Community college. This is just over an hour. [applause] and if you received my letter telling you i would soon be free then youll know just what to do when you sing along with me. I wrote and i told her ok, from the balcony, lets do it. Its been three long years, do you still want me . And if i dont see a ribbon round the old oak tree, ill stand the bus forget about us, put the blame on me. If i dont see that Yellow Ribbon round the old oak tree. We are here for governor huckabee tonight. Buster ever, please let for me. Bus driver, please look for me. My love holds the key i wrote and i told her please. You know it. Try ribbon round the old oak tree. Its been three long years, do you still want me . If i dont see that ribbon round the old oak tree, ill stay in the bus, forget about us might you put the main lame me. If i dont see that yellow or been round the old old tree we been round the old oak tree. Now the place is cheering they cant believe they see 200 million Yellow Ribbons round the huckabee oak tree i am coming home those beautiful ribbons oh, yeah. Just like that, keep it right there we will tie that Yellow Ribbon round the old oak tree hellow, everybody. Hello, everybody. I like mike. [applause] [audience chanting] i have come to the city for the first time. I can see why he is so trustworthy and kind and such a wonderful honest, wonderful man. This is a great city. [applause] on behalf of the governor and mrs. Huckabee, i am honored to be here and honored to welcome you all. We are happy to see arkansass elected leaders. Thank you for all being here, ladies and gentlemen. Lets begin today by asking the former pastor and the former College Roommate of our good governor, our good friend micah could be. Mike huckabee. And leading our prayer, mick caldwell. Mick thank you for your love and blessings. We do pray for the health and future of our nation. We pray especially for my cockapoo. We thank you for his life, lived with conviction and carriage. We thank you for his love, his love for you, his love for his family, his love for his country. We thank you for his leadership and his willingness to come forward at a time when our nation desperately needs a man like him. We are so grateful for the work that you have done in the life of Mike Huckabee to prepare him for such a time as this. We ask you to keep your hand on him, lead him, strengthen him as he embarks on this journey. We pray this in your holy and mighty name, amen. Thank you. Please rise and remain standing for the pledge and hour and national anthem. Please remain standing as we begin. Present arms. Colorguard. Please join me in the legible legions. The pledge of allegiance. Oh say can you see by the dawns early light where so proudly we hail as the twilights last gleaming . Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight oer the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that outr flag was still there. Oh say does that starspangled banner yet wave oer the land of the free and the home of the brave . Announcer arent they wonderful, ladies and gentlemen . I would like to share a story with you. The song i wrote five years ago for governor huckabee. This is the first time i have had the opportunity to sing it. When he asked me to come and honor him at this moment, i felt this was the right time, he wanted me to sing this song to you. Now when a town called hope [inaudible] i believe this man who is the most trusted man i have ever met in my life can bring that hope to america. [applause] you can hit it. Its called america is my hometown. Rugged mountains, deeply see deep blue sea from the cornfields in the valley to the sky america is my home town mothers and daughters with fathers and sons with sisters and brothers we are a family of one from the arizona desert to the appellation appalachia high america is my hometown when i look around at the bravest ones that keep our freedom sound. As i hear the voice of the people paying tribute to our fallen ones. Yes our daughters and sons. America is my hometown. New york city to east l. A. People, please hear what i say. When i look across this great divide i pray for unity america is our hometown. I hear the voice of all the people paying tribute two arbor daughters and sons. Rugged mountains, deep lucy. It is a land of promise it is the land of liberty. From the cornfields in the valleys to the sky, america is your hometown. Yes, america is our home town america is my hometown. Thank you. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. God bless you and god bless my cut to be. And god bless america. [applause] you were raised on an asphalt farm ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the 46 governor of the state of arkansas, governor asa hutchinson. [applause] [cheering] [applause] governor hutchinson thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this is an extraordinarily exciting day for hope. [applause] it is a great day for arkansas. [applause] and it is an important they for our nation. [applause] [cheering] i am delighted to be here just as you are pleased to be here to show our support to mike and Janet Huckabee. [applause] 23 years ago, Mike Huckabee drove up from texarkana to my office, when i was chairman of the party, and he said, asa, i want to get involved in politics. I want to run for office. I didnt tell him, but i thought, you dont know what you are getting into. [laughter] and i thought Mike Huckabee go from a candidate to a leader to governor to a Great National spokesperson on the national stage. I have been governor of arkansas for a little over 100 days, and during that time, i have had the privilege of governing with the majority republicans in the legislature and Republicans Holding offices. [applause] [cheering] and that has been wonderful for me, but let me tell you, even with a republican majority and republican governor, being governor is still a tough job. And i think back to when my Mike Huckabee was governor of the state for 10 years as a republican leader with the Democratic Legislature when arkansas was as blue as any state in the nation. Those were tough times. And Mike Huckabee came into office, happy to govern in a bipartisan way and lead our state in troubling times. He led our state with conviction, he led our state with conservative values, he lowered taxes, he balanced our budget for 10 years, he reformed education, he preserved our hunting and outdoor culture here in this rate. This state. He has led the state and done a great job as a leader of arkansas. [applause] and he did that, again, whenever he had to reach out to the other side and say, join me in this effort. That is the type of leadership that we need on the national stage. [applause] [cheering] Time Magazine called him one of the best governors in america. And they were right about that. And he took his [applause] he took his leadership skills to the national level, and we, in arkansas, have been proud of the way he has represented us, he has represented our values, and he has pointed the right direction for our country. [applause] every step of the way, he has been a company by home we have he has been accompanied by whom we have known as the wonderful first lady, Janet Huckabee. [applause] and today, we all think about the direction of our country and we have troublesome times ahead for our nation. We need a leader of our country who is steady on their feet, study with their convictions has a vision for america with good, conservative values, and who is a proven leader. Mike huckabee has every one of those qualities and will make a great resident of the United States president of the United States. [applause] [cheering] our country needs the leadership of Mike Huckabee, and with janet by his side, mike and janet, we are here today to tell you that arkansas is on your side. Thank you very much. [cheering] [applause] i have now. But after our first year of marriage, i started experiencing some back pain. You dont like to hear the word cancer. Any certainly dont like to hear the word malignant. I think mike really was the hero in all of it because he would get up early in the morning, packed me into the car and then bring me back home, and the in class that morning. Plus hold a job down. If he should have left me, he should have done it right then. And he chose to stick it out. So, he made a promise to me, for better or worse, in sickness or in health. He had to live up to that promise right then in our first couple years of marriage. I dont know how you can go through anything like that and not get stronger. The one thing i did learn about mike is his leadership qualities. He had the capacity to take any situation, look at it, and its the how each decision he could make further down the road could affect this day and the people. Our speed inherited 75,000 people state inherited 75,000 people in just a few days. Mike instantly said i wanted all my faith leaders to come forward, any denomination that had a camp, for instance, would already have beds, playgrounds cafeteria is cafeterias. He said, i need you to open up. Every camp became another little town. They loved him. They took them in. So much so that people didnt want to leave. People first, paperwork later. One of the important parts of really running for any office, but primarily running for president , is that you are willing to give up something in order to do it because it is not an easy task. But i am always reminded of the song that said, may all who come behind us find us faithful. I hope that even those headlines that my children, my grandchildren will see, that they will see that we were faithful. Not just what we were given as governor and first lady, as mom and dad, or as a grandmother and grandfather, but that we were faithful and running our campaign, that we did it, you know, to the best of our abilities, but did it with good character and nothing to be ashamed about. And to be proud of what we did. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, please welcome mike Janet Huckabee. [applause] [cheering] Janet Huckabee you do know i am not the main event, dont you . [laughter] thank you so much. Imagine yourself at a dinner and your dinner guests were george washington, john adams, benjamin franklin, and thomas jefferson. And you had 30 minutes to defend america. What would you say . Would you be able to defend america . Would you say that america is great . Would you say the economy is soaring . Would you say our value system is solid . Or would you say that the constitution is being trampled . There is fighting in the streets, congress is doing nothing. The unborn is not protected. And there is no leadership in this nation. [applause] [cheering] where is the passion that those forefathers had . When they left the country to come and start america. Do we have passions the today that they had . [applause] is there anything that we would die for that our men and women by today for everyday when they go fight . Do we still have that passion . America is a great story, but i think it can be greater. Mike and i started our story right here in hope, arkansas. I moved here when i was one and a half. My mom had five kids. In seven years. They are all here today. I am very grateful. [applause] perhaps she needed cable tv, i dont know, but she had five kids in seven years. [laughter] unfortunately, she had the raise those kids without government assistance i herself. But mike and i were educated here in hope, arkansas. And on generally 29, 1973, i had my first date. He had to wait for my basketball game to get finished. [laughter] and he had to wait for me to clean up and shower. And, unfortunately, all of the restaurants and hope, arkansas in hope, arkansas were closed. And we had to travel to fulton arkansas, which is much smaller, to a 24hour truckstop. [laughter] i might add, it was very quiet and romantic. [laughter] but it was perfect for me. And that following year, we got married. As you saw in the video, that was 41 years ago. But im going for the gold. [applause] [cheering] because in nine years, that could be 50. I am not too far off. With my history of cancer, i thought it wouldnt make it to 20, so i really excited now that i make i might make a 50 year anniversary. [applause] you see, we have lived the american dream. And everybody ought to have that opportunity. But with that battle of cancer and later when we were hardly may not have children, i found out right away i was pregnant with our first son. And mike and i decided right away that i was going to be a stayathome mom. [indiscernible] he decided he was going to sell two of his prized possessions. It is hard guitars. Those guitars work in a make him the fifth wheel. And that was really are to get out. But he had to sell those guitars, and he made a sacrifice for us. And we had a washer and dryer. See, that is what you do when you dont have everything you want right away. You have to make sacrifices. If you dont have the money to do it, you find a way to do it and you do what you have to do to take care of your family. Now, mike took care of his family then and later on and i had three wonderful children. Sin to have five grandchildren that i am very proud of. [applause] mike took care of not only his family but the people. That is why Time Magazine named him one of the best five governors in america. [applause] america is a great country and we continue to make it greater. But what story are we going to tell . That we gave up . Or that we fought with great passion like our forefathers did . That what i think is important. That is the story we have to tell. Our president promised americans hope but our next president should give every american and take them from hope to higher ground. Thank you and god bless. Thank you. I love you. [country music] on his first day in office, his door was nailed shut. We had a huge democratic majority in the house, the senate. You had all of the apparatus of the Democratic Party aligned against Mike Huckabee and all of the sudden, this republican comes out of nowhere and wins. Every day of my life in politics was a fight and sometimes, an intense one. Any drunken redneck can walk in a bar and start a fight. A leader start a fight he is prepared to finish. I balance the budget every year for 10 years and raised average Family Income of 50 . We didnt slash, burn, hurt people. We empower people to live a better life. Im not a republican because i grew up rich, i am a republican because i didnt want to spend the rest of my life poorer, waiting for the government to rescue me. One thing that has to happen in america is moving the power away from washington where people are so disconnected from the way summit ordinary americans live. It is a disaster. Howard needs to be local and limited because the closer government is to the people, the more accountable it is to the people being governed. And for fighting over the minimum which come i will focus on solutions to help every american to earn his or her maximum wage. I will protect Social Security and medicare. Washington has done enough lighting and stealing. Lying and stealing. I will never rob seniors of what they have been promised. We need moral clarity in a dangerous world. There is a difference between right and wrong, good and evil. I will keep all of the options on the table in order to defeat the evil forces of radical islam. We believe in things, we stand by the things, we live or die by those things. Let us win the fight for what matters most. [applause] where i come from announcer ladies and gentlemen, please welcome native son of arkansas, governor Mike Huckabee. [applause] [applause] Mike Huckabee thank you. Thank you. [chanting] Mike Huckabee thank you very much. [ chanting we love mike] Mike Huckabee wow. Folks, it is a long way from a little brick rent house on a 2nd street in Hope Arkansas to the white house. [applause] Mike Huckabee but here in this small town called hope, i was raised to believe that where a person started didnt mean that is where he had to stop. [applause] my cup to be i always believed a kid could go from hope to higher ground. And like a lot of americans, i grew up in a small town that was far removed from the power money, and influence that runs this country. The power, money, and political influence have left a lot of americans lagging behind. They work hard, they lift heavy things and they sweat through , their clothes, but they cant seem to get ahead or stay even. My parents were like that. My dad was not an educated man but he was a smart man. He and my mother did not have a whole lot, but they had amish they had honesty to the bone. We were told to do unto others as we would have others do unto us. [applause] Mike Huckabee it was here in hope that i learned to read, to write a bike, to swim, and to play fair. I learned the difference between right and wrong, and i learned that god loves me as much as anyone, but that he doesnt love some more than others. [applause] Mike Huckabee i learned about america. In miss marys kindergarten, as well as Elementary School, i learned the pledge of allegiance, the lords prayer and the preamble of the constitution. [applause] Mike Huckabee we pray at the start of each day, and we prayed again for lunch. I learned that this exceptional country could only be explained by the providence of almighty god. [applause] Mike Huckabee it was here in hope that i learned how to handle a firearm and a fishing pole. I spent a lot of hours with both. I got my first bb gun at age five. It was a daisy model 25. I still have it. It is in mint condition. I learned the basic rules of gun safety, and i never thought about using a firearm to murder someone. [applause] Mike Huckabee i ran squad lines all night with my father and grandfather so that we could catch catfish that we would