Huckabee Releases Video In Advance Of Tuesday Announcement In Hope (UPDATED)

It’s no secret that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will be declaring his bid for the 2016 GOP Presidential nomination on Tuesday, May 5 in Hope, Arkansas.

Huckabee’s hometown is the birthplace of former President and Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton and Huckabee plans to capitalize on any anti-Clinton sentiment with Hillary Clinton the likely Democratic nominee.

In a video released this morning, Huckabee recalls coming into office as Lt. Governor in 1993 when he won a special election.

“On his first day in office, Governor Huckabee’s door was nailed shut,” recalls Rex Nelson, Huckabee’s former communications director.

“You had huge Democratic majorities in the House, in the Senate… You had all the apparatus of the Democratic party aligned against Mike Huckabee… And all of a sudden this Republican comes out of nowhere and wins,” Nelson adds.

Huckabee appears on camera and talks about his record as Arkansas governor – highlighting tax cuts, balanced budgets, and a claim of raising average family incomes in state by 50% during his tenure.

“We didn’t slash, burn, hurt people, leave people impoverished. We empowered people to live a better life,” Huckabee says.

The video also weaves outtakes from Huckabee speeches from years ago that outline his anti-Washington positions, support for Social Security and Medicare, and a strong international defense position.

“[I]’ll lead with moral clarity in a dangerous world… There’s a difference between right and wrong. There’s a difference between good and evil,” Huckabee says. “I’ll keep all the options on the table in order to defeat the evil forces of radical Islam.”

You can watch the full video below.

UPDATE: Alice Stewart, spokesperson for Mike Huckabee, was a guest on this week’s edition of Talk Business & Politics. She discusses the video and provides clues as to what to expect on Tuesday and beyond in the video below.