Candidates to visit Red Oak

 RED OAK – Two more Republican presidential candidates will be following the campaign trail through Montgomery County this week.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will be hosting a meet-and-greet with voters Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. at the Pizza Ranch in Red Oak while Texas Sen. Ted Cruz comes to town Friday.

Huckabee will be in Clarinda at the Main Street American Luncheon at 11:30 earlier in the day, and after leaving Red Oak, is scheduled to appear at the Main Street American Coffee in Creston at 5:30 p.m.

After serving as Lt. Governor for three years, Huckabee became Arkansas’ governor in July 1998 after Jim Tucker resigned following a felony conviction for fraud.

Huckabee was then elected governor in 1998 and 2002.

Huckabee previously ran for president when he sought the GOP bid in 2008. He won the Iowa caucus but finished third in the popular count and number of states won behind John McCain and Mitt Romney.

Since then, he has been working as a political commentator for various radio programs and Fox News.

Before his career in politics, Huckabee was pastor with two Baptist Churches in Arkansas from 1980-1992.

Cruz will host a “town hall meeting” Friday at 3:30 p.m. at the Red Coach Inn and Restaurant. He’s hosting similar meetings Friday in Council Bluffs (9:15 a.m., Council Bluffs Public Library) and Denison (7:15 p.m., Cronk’s Café).

An attorney who worked as Solicitor General for Texas, Cruz was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012.

According to his website, since his election Cruz “has led the fight to repeal Obamacare, to stop President Obama’s illegal and unconstitutional executive amnesty, and to defend life, marriage, the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, and our entire Bill of Rights.”

In March, Rick Santorum visited Red Oak, hosting a sparsely attended meet-and-greet at the Firehouse Restaurant. 

Santorum won the Iowa caucus in 2012, finishing just ahead of Romney.