FACTBOX: Five facts about Republican winner Mike Huckabee

(Reuters) - Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won the most support from Republican voters in Iowa on Thursday in the first U.S. contest to select nominees for the White House, media reported.

Here are five facts about the new Republican front-runner:

* Huckabee says he was the first male in his family to finish high school. He went on to become a Baptist minister and was governor of Arkansas from 1996-2007.

* Huckabee lost 110 pounds (50 kg) after being diagnosed with Type II diabetes in 2003. He became a marathon runner and wrote a book about healthy living.

* Huckabee, 52, grew up in Hope, Arkansas, the same town where former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, was born. Like Clinton, he is a musician. He plays bass guitar in a band called Capitol Offense.

* He is married and has three grown children.

* On key issues important to many Republican voters, he opposes gay marriage, abortion, and embryonic stem cell research.

(Writing by Jeff Mason in Washington, Editing by Howard Goller)