphony Orchestra from sales tax. Total revenues foregone: $20,000

An income tax deduction for organ donation: $76,000

Exempting county fairs from special events tax: $15,000.

Offsetting these tax cuts were at least 21 tax increases, including repeated tax hikes on tobacco, alcohol, increases in the sales tax, and a 3 per cent “income tax surcharge.” The tax hikes brought in a total of $883 million between 1995 and 2003.

 Social Conservatism – Per an article posted on foxnews.com on December 10, 2007:

As governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee had a hand in twice as many pardons and commutations as his three predecessors combined.

…Although the Republican presidential contender and Southern Baptist preacher plays down any personal involvement in that release, Huckabee granted 1,033 pardons and commutations in his 10 1/2 years as governor of Arkansas. The acts of clemency benefited the stepson of a staff member, murderers who worked at the governor’s mansion, a rock star and inmates who received good words from their pastors.

…Whitewater figure David Hale, a government witness in the trial that forced Gov. Jim Guy Tucker’s resignation and let Huckabee ascend to the office, was pardoned after being sentenced to 21 days in a state insurance case. Huckabee complained it would cost too much to hold him. The price tag: $1,200.

Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards received a gubernatorial pardon for a 1975 traffic offense. Huckabee prepared the paperwork to clear the rock star’s good name after he met him at a North Little Rock concert.

During his years as governor, Huckabee granted clemency an average of about once every four days. Huckabee’s successor, Mike Beebe, has issued 40 so far this year, fewer than one a week. Bill Clinton, Frank White and Tucker granted 507 clemencies in the 17 1/2 years they served as governor.

The most-discussed clemency case during Huckabee’s tenure involved Wayne DuMond, who was castrated — he said by masked men who attacked him at home — while awaiting trial on charges he raped a teenager in 1984. Though Huckabee did not pardon DuMond nor commute his sentence, two members of a state parole board maintain that he pressured them to make a decision in the case.

National Defense – In an opinion piece titled America’s Priorities in the War on Terror, posted in the January/February 2008 edition of the Council on Foreign Relations’ site, foreign affairs.com, Huckabee wrote:

The United States, as the world’s only superpower, is less vulnerable to military defeat. But it is more vulnerable to the animosity of other countries. Much like a top high school student, if it is modest about its abilities and achievements, if it is generous in helping others, it is loved. But if it attempts to dominate others, it is despised.

American foreign policy needs to change its tone and attitude, open up, and reach out. The Bush administration’s arrogant bunker mentality has been counterproductive at home and abroad. My administration will recognize that the United States’ main fight today does not pit us against the world but pits the world against the terrorists. At the same time, my administration will never surrender any of our sovereignty, which is why I was the first presidential candidate to oppose ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty, which would endanger both our national security and our economic interests.

…The Bush administration plans to increase the size of the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps by about 92,000 troops over the next five years. We can and must do this in two to three years. I recognize the challenges of increasing our enlistments without lowering standards and of expanding training facilities and personnel, and that is one of the reasons why we must increase our military budget. Right now, we spend about 3.9 percent of our GDP on defense, compared with about six percent in 1986, under President Ronald Reagan. We need to return to that six percent level.

While a strong National Defense Budget is a good thing, the naivete of the statement if it is generous in helping others, it is loved is bothersome.

America is already the most generous nation on the face of the Earth.  In fact, some of the very nations we funnel money into, are those who are secretly plotting against us.

In conclusion, while Gov. Huckabee has some Conservative qualities, and is quite affable, as a Presidential Candidate, he makes a fine talk show host.