Mike Huckabee, TV-savvy ex-preacher, enters White House race

The conservative Huckabee, a former Baptist minister ran unsuccessfully for the Republican ticket seven years ago

Fox News personality Mike Huckabee threw his hat in the race for the US presidency today, joining a swelling crowd of contenders for the Republican nomination.

The conservative Huckabee, a former Baptist minister who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican ticket seven years ago, announced at his campaign debut that he is taking another shot at the world's top job.

"With your help and God's, we will make the journey from Hope to higher ground," Huckabee told a cheering crowd in his home town of Hope, Arkansas.

Huckabee, 59, is a former governor of Arkansas, the same post Bill Clinton held when he won the presidential election in 1992. Both men hail from Hope.

Huckabee aims to draw rural, Christian evangelicals, the same voters who flocked to his campaign in 2008 when he won the important early-deciding state of Iowa and seven other states before bowing to eventual Republican nominee John McCain.

But the party suddenly has half a dozen official contestants for the 2016 White House race, including other core conservatives like Senators Ted Cruz battling for the same votes.

Former Hewlett Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina and conservative Ben Carson, an African-American retired neurosurgeon who has voiced strong opposition to President Barack Obama, joined the race yesterday.

Several more are expected to launch campaigns in coming months, including poll-toppers Jeb Bush, son and brother of two presidents, and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, as well as Texas ex-governor Rick Perry and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

Prior to his political career, Huckabee spent several years as a minister as well as a religious broadcaster.

Since the 2008 race, he has been an outspoken advocate for protecting religious freedom and has urged a tough stance on snuffing out the radical jihadist movement in the Middle East.