>> tonight on huckabee. >> when people raise their voices they get higher like this and shill. you try to make your point. >> her role as margaret thatcher iron lady earned her third academy award. >> we will standing on principle. >> i realized as i was stepping into her shoes just a little bit that i didn't have anywhere close to the stamina and spine that she has. >> once of the most versatile actresses of our time merrill streep joins the governor tonight. >> obama's re-election headquarters well-oiled machine. are republicans ready to fight this battle? >> plus. >> you just lost the love of your life. >> before her husband died of cancer, he wanted to make sure the boys supported their mother. >> i know your mom's values and if she remarries she is going to marry somebody that i approve of. >> his dying wife has a similar message for him. >> she was in her last hours trying to connect us. >> brought together through

grief. they discovered a whole new love. , ladies and gentlemen, governor mike huckabee. [ applause ] >> thank you, happy easter, everybody. welcome to huckabee from the fox news studios in new york city. well, i think all of you know that this is the weekend that jews observe passover to commemorate the deliverance of the jewish people from slavery to the promise land. and christians celebrate easter, which marks the resurrection of jesus christ. for jews and christians, this weekend marks the high water mark for days to set aside to note the very core of faith not everybody is going to be interested in these overtly spiritual holidays. atheists, for example, probably won't have festivals or parades or observances although i once suggested and i got some angry reactions about it, that i thought atheists should have their own special day. i suggested april 1st. [ laughter ] now, i was kidding and most

atheists i have known don't have a great sense of humor. all joking aside, it probably doesn't help to convert an atheist by shouting at him. he is not more likely to go to church if the people there flash their hostility and anger at him. that's why the actions of some christian believers in henderson texas caught my attention this last week. local atheist patrick green threatened to file a lawsuit to prohibit the display of nativity scene on othe local courthouse lawn. then he was diagnosed with detached retina. much to his surprise the local christians who had been the target of green's wrath started a collection to help him defray his medical expenses. now, while green isn't quite ready to get born again and baptized just yet, he does admit that it's moved him deeply and made him open up to their message. you see, i think that the henderson, texas believers who drowned out patrick green's anger about a nativity scene are on to something.

christians ought to be known for loving people, not shoving people. the expected actions of them fighting the atheist has been overshadowed by them treating them with compassion. basically, here are some christians acting like jesus. he didn't yell and scream at sinners. no, he went to their homes and had dinner with them. he wept at their unbelief instead of condemning them for it he healed the sick and gave sight to the blind rather than to lecture them for poor health habits and take away their salt shaker. these believers in henderson, texas get my tip of the hat, pat on the back and deep bough from the waist for showing love and compassion to patrick green because their unselfish love is far more likely to mr. green the existence of god than if they are able to beat his brains out with a king james bible. on a weekend where faith is in the front row for a lot of americans, henderson, texas might show us exactly what the weekend is all about. [ applause ]

that's my view. i welcome yours. you can contact me at mike huckabee.com. while you are there, sign up for the facebook page. you can post on my wall there follow me on twitter. go to the fox news feedback section. get a copy of a simple government now in paperback, "new york times" best seller available at book stores everywhere. my first guest won academy award for her role margaret thacher in the movie iron lady. >> we will stand on principle or we will not stand at all. >> but, margaret, with all due respect, when one has been to war. >> with all due respect, sir, i have done battle every single day of my life. and many men have underestimated me before. this lot seems bound to do the same but they will roo the day. now, shall i be mother tea,

how do you take your tea? black or white? >> meryl streep recently stopped by to talk about her role as the british prime minister. >> when i saw that scene when margaret thatcher was essentially mass can mask late these men you scared me. i wasn't sure i was going to introduce you out here. >> i scared myself. it is a remarkable film. one of the greatest i think movies that depict a living person that i have seen and it must have been an incredible challenge to play the role of margaret thatcher with some people still knowing her and remembering her? >> yeah. >> were you a little intimidated before you started this whole process. >> i was. not the least of which i'm from new jersey, i'm not british. so i was walking into a cast of over 250 actors. all of whom were really beautiful well-prepared actors playing very specific roles

and i was scared about that scared about playing a real person and also someone that people have such vehement opinions about. >> mike: they do. people either love or hate her. there is very little middle ground about margaret thatcher. >> that's exactly right. we wanted to make a film that wasn't really a traditional biopic. there are lots of films that may be made by margaret thatcher about what she achieved and tried to do in her life. what we did is we were interested in telling a human story from the point of view at the end of life. and that sort of reckoning that people make, you know, as time goes by. >> mike: you know there have been critics because the picture starts with her in the contemporary setting. >> yes. >> mike: we know she is going through some issues of dementia. >> yeah. >> mike: that's very real and then it looks back on her remarkable career. some of the critics thought that was unfair. i personally thought that it made me appreciate her more because this remarkable figure

iconic, historic person is also very real and very human. >> that's right. i think we tend to, especially with political figures, reduce them to either villains or saints, you know. and people are people. we're all many faceted and we have lots of different sides to us. and the truth is always so much more interesting nuances than complicated. that's what we were after. >> did you have preson accepts about margaret thatcher before this role preparation started? what were they? what were some things that surprised you as you got into the role? >> there were so many surprises. i mean, so many surprises. she really is held up as a conservative icon in many -- to many people. and together with president reagan, credited with bringing down the berlin wall.

all of that and also making an approach to the soviet union to talk to just make -- to try to figure out how to talk to people. so one of the surprises that i had about her is she never -- she was a scientist. she was a chemist by training. she went to oxford in chemistry. she was an early proponent of the idea of global warming. early warning about it. was very -- that surprised me. she also never touched the national health in britain since 1948 every person is afforded health care from the time they are born until they die. and she never attempted to dismantle that she thought that was a birth right. in conservative circles here, she would be drummed out of the party for that. but, it's just a different --

you know, and, yet, she adhered to a very very strict financial agenda. there were certain things that people thought of her as very hard and cold that were surprising to me. >> mike: you know, i think that's one of the ways in which the film helps really give us a picture of margaret thatcher that we never had because she was the iron lady, this tough person who could just dress down a room of men and have them in tears and, yet, there was also a very poignant scene in the film that i remember. after she has virtually just destroyed the ego of every man in her cabinet, and then she dismisses them. summarily dismisses them. they all walk out and then you see her hand trembling. i realize there was some dramatic license there. still, shah hold -- that showed to me beneath the crust of the iron lady there was a soft heart. >> i think for me just as an

actor to explore the idea of what it means to be a leader, to take all that -- i mean, you take so much hatred, so much venom on yourself. how do people live? how do they remain strong when they still have to go to work and still the work of the nation depends on them? how do you not have it affect you physically affect you to take all that responsibility on your shoulders? i think everybody that stands up for public office, you know, should be applauded because there are many sacrifices you are bound to make with your family in many ways. i applaud people. i realize as i was stepping into her shoes just a little bit that i didn't have anywhere close to the stamina and spine that she had. >> mike: i'm not sure about that when i read about you, i find not only you are incredibly well-educated

person. valedictorian of your high school. >> that's a lie and everybody at the high school knows that. it's a lie. >> mike: mfa from yale university. you are a person very self-afacing. you don't take yourself seriously. truly with all of that and your my -- humility you have no business running for office. >> no worry about that. >> mike: too smart and don't have that sense of self-maybe aggrandizement. i want to talk more about the role and margaret thatcher and also about merrill streep and the remarkable career. we will do that when we come back. stay with us. re strip away the rearview monitors, tv screens, bluetooth... and even the cup holders. you know what's left? the only suv's with american-built f-alpha truck frames.

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>> mike: we are back with meryl streep and remarkable resemblance that you had to margaret thatcher, those of us who have seen new so many different roles there was a time i had to remind myself you are meryl streep and

portraying margaret thatcher. that's not really margaret thatcher. the physical transformation was stunning. i want you to talk about what did they do in terms of the makeup and all of the things that you had to prepare for just to look so remarkably like margaret thatcher? >> well, thank you very much. and on behalf of my makeup man and my team, really, i have been working with the same makeup man and hairdresser for 35 years. >> mike: wow. >> we started in the public theater in new york city. and he bleached my hair for sophie's choice and he did my hair today. [ laughter ] >> mike: boy did he ever hitch himself to the right wagon? >> is he a master of -- and he knows what i like to do. i like to transform the physical because it makes

you -- it makes it easier to get into the interior of a character. so, the more believable you are physically, the more we'll go into who, i mean, we will believe how are. and in england we met a british prosthetics designer who is maybe the genius that i have ever met. i have done it a lot. i played old ladies and out of africa and everything. but this guy was so together. roy helen and mark, the british guy made these four decades very, very believable. and the way they did it was by doing less and less. we did four different sessions of testing and each time i said take away. take away, take away. because the key to aging,

makeup is you see the person, not the stuff. you know what i mean? so we found certain things that really signify like jowls in the neck. apply that and with the tissue the fine hand that mark had and roy's the iconic hair, it worked really well. i owe everything, everything to these men. >> mike: do you think roy could make me look like george clooney? [ laughter ] >> mike: it wasn't supposed to be that funny? why are you guys laughing? let's talk about margaret thatcher because she was historic not only because of the views she had. she was historic because she was the first female prime minister in a very man's british world. >> yes. >> mike: how did you find that she was able to overcome the natural prejudice additions that people had toward a woman being not just in the government but being the prime minister? >> you know the weird thing is, the biggest leap for

british people, i think, was that a grocer's daughter made this more class. more than even being a woman. yes, it was very -- they had very specific ideas of what each gender's job should be in the world, and politics really didn't -- i think there were 635 members of parliament and there were 17 women when she entered as a 24 -- >> mike: we have another clip from the film i want to ask merrill about when we watch. >> screech too much. [ laughter ] and she wants us to take her seriously. she must learn to calm down. [ laughter ] >> if the right honorable gentlemen could attend to what i am saying rather than how i am saying it. >> yeah. >> he may receive a valuable

education in spite of himself. >> whoa. >> mike: one of the things that i think we all have to love about margaret thatcher she was fearless. punchy in the face of opposition. >> she was -- she sfment she is fearless. it's a great quality. it's a quality you really want in a leader, isn't it? >> mike: it is a quality that you want. someone that doesn't really think about what everyone thinks of him and her. there is always going to be a number of people that don't like you. >> she did care about getting her message across and she realized she was very canny that in order to be elected and to be seen she had to kind of transform herself because when women their voices they get higher and it gets like this it gets shill and you try to make your point. especially in a big room. i'm very familiar with this. she realized she could have more authority and she could kind of cut through the

argument if she lowered her voice. and she spoke like this. and it sounded more authoritative. and that was something that she very designedly worked on. >> mike: she did that in order to have a more effective role in government not because she was play acting. >> no. >> mike: she understood the need to play her role as effectively as possible? >> yes. >> mike: we have a lot more to talk about. so i want to keep you here for the rest of the today tomorrow and monday. >> [ laughter ] >> mike: meryl streep stays with us. we'll be right back. >> thank you. [ male announcer ] no one just hands you the title,

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>> mike: back with meryl streep. have you played a number of roles where the person is still alive or maybe it's a person who is a real person. for example, karen sickwood

who had passed away by the time you played the role. one of my favorite moses, i have got to talk about it. "music of the heart." remarkable movie about this teach his or her teaches a violin program in harlem. music is close to my heart. >> yes. >> mike: changed my life. i'm such an advocate of music and art education. when you play the role of someone who is a real person and people know them, is that more difficult or does it make it easier because there is a model to go from? >> well, it's a different job. i mean, in some ways it's easier because you do have a sort of -- all the back story is done. you don't have to invent that yourself. but, on the other hand, for an actor, that's the fun part is to make that up. and but in terms of playing gaspari who was teaching in harlem yesterday until the bell rang, she is an amazing woman and she started a

program that really has grown exponentially. i'm so glad that you raise your voice about music education. >> mike: it's so important. it's the biggest sin we have done from our kids is to take music and art from them. it is the heart of education for so many right brained dominant children. i know that's not why we are here to talk. you played that role so significantly to the point that you actually learned to play the violin to be roberta, did you not. >> i learned to play the balk double concerto. nobody wants to hear it at my house. >> mike: we have a violin. i wouldn't do that to you. that would be mean if i brought one. >> i really can't play it very well at all anymore because you do have to practice. you have to do it every day. and my life doesn't afford that kind of time. but i. >> mike: you do love music. >> i do love music. momma mia biggest grossing film of your career.

many people don't know. were your doctors reluctant and maybe not too sure about you doing that role? >> no, they were thrilled. >> mike: were they thrilled. >> yes. they were thrilled. that movie really went around the world. >> mike: just a fun movie. >> it's a fun movie but it's exuberance translates all around the world into any language. one of the great knights of my life was sitting next to the empress of japan as we watched it, i'm not kidding you. everyone was -- she is a god, i mean, related to the deity in some way in japan. and so people will not look at her. you are not allowed to really look at her. and she came into the audience and i realized that the empty seat next to me was going to be the empress of japan. and she is so beautiful. she sat next to me and it was very quiet. this is a movie about a girl

who has slept with three different men and. [ laughter ] >> she doesn't know -- i mean her mother slept with three different men and she doesn't know which one is her father on the day that she is married, she doesn't know which one to walk down the aisle with. and i was thinking like oh my gosh, how is this going to go over? and we -- first first song i have this dilemma, i don't know which one is the dad. and she leaned over to me and she said very naughty. [ laughter ] >> mike: that is going to be a memory for sure. [ applause ] >> mike: you have also talked about how difficult it is as an actress that as one ages sometimes the roles just disappear. but they haven't for you. yet, there is a challenge, isn't there, to find roles that are suitable and ones that people will respect you for and not just say okay, well, we will put her in some

type of role that is no longer going to be valid for someone who is over the age of 40? >> yeah. i think that's true. but, you know, i think if you are the cards you played in early years was mostly your sexuality or being cute in a way that doesn't transform into the rest of life. then you run a risk of that it's hard to be cute and really sexy. i mean, i don't think it really is hard to be sexy. [ laughter ] but it's just the business perceives you differently. so, that never was my thing early on. and even though i wanted those parts, i just didn't get them. and so, you know. >> mike: thank you for sharing your wonderful artistry with us in so many roles. >> thank you. >> mike: most recently this powerful portrayal of a true historic icon margaret thatcher.

i hope everybody sees iron lady you were and are iron lady. >> thank you. >> mike: thank you so much. >> really nice of you. >> mike: coming up, inside look of the president's re-election campaign that could serve as a wakeup call for the g.o.p. we'll be right back. [ artis br] america is facing some tough challenges right now. two of the most important are energy security aneconomic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project icanada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for oucountry's energy security and our economy.

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>> harris: live from america's news headquarters i'm harris faulkner. a gunman behind the series of shootings. shootings five people all african-american as they emerged from homes and businesses in tulsa. three have died. two in critical condition. investigators saying they are looking for a white man seen driving a white pickup truck. all three people reported missing after a navy jet crashed into an apartment complex in virginia are now accounted for. a top admiral calling it a miracle that no one died. seven people hurt, including the two pilots in virginia beach crash. tonight, everybody out of the hospital. an instructor and a student

pilot ejected just after takeoff when their f.a.a. 18 hornet experienced catastrophic engine failure. i'm harris faulkner. now we will get you back to huckabee for all the headlines when you want them. foxnews.com. you are watching the most powerful name in news, fox. >> if you would like to comment on tonight's show email us at ehuck mail at foxnews.com. >> mike: few have ventured inside the belly of that beast. but my next guest has. he is "newsweek" magazine andrew rabado. you have been inside this incredible obama machine. i want to ask you what did you see that was amazing to you in terms of the organization and just how prepared they are? >> sure. you know, i went back in early december to their headquarters in chicago. and it struck me the contrast

between my visit in 2007 and april of 2007. they were just a little start-up then. now, it's behemoth. it's about 50,000 square feet of office space. >> mike: auto thousand square feet. >> of office space. >> mike: are they using all of it? >> most of it there is room nor expansion. at the time they had more than 200 staffers in the headquarters. for comparison at the time romney's biggest republic campaign had 98. go back to bill clinton in '96 or george h.w. bush 10 or fewer at this point. so they are really ramped up early. and so the scope of it is really impressive. also impressive is the intensity of it you know, they are really really focused on one day. that's election day 2012. they don't have to worry about primaries and caucuses like the republicans. they are focused on winning that -- the elections on election day. >> mike: four years ago it was insurgent campaign most people weren't taking barack obama

that seriously. it looked like hillary clinton was the default candidate. it was only later that it really became a race. so, this time what you are saying is this is maybe the difference between the start-up of just a group of kids in facebook and full blown microsoft? >> no. i think that's an accurate comparison especially when you mention the technology aspects. they are focused on technology as a way to turn out voters and get votes on election day. you know, we saw some of this in 2008, but i think what you are going to see this year, this is a quote from the campaign, we'll make 2008 look prehistoric. >> mike: in terms of the technology. >> in terms of the technology. just to talk a little bit about that they will plug everything they do into facebook. back in 2008 they had internal social network so you had to kind of sign up, create a profile. it was all internal. now what you do is sign in with facebook and get access to all the information that you have from your social network there. and they use that to target their messages. so, instead of sending out say

sending a message to all your friends. they say send it to your five friends in the swing district in pennsylvania who are really concerned about taxes because they can know that information. >> mike: politics by the way it's called microtargetting. >> yeah. >> mike: it's where you don't just send a generic letter vote for me. you send a letter you find out this guy is a gun owner and pro-life. obviously that's not obama. you would send to him and say i hope you have renewed your membership nra and given another right to life. that's what i'm going to do when i'm elected. gleaning information from everyone's facebook and every type of google search that that when they send a message to you, andrew romano, they will know a lot of stuff behind b. you and target very specifically to what your interests are. >> they will know a lot about my friends as well. that's what the power of the social network will do. and the term this year that

they're talking about is microlistening. goes beyond microtargetting. they can really look at, for example, there is a feature on the site where they say share your story, tell us about yourself. they are able to use all of those and use very complicated algorithms to kind of look for patterns and to find exactly what you are concerned about, exactly what you want and who you are. >> mike: andrew romano who has been inside. a lot of republicans are maybe thinking this is going to be an easy election. no, it isn't. i want you to understand from our conversation today that not only is it the amount of money but it is the strategic way in which this money is being used in unprecedented ways that will make it one of the most toughest and difficult challenges that any candidate has ever faced. so, whoever that republic is, he is going to be walking into an amazing, extraordinary mountain to climb. and we're going to see a pretty amazing election. thank you very much, andrew. >> thank you.

>> mike: we'll keep up with the story. [ applause ] they were brought together through the tragic death of their loved ones. they leaned on each other and discovered a whole new love. a heart-warming story of the real life brady bunch when we return. [ applause ] do you have anything for a headache...like excedr... bayer aspirin... ohh, no no no. i'm not having a heart attack, it's my head. this is made for pain. [ male announcer ] bayer advanced aspirin enters the bloodstream fast, and rushes extra strength relief to the sight of your pain. feel better? yeah...thanks for the tip! and now i build them. i am a bigger is better kind of guy.

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>> mike: childhood friends died of cancer just weeks apart. then they met at one of the funerals and realized they shared a common grief. they turned to each other for support and fell in love all over again. they're remarkable and heart warming story is told in the new book called "the color of rain." please welcome michael and gina spain. tino, your husband knew he was sick and he started making some videos for your kids. >> he did, yeah. >> mike: he knew he was not going to make it, didn't he? >> well, that's true. he was diagnosed with cancer in 2002. he formed an outline. he said i at the present time think of all the things i would ever want to tell my boys if i'm not here. the cancer journey was a three year journey. he had a hard time pushing that record button for a while. as he got nearer to the end of his life he decided it's time to do this and he did.

>> mike: we want to show one of them. this is when he is telling his boys about faith. listen. >> if you pray for no other thing, pray that god will tell you what he wants you to do and that you will hear his voice. and you'll be surprised that that will happen time and time again. he will -- you will say god, what do you want me to do about this thing at school? do you want me to do this or that? and then you just listen, you're quiet and the answer will come to you and it will come to you from god. the trick is then once you hear him is to do what he tells you to do because sometimes it's not going to be what you want. >> mike: when you watch these now, is it still tough for you to watch this? >> yeah. i have got to tell you, every time i see it hearing his voice is what startles me more than anything. the visual not as much but the hearing him and the things that he says and the way that he wants t -- it's so impossible to teach your

children everything you ever wanted to teach them in a dvd set. parenting is not meant to be done that way. here he is just trying to say all the things that he wants them to know about their faith, about respect, about how to live about how to balance your work and your life and how to respect women and all those things. and it was, you know, it's never enough but it's been a wonderful gift to have those. >> mike: your husband, matt, passed away on christmas day. >> yes. >> mike: tell me about that day. >> it was interesting because he got up that morning. now, granted, he was very fragile and frail and on oxygen at this point. he got out of bed and he went down stairs with our boys and he sat on the couch very quietly and watched them open their gifts. and even called them over and said a prayer with them. and so he had this little time with them that day. he went back upstairs and he laid down and it wasn't until later that evening when everything kind of took a turn and i knew that this was going to be it. >> mike: we have a video from

that christmas. this is matt on christmas day. >> dear lord, we thank you very, very much for the gifts that you gave us this year. i ask each of you next year that better and act even more like jesus. >> mike: that was christmas day and he he died that day. >> he did. he died about probably about 12 hours after that was taken. >> mike: you know, it's tough for me to watch that i don't know how you do it. >> yeah. >> that was a little shocking, actually. i haven't seen that one in a while. pleasure. >> mike: michael, shortly, after matt passed away, then your wife cathy was diagnosed with a brain tumor. >> she was. you have to remember that matt and cathy knew each other from childhood. they grew up together. >> mike: you guys didn't know each other but matt and cathy.

>> we met i didn't have the pleasure of meeting matt either. my wife cathy grew up in a small town of michigan. knew matt and went to school with him grade school all the way through college. when he passed away, on christmas night, she, of course, attended his funeral. and was only three weeks after the funeral that she developed a headache. and it got worse. and eventually we took her into the er not knowing what else to do about a headache. it was there they diagnosed her with inoperable brain cancer. and we had intended to try clinical trials and whatever it was that could buy her more time. but god had different plans. t was only 17 days later that she passed away. >> mike: then the two of you met as a result of the memorial service. >> yeah. cathy, you know, she was such an extraordinary woman, had such an extreme capacity for love and for faith on her last day, as she and i were

essentially saying good by to each other, we knew the end was near, out of the blue, she said to me call gina kell. i tried to dismiss that we're not going to talk about anything like that. she said call gina kell she will help you. i know she had none of this in mind that we would ultimately be married or anything else. [ laughter ] but cathy was the kind of person who connecting people was important. she had such a heart for gina. just living across town from us and with two boys about the same age of our children, she knew that being a stun born man that i would probably hunker town and try to isolate myself and she was really in her last hours trying to connect us. ultimately we did, gina was kind enough to show up at cathy's funeral and she sat with me for a while. i asked her about her children, of course, how they were doing.

and at some point i looked at her and i said, you know, you and i only just met but i think you are the only one i know here tonight. >> mike: wow. interesting. while your wife cathy was telling to you talk to gina. matt was giving, yet, another video that i think sort of helps to understand how this story got together. >> mom, respected somebody, marry enough somebody to marry them after i have passed away, i want you to expect that i love and respect that guy, too. i know your mom's values and if she remarried, she is going to remarry somebody that i approve of. so i want you to respect that man like he was me. >> mike: more of this remarkable story when we return. stay with us. intelligence teaching data how to do more for business. [ beeping ]

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>> mike: michael and gina the authors of the book "the color of rain." just a phenomenal story. when we left, it was pretty sad moment. >> yeah. >> mike: you guys had just lost your spouses, within days of each other. now you meet. how does that meeting turn into a romance? gina? [ laughter ] >> well, it takes a little time, first of all. obviously when you meet under those conditions, the last thing on your mind is love, romance because, in fact, falling in love again is high risk territory. you have just lost the love of your life. so the thought of having that kind of exposure to risk, to loss again isn't even something you can think of. but, over many many months, we got to know each other. we spent a lot of time, a lot of time with our kids and families together. we had very little time one on

one. in fact, we had -- the two years that we got to know each other, we had exactly one date. so it wasn't like we dated or anything. >> it was a great date. >> mike: it must have been. it must have been a great date. [ laughter ] >> yeah. >> mike: it started as a friendship and sort of mutual support for the common grief that you had had had. and then sparks flew, i guess maybe over time. >> oh, yeah. absolutely. he is so cute. no, but i mean, yeah, it felt very natural and easy and comfortable and we weren't trying to force anything. there was no need people have that misconception you are both widowed. it wasn't out of need it. was out of love. i had within loved so well in my marriage to matt as you can see in the videos. i know michael was, too. having understood love that way made it very easy to know this was the real thing.

>> mike: michael, how did your kids respond when you went from being friends and talking to saying, hey, we're going to get married? >> well, you have to take half a step back because just a few months after my wife died, our three children huddled around a piece of paper while i was butchering another dinner for them and they showed -- they presented after dinner they presented me with a contract that they had handwritten and it said roughly, i, daddy spain, promise to never ever forever marry another woman or else you will face scream,ing and worse. >> mike: no pressure. >> i happily signed it because as gina said in those moments you are not think anything anything like that. as we had grown very close as families and it was clear, really, what was coming, we sat down for a family meeting to essentially get our children's blessing and say, what would you guys think if

we were to become married and make a family out of it? and my three kids, they were so excited and so happy. they ran to try to retrieve the contract and i said no, no. i want to keep that forever and my daughter looked at me and she was only 11 at the time she said dad, we have to tear it up otherwise you have to go to jail. [ laughter ] that was pretty good indicates that they were on board. >> i felt pretty good that they wanted to tear t up too. >> mike: had you to hope. >> thank god. >> mike: what's been the hardest part of blending the family? you are the real life brady bunch. >> there is no alice. there is no trips to hawaii. i got news for but that it's actually been pretty seamless. we took our time and involved the kids in the process. we weren't real affectionate with one another. we just became really good friends as a unit. there were seven people falling in love. there weren't just two. we were very cognizant of that we paid close attention to our children and their needs in the process.

the blending part was pretty easy. >> mike: also two things that have really helped us. first of all, our spouses are still very present tense. matt and cathy are still very much a part of this family. there are nine people in this family. two of them have already been called home. the other thing is our faith has provided an incredible foundation for us. so that not only these incredible valleys that we have talked about, the sad parts of life but also the joyful dancing parts of life are easier to understand for our kids because of their faith. >> mike: you know, it's a great story. the book is called "a color of rain." i want to say thanks to michael and gina for sharing this great story. [ applause ] thanks for watching tonight. i hope you have a blessed passover and easter. for you and all of your family. until next time, this is mike huckabee from new york. good night and god bless.

i worried about my wife, and my family. bill has the mos common type of atrial fiillation, or afib. it's not caused by a heart valve problem. he was taking warfarin, but i've put him on pradaxa instead. in a clinical trial, pradaxa 150 mgs reduced stroke risk 35% more than warfarin without the need for regular blood tests. i sure was glad to hear that. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding, and seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have a bleeding condition like stomach ulcers, or take aspirin, nsaids, or bloodthinners, or if you have kidney problems, especially if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all medicines you take, any planned medical or dental procedures, and don't stop taking pradaxa without your doctor's approval, as stopping may increase your stroke ri. other side effects include indigestio stomach pain, upset, or burning. pradaxa is progress.

if you have afib not caused by a heart valve problem, ask your doctor if you can reduce your risk of stroke with pradaxa. i don't want a pluer anywhere near my coffee.

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