April-2007

Presidential Candidate Huckabee to Address Healthcare Summit

CraigMichaels is honored to announce that Former Arkansas Governor and Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee will be the Sunday evening Keynote Speaker at the 5th Annual Healthcare Facilities Summit taking place November 11-13th at the La Quinta Resort & Spa in Palm Springs, CA.

Mike Huckabee became Governor of Arkansas on July 15, 1996. He moved up from lieutenant governor following the resignation of Gov. Jim Guy Tucker. Huckabee became Arkansas' 44th elected governor after winning the November 1998 election with the highest percentage of the vote ever received by a Republican gubernatorial nominee in Arkansas. He was elected to another four-year term in November 2002.

Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas is recognized as a national leader in the areas of education reform and health care reform. Huckabee became the chairman of the National Governors Association in July. He served as the leader of the nation's governors until July 2006. The NGA, founded in 1908, is the group through which the governors collectively influence the development of national policy. Huckabee has served in recent years as one of the NGA's lead governors on the issues of welfare reform and Medicaid reform.

Huckabee became governor in July 1996 when his predecessor resigned. He was one of the youngest governors in the country at the time. Huckabee first was elected lieutenant governor in a 1993 special election and was elected to a full four-year term in 1994. He was only the fourth Republican to be elected to statewide office since Reconstruction. Huckabee was elected to a full four-year term as governor in 1998, attracting the largest percentage of the vote ever received by a Republican gubernatorial nominee in Arkansas, and was re-elected to another four-year term in November 2002. He's now the second longest-serving governor in the country. A significant part of his adult life was spent as a pastor and denominational leader. He became the youngest president ever of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, the largest denomination in Arkansas. Huckabee led rapidly growing congregations in Pine Bluff and Texarkana. He said those experiences gave him a deep sense of the problems faced by individuals and families.

Huckabee's efforts to improve his own health have received national attention. Diagnosed with Type II diabetes in 2003, he lost 110 pounds. In March 2005, Huckabee completed the Little Rock Marathon. The Road Runners Club of America named him its Southern Region Runner of the Year, and he was named USA Track & Field's Athlete of the Week for the country. Huckabee's fourth book, "Quit Digging Your Grave With A Knife And Fork", was released by Time Warner Book Group in May and has received favorable reviews across the country. Huckabee has traveled widely since the release of the book to speak on the need for Americans to change their lifestyles.

In 1996 during his first months in office, Huckabee led the fight for Amendment 75 to the Arkansas Constitution. The amendment created a sales tax of one-eighth of a cent that benefits the state Department of Parks and Tourism, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, the Department of Arkansas Heritage and the Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission. Proceeds from the amendment have allowed Arkansas to build the finest system of state parks in the country along with a system of state-of-the-art nature centers operated by the Game and Fish Commission. The first of those nature centers at Pine Bluff was named after the governor in recognition of his conservation efforts. Huckabee, a noted outdoorsman, was honored in 1997 as the American Sportfishing Association Man of the Year and was inducted in 2000 to the Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame.

Mike Huckabee is the author of the recently published book, "From Hope to Higher Ground: 12 STOPs to Restoring America's Greatness".

For Additional Information Contact:
Michael P. Owens
Producer of the Healthcare Facilities Summit
212.232.8706
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