Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, announced his intention this last weekend to compete for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.

The compassionate conservative, known for his big heart as well as his belief in big government, has a long way to go if he really hopes to sit in the Oval Office one day.

Huckabee explained his reasons for running this weekend:

One of the reasons that I'm running for president is because I think that America needs folks who understand what it is to start at the bottom of the ladder and climb their way to the top We've got a lot of people who are born on third base and think they've hit a triple.

America loves an underdog. America loves people who have had to struggle and for whom every rung of the ladder has been sometimes three rungs up and two back down, Thank God for the one you've gained, and keep climbing.

It's going to take more than his being the "underdog" to get Huckabee backed by conservatives. When I sat down with Huckabee and a small group of fellow bloggers last February, the governor talked some good conservative talk but his record is evidence that he has yet to walk that all that talk. His push for big government spending -- especially when it comes to education -- might make him insupportable for true conservatives.