Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said he's not a candidate who can buy votes, or even rent them, but he's a candidate that can produce. He related a Republican loss of the White House to the story of creation and said candidates had the "leaves of Republicans, but not the fruit," as the Hilton Coliseum crowd erupted.

>Huckabee said the United States needs to get rid of the Internal Revenue Service and adopt a system, a simple system, like the fair tax proposal. The country cannot continue to tax productivity, he said.

He championed a secure border and said if businesses track packages across the United States, the government should be able to find illegal immigrants.

"And if the government can't do it, we'll turn it over to Fed Ex and UPS," Huckabee said.

Reliance on foreign oil and foreign food needs to be eradicated, he said. "I don't want us to wait for [when] China has to send food to us. If you think it is bad to depend on foreign oil, wait until we have to wait on foreign food."

He said he knows what it's like to struggle, and America needs a president who can sacrifice for others and take compassion to the people and talk about things that matter.

"We live in the greatest country on Earth, and it's not because of government. It's because of people who believe in life, family and freedom," he said, mentioning the compassion for the Utah miners that have been trapped in a coal mine since earlier this week.

Huckabee relayed a story of when his 11-year-old daughter learned the importance action and "doing something."

"Folks, let's never get to the point in this country where we're asking, 'why didn't somebody do something?'" Huckabee said.

"It starts right here in Ames, Iowa. You're the somebody," Huckabee said, touting the importance of a free, safer nation.

"Let's make sure we are the somebodies who get out and change America."

-- By Gwen Tietgen