HOPE -- Former Arkansas governor and now two-time presidential candidate Mike Huckabee began his 2016 bid by pointing out that "it's a long way" between his native Hope and the White House.
Longer still, though, is the more than 1,600 miles taken by Los Angeles resident and Huckabee supporter Steve Addleman.
From his perch in the front row of the balcony at the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope's Hempstead Hall, Addleman, 44, said the chance to be a part of Huckabee's history was worth the trip.
A 2008 book by Huckabee turned Addleman into a supporter.
"It was after reading Do the Right Thing [that I became a supporter]," Addleman said. "I thought, 'This guy speaks to what I believe in.'"
Clad in a blue "LAFD" T-shirt, the firefighter told himself that if Huckabee ever ran again, he would be there.
Although the 2016 election is still a long ways off, "This is the first step," Addleman said.
Addleman wasn't alone in logging great distances to reach Hope, which, despite receiving attention as the birthplace of former President Bill Clinton, had never been the site of the launch of a presidential campaign.
Until Tuesday, that is.
The 64,000-square-foot event center at the southern edge of the Hempstead County town brimmed with excitement, both before and after Huckabee's announcement.
Andrew Golden, a senior patrol leader for Boy Scout Troop 5 of Hope, helped present the flag before Huckabee's announcement. Though TV cameras were rolling, Golden said he wasn't nervous.
"I was mostly thinking about trying to keep my pace in tune with everyone else," he said. "If I get off the beat, then the person behind me is off and everyone's off."
Golden said he supports Huckabee. His family has had a Huckabee sign in the yard since 2008.
For every two Arkansas license plates parked outside Hempstead Hall, there was an out-of-state plate with travelers hailing from Texas to Michigan and Nebraska to North Carolina.
Many of the vehicles were mobile campaign ads, some plastered with 2008 Huckabee stickers or signs while others were festooned with homemade signs and messages. A few merely wrote on their rear windows, urging others on the road to "Follow Me to Huckabee- 5-5-2015."
They came to what Huckabee called "a small town far removed from the power, the money, and the influence that runs the country," Huckabee said.
Becki Rood and her husband, John, traveled from near Columbus, Ga., "just" a 10-hour trek they made the night before Huckabee's speech.
The couple became fans of Huckabee during his 2008 run, lending their votes to Huckabee's slim win in the Georgia primary.
They decided they wanted to be in the audience if Huckabee ever launched another White House bid.
"We would have driven to Maine," Rood said. "This was worth it. It was awesome to hear."
Rood said that Huckabee's speech, one that ranged from arguments for term-limits for all three government branches to shrinking the size of the federal government, was "common sense."
Impressed by Huckabee's call for changing the nation's tax system to a "Fair Tax," a consumption-based tax system, Rood said she thought the former preacher's "blue collar" upbringing and his faith were easy to relate to and qualities that would appeal to other conservative voters.
"He's an honest man that [Washington] D.C. hasn't seen," Rood said. "I believe in my heart that there are no skeletons in [Huckabee's] closet. Just clothing."
Of course, of the 2,500 in attendance, there were plenty of Arkansans.
David Lively, a retired Army colonel, Hope resident and friend of the Huckabees, didn't travel far. But he did have to make the event wearing a "boot" cast on his left leg, a reminder of a ranching accident that broke his ankle more than a month ago.
"It was a cow," he said. "You know the saying 'Stupid is as stupid does.'... Well, I got in between a cow and her calf."
Joined by his wife, Linda, who worked with Huckabee at KXAR radio, the Hope radio station Huckabee joined at the age of 14, Lively said Huckabee hasn't changed much in the 45 years he's known him.
"He's just as honest and good, a perfect Christian man then as he is now," Lively said. "When he says something, he doesn't mince words. He means what he says."
Linda Lively, who left radio and is now a retired public school teacher, said that Huckabee's message to "pare down" the federal government and return powers to the states should draw support from fellow Republicans.
"Everything that he brought up, to me, it was reasonable. It made sense," Lively said. "If, well, I'll say when he becomes president, and he enacts these things, our country will get back on track."
Some of the visitors took to the town's Main Street, making their way to the town's visitor center, which is in the town's historic railway station.
Surrounded by pictures of Bill and Hillary Clinton at the center's museum, Huckabee supporter Julie Foster, who flew in from Michigan, said she was impressed by Tuesday's announcement.
"He's got a plan," she said. "That's what I love-- and it's not your typical plan."
She pointed to Huckabee's plan to tackle health care issues in the country by finding ways to address chronic diseases such as Alzheimer's. She also said she supports the idea of ending the federal income tax and replacing it with a national sales tax.
"He believes in lifting people up," Foster said. "It's a message of hope -- from Hope to higher ground is his theme."
Metro on 05/06/2015