UPDATED: 6:15 p.m.

By JASON NOBLE

The Star’s Jefferson City Correspondent

JEFFERSON CITY | Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee was in the state capital today for a campaign stop at the Associated Industries of Missouri, a pro-business lobbying group.

Like John Edwards, the Democratic candidate who appeared across town at the same time, the former Arkansas governor was stumping in advance of the next week’s primary, when Missouri will be one of 21 states casting votes for Republicans.

Huckabee’s speech touched on several issues — including immigration, the “right to life” and a consumption tax — but went into few specifics.

Calling it a “Fair Tax,” Huckabee championed a nati0nal sales tax and argued the country’s current tax system imposed burdens on small business and encouraged people not to work.

“It’s counter-intuitive to a good economy when you penalize productivity and subsidize irresponsibility,” he said. “Government ought to be facilitating free enterprise, not complicating it.”

If elected, Huckabee promised to be the president “who nails the going-out-of-business sign on the IRS.”

On immigration, Huckabee called for securing the borders and criticized the federal government’s efforts in keeping track of immigrants who entered the country legally but then overstayed their visas.

In place of a solution to the problem, however, he offered only a joke:

“If I order a book from Amazon.com, it seems to me from the time I place the order, Amazon can tell me exactly where that book is…” Huckabee said. “I’ve determined that when I become president if the people in the federal government continue to make excuses that they can’t figure out how to find people they let in, we will outsource it to FedEx and UPS.”

Turning to social issues, the candidate did not reference abortion specifically, but spoke at length on the “right to life.”

As president, Huckabee said he would lead the effort to add a "right to life" amendment to the Constitution, but gave little indication as to what such an amendment would entail.

“Whether the life is in a mother’s womb or the bed of a long-term care facility, or that of a disabled, chronically ill or even terminally ill person, we would still treat that person with dignity and respect,” Huckabee said.

Margaret Craighead, a Jefferson City homemaker who lived in Arkansas during Huckabee’s tenure as governor, said she supported him for president because of his social views.

“I think he’s the candidate who’s come out the strongest on social issues and moral issues and that’s what matters to me the most,” said Craighead, who attended the rally with her twin daughters. “He has been strong in expressing his Christian beliefs and hasn’t shied away from that.”

Throughout the appearance, Huckabee was backed by about 25 state lawmakers who are supporting his campaign.

In addition to stump-speech talking points, Huckabee emphasized what he called his “kinship” with Missouri and the state’s importance in sending him on to the Republican nomination.

“Missouri is a natural, perfect fit for me unlike it is for anybody else on the Republican ticket,” Huckabee said. “There’s nobody running for the Republican ticket that I believe meshes with the politics of Missouri than I do.”