A Pastor’s True Calling

He may have found the pulpit at a young age, but Huckabee always considered preaching as preparation for his true calling as a politician. At 52, he says he has come to realize that some of the greatest hardships in his life were God's way of readying him for better things ahead. He had it tough from the start. He grew up poor in a small rental house near the railroad tracks in Hope, Ark. (He still manages a polite chuckle every time a voter tells him, "There must be something in the water down there!") His father was a mechanic and his mother a clerk, and Huckabee says he's never forgotten the way his parents worried about providing for him and his older sister, Patricia: "I really do know what it's like to eat all the food on your plate every night because you've got it right now and you aren't real sure it's going to be there tomorrow."

Tall and lanky with a shaggy head of hair and an easy air of confidence, Huckabee was elected class president. His father, Dorsey, who hadn't graduated from high school, was determined that his son would. Huckabee studied hard in school, and dutifully attended services twice a week at the local Baptist church. When he wasn't memorizing his Bible verses, he could be found on his front porch laying down Rolling Stones and Beatles lines on his electric bass.

When he was just 11 years old, Huckabee says, God gave him his first big break. He was a lousy catcher on a lousy Little League team, and an attempt to catch a foul ball barehanded ended with a broken finger. Huckabee was benched for the season. He was devastated. His coach suggested he head up to the announcer's booth to see if he could help out—the town was so small they broadcast kids' baseball games on local radio. One day, the man who usually called the games was out sick. Stuck, the station manager asked young Mike if he wanted to sit in behind the microphone. The manager was impressed. He told Huckabee to come by the station when he turned 14 and there would be a job waiting for him. Huckabee did, and wound up a local celebrity, reading the morning farm briefing and reporting on University of Arkansas sports teams.

Everything was going according to plan. As Huckabee explained to the New Beginnings audience, that broken finger, so painful at the time, had allowed God to lead him to the broadcast booth. "God used that job to teach me many things about communicating," he said. "Most of all, about getting self-confidence."

In the summer before his senior year, Huckabee's affable manner and quick wit (he's blessed with a stand-up's sense of timing) helped win him a coveted spot at Boys State, the young-leaders camp that Bill Clinton also attended. Huckabee ran for governor, the camp's top office, and won easily. "When I heard him speak, I knew that I didn't have a chance," says Rick Caldwell, who ran against him then. "I even voted for him. He was that good."

When he got home to Hope, Huckabee was greeted by the local police, who were waiting to give him an official escort, just like a real politician. He rode in the car with Lester Sitzes, a friend who'd bunked with him at the camp. It was a dizzying experience. As they rolled into town, Sitzes turned to Huckabee. "You're going to be governor for real someday," he recalls telling him. When that happened, Sitzes joked, he expected his pal the governor to wangle him a seat on the state's Game & Fish Commission. (When Huckabee took office 24 years later, one of his first acts was to give Sitzes his long-awaited job.)