Mike Huckabee officially joins 2016 presidential race

This morning, at an event in his home town of Hope, Arkansas, former Governor Mike Huckabee will announce his intention to seek the Republican nomination in 2016. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Hope is also the home town of President Bill Clinton. In 1991, Clinton also launched his campaign in Arkansas, though he chose Little Rock as the venue.

Report from The Week:

In what’s being billed as “the worst kept secret” in Arkansas, former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) is officially joining the 2016 presidential race on Tuesday, becoming the sixth Republican in an increasingly crowded field. Huckabee will make his announcement at 11 a.m. (EDT) in Hope, Arkansas, the hometown he famously shares with former President Bill Clinton.

Huckabee is expected to gear his second presidential campaign toward working class social conservatives and claim that he is best positioned to fight the “Clinton Machine,” having apparently faced it before when he was governor after Bill Clinton. Republicans are expecting to face Hillary Rodham Clinton as their Democratic opponent in the general election.

Here is an announcement video Huckabee put out on his website:

Huckabee is in a pretty decent position from the start. He has led some of the polling in Iowa a few times earlier this year and he already has a strong backing having run in 2008. He passed in 2012 and has clearly decided the field is now ready for a second presidential attempt.

However, Huckabee will face stiffer competition for evangelical voters from the likes of Ted Cruz and Ben Carson, among others. For social conservatives looking for a champion, the field is overflowing with credentials in this area so there will be some strong competition.

I’m not entirely certain, but you’ll likely be able to watch the announcement event live from the new MikeHuckabee.com.

Update

Here is the entire video of Huckabee’s 30 minute announcement speech: