Mike Huckabee (Republican)
Mike Huckabee's platform emphasizes immigration, energy, national and homeland security, and conservative social values.
Competitiveness & Innovation
Huckabee pledges to increase visas for highly-skilled and highly-educated applicants.
STEM Education & Workforce
The former governor does not address science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education specifically. His platform focuses primarily on school choice and strong state control over educational benchmarks. Huckabee also pledges to increase visas for highly skilled and highly educated applicants.
Better Health for Americans
Huckabee's general healthcare platform involves medical liability reform, health savings accounts, and tax credits/deductions for health insurance. He also supports the adoption of electronic record keeping. He opposes research on embryonic stem cells.
Energy & Environment
Huckabee pledges that his first action as President would be to send Congress his plan for energy independence. The plan would include:
- Pursuing multiple avenues of alternative energy such as nuclear, wind, solar, hydrogen, clean coal, biodiesel and biomass
- Setting aside federal funds for energy research and development (R&D) and encourage matching government funds with private sector dollars
- Increasing support for ethanol and other biofuels
- Removing "red tape" that discourages innovation
He pledges that "the plan will get underway during my first term, and we will achieve energy independence by the end of my second term." Huckabee does not explicitly mention climate change in his energy plan.
National & Homeland Security
Huckabee has a nine-point plan for curbing illegal immigration and securing U.S. borders. He has also laid out principles for winning the War in Iraq and the War on Terror. "Part of winning the war on terror is achieving energy independence," he states.
