Former Congressman Asa Hutchinson put out word today that he will not be running for Congress. The Thrid Congressional District seat just opened up with the announcement from Rep. John Boozman that he will run for the U.S. Senate. (full statement on the jump)
“Five years ago, I left Washington to return to Arkansas to run my businesses and law practice,” Hutchinson said. “I have had no desire to return even though the current problems facing our nation caused me to evaluate whether I should return to public life. I am delighted that there are good people that are willing to run for this seat in Congress, and I concluded that I am not indispensible to the survival of our republic.”
This move opens the door for Bernie Skoch who has announced he will run as well State Sen. Cecile Bledso and Rogers Mayor Steve Womack who are both expect to announce their plans soon.
I sat down with Princella Smith this weekend when she was in Little Rock to discuss her consideration of a run for Congress as a Republican in the First Congressional District. The race is now for an open seat after incumbent Rep. Marion Berry announced that he will not be seeking re-election.
“I am excited about the political climate in this country,” said Smith. “I think Arkansas is no different from anywhere else in the country in the sense that the people here are very concerned about the economy, about the state of education, about health care, about national security, and overall about having a better place to live work and raise their family.”
“The longer I was in Washington, they more I realized that the leaders there don’t understand small town America,” explained Smith. “And so with the sitting Congressman deciding not the run again, I thought this would be a good opportunity to get a true fighter in Congress who would represent the best interest of the district and would bring a fresh bold new solutions oriented agenda to Washington which is very much needed right now.”
As for why Smith feels she is the most qualified candidate, she said the she brings “a deep understanding of the core issue that will be fundamentally important to the people all across the state and all across the country.” She also went on the say that “if you put my energy next to someone else, it is not matchable.”
I also asked Smith about her views on the health care bill passed last fall by the House. She worked at the time for Rep. Joseph Cao from New Orleans who was the only Republican to vote for the bill.
“I disagreed with his vote. I believe fundamentally that that health bill is not what is best for America. I don’t believe that an employer mandated burden should be put on our small businesses. I don’t believe there should be cuts to Medicare.” She also expressed concerns by the lack of pro-life protections in the Senate version of the bill.
She said that she will be traveling the district over the next couple weeks and will be making a final decision after that. If she gets in the race, then she will face Republican Rick Crawford and possible State Sen. Johnny Key in the primary. Former State Sen. Tim Wooldridge and Rep. Berry’s Chief of Staff Chad Causey are likely to square off in the Democratic Primary.
Here is the cover of the Times Picayunefront page and sports page I would say this will one to keep. Dad said the store is only selling one per customer, that they had them behind the counter, and that they were almost out at 6:45 this morning.
Also, Arkansas unexpectedly froze over last night. What do think that means? I always thought this place was heaven (or as close as you can get to it here on the earth.)
I don’t think I can overstate how much this Super Bowl wins means to the city of New Orleans. It is huge. I spoke with my parents who live in New Orleans and said the entire town is outside cheering with neighbors, shooting off fireworks, and celebrating the win. It was so loud you would think they were actually at the game.
Check the video above for the story of Drew Brees from an interview earlier this year with Sharing the Victory Magazine. Go Saints!
I learned a little bit this past week as a young columnist in Arkansas politics. For those that don’t know, I write a weekly column for the Arkansas News Bureau to try and fill the void created by David Sanders quick exit. My column deadline is Wednesday for the column that runs on Sunday. For most in the world of print media, this is probably no problem. For a blogger, four days is an eternity, especially in the current Arkansas political climate.
My column this week takes a look at House Speaker Robbie Wills and his position on taking campaign contributions during the fiscal session. When I turned in my column on Wednesday, he was saying he planned to take them but on Friday, he reversed course after raising $100k and said now he will not. The column online contains this information however the one you read in print from your favorite Stephens Media publication may not have caught my latest draft. I apologize.
Anyway, speaking of Wills, I came across this interesting video from his announcement where he is fleeing from a couple reporters trying to ask him questions. Good stuff.
UPDATE - The House Rules Committee properly interprets Rule 106 to mean that no member of the House can accept any campaign contributions regardless of the office they are seeking. It is hard to believe Wills did not know this was coming when he made his statement on Friday. I am sure he felt it would look better to say he was not going to raise funds rather than be told by the Rules Committee that he could not.
This morning, Rep. John Boozman announced to a crowd of supporters at the Arkansas State Capitol in Little Rock that he will join the crowded Republican field for U.S. Senate. Boozman becomes the eleventh Republican to announce although three candidates – Stanley Reed (who is now Boozman’s campaign chairman,) Tom Cox and today Buddy Rogers – have since ended their campaigns.
“Today as I travel through Arkansas listening to people, their main concerns are keeping their jobs, keeping their homes, their savings, and their retirement accounts,” said Boozman. “They are also concerned about leaving the country to their children and grandchildren that offers the some opportunities and freedoms that our parents created for us. President Obama, Ms. Pelosi, and Sen. Reid have the philosophy that we can grow government, borrow, spend and tax our way to prosperity.”
Boozman went on to highlight what he considers to be several “job killers” that are being pushed by Washington Democrats including $2 trillion in tax hikes in the latest proposed budgets, the recently passed stimulus package, and the card check, the cap and trade, and the health care proposals.
I later asked Boozman what he would do to create jobs. “I would like to see us cut the corporate income tax,” replied Boozman. He also said he liked the idea proposed by President Bush of a payroll tax holiday as well as lowering the capital gains taxes. “Anything we can do to get money into people’s pocket and create investment.”
Boozman also answering criticisms he has received from fellow Republican for his vote for TARP. “I think what they are trying to do is paint me as a person who is not a conservative in that regard,” said Boozman. “I didn’t believe the conservative thing to do was to let us financially melt down. All of our investment banks were failing all over the world. The thing that I agreed to was that the banks received money and much of that money has been repaid now and we have made about $80 million worth of interest. As they came back and tried to do TARP 2, I voted against that because President Obama had turned the thing into a slush fund, and we had worked really hard to try and make sure that the money coming back in would be used to pay down the deficit and not be used for stuff they feel they can slush around with.”
As for why he is getting in the Senate race now, Boozman said he felt that it was not really that late pointing to the recent announcements from Gov. Mike Beebe and Rep. Mike Ross of their re-election plans. “For the past couple months, I have been in a situation where I really felt like I should reconsider it. I have made a lot of calls in the state to friends and people I have a lot of respect for, and they encouraged me to step forward. I think I am uniquely qualified in the sense that I a sitting Congressman. I have been in Washington for nine years and we worked really hard for the people in the Third District of Arkansas…. I have worked very hard to represent the people of the Third District and the conservative values that the people of Arkansas want, that the people of Arkansas are looking at and knowing they are not getting.”
His dismissed criticism that he was encouraged to run by Washington Republicans saying that he did not heard from them until after the news of his possible candidacy broke last week.
Boozman’s entry completely changes the dynamics of the race. First, he is the most senior elected Republican official in the state and is the only Republican elected to Federal office. This carries with it a large degree of name recognition and creditability.
Second, he becomes the second Republican that will be branded an establishment Republican. Up to this point, State Sen. Gilbert Baker has been running as the front runner, raising the most money and enjoying the support from most of the Republican state legislators. The other candidates have been running against Baker to some degree. With Boozman’s entry, the two of them are at least co-front runners and will compete for the support of Republican party insiders.
UPDATE - Stefani Buhajla reports from the announcement event in Lowell that a big crowd of supporters showed up included former candidates Stanley Reed and Buddy Rogers who now support Boozman for Senate.
State Sen. Joyce Elliott of Little Rock officially announced today that she will run for Congress in the Second Congressional District. She broke with the tradition of fellow Democratic candidates and took questions from reporters.
She said that in spite of her opponent Robbie Wills’ last minute change of heart, she will still take contributions during the fiscal session. “I know I need to raise money and I intend to,” said Elliott. “I have spent the last few days not raising money but finishing my job. In order to continue a viable campaign at this point, I am going to have to continue raising money as I have not had sufficient time to do so.”
She also said she would have voted for the health care bill and will work to pass health care reform if she is elected. “I prefer a single payer option but I am not tied to that,” said Elliott. “I recognize politics is an art and I can’t just do it by science.”
She also said that she supports job creation through green energy jobs and would like to focus on these types of stimulus packages. She also supports the cap and trade bill and would have voted for it although she does think it has some issues.
In an interesting move the day before the expected Senate announcement of Rep. John Boozman, State Sen. Gilbert Baker’s Senate Campaign pushed out a story from The City Wireof Fort Smith highlighting the support of Rep. Rick Green.
“As far as I can determine Congressman Boozman does plan to enter the race later this week. He is polling great against Sens Lincoln but so are some other already announced candidates,” Green said in the article. “I have committed to support State Sen. Gilbert Baker (R-Conway) and I will keep my word in that support as long as State Senator Baker remains a viable candidate.”
Green has also said that he will consider running for the Third Congressional District if Rep. Boozman gets in the Senate race but that is not the only reason it is interesting that the Baker Campaign is pushing his support. Green was heavily criticized by fellow Republicans during this past legislative session and was often viewed as the “Arlen Specter” of the Arkansas State House for his consistent siding with the Democratic caucus particularly on the tobacco tax increase. Rep. Green’s support does not help the image of Sen. Gilbert Baker as a moderate state legislator; therefore, I wonder why they are spending this one around.
As orginially reported by Roby Brock of Talk Business, Republican Senate candidate Tom Cox announced today he is ending his campaign for U.S. Senate. This comes a day before Rep. John Boozman is expected to announce that he will enter the race. His is the statement from Cox.
I am announcing my withdrawal from the race for U.S. Senate. After much prayer and deliberation, I realized that it is in the best interest of my family, my business and the Republican Party that I withdraw from the race. It is very difficult to balance my family and business obligations with the demands of running for political office. I am looking forward to celebrating my company, Aloha Pontoons, 50th anniversary in March 2010. My campaign has given me a much deeper respect for those individuals in public service.
I am excited about the future of the Republican Party and the Arkansas Tea Party and look forward to assisting in their efforts to serve the people of Arkansas. I will support the Republican Party Nominee and believe that the Republican Party will be very successful in the November elections.
I spoke with Cox this afternoon who told me that he is pleased with the message he was able to deliver during his campaign but the he was concerned that the field had grown too crowd. He told me that he looks forward to getting back to helping the conservative movement in the state.
This news comes out while rumors swirl about the possible exit of fellow Republican candidates Jim Holt (which appears not to be true,) Kim Hendren, and Buddy Rogers.
Jim Holt appeared today on KARN News Radio to discuss his race for the U.S. Senate as a Republican. Responding to a question from a caller he said that he is at least considering switching races and running for the Third Congressional District should Rep. John Boozman decide to run for the Senate as he is expected to do on Saturday.
“Have we thought about the Third Congressional Seat? Sure,” replied Holt. “We have had people call up and suggest it and we always try to be open minded and listen. But we feel like right now we are supposed to be staying the course.”
While this statement is certainly not an indication that definite plans are in the works, it certainly leaves open the possibility of a switch. Such a move would have a dramatic impact on both the Senate race and on the Third District Congressional race.
Holt also said that he feels his conservative record will match up against anyone running in the Republican Primary including Rep. Boozman. He boldly predicted that November will see a major sweep for Republicans including winning not only the Senate race but all four Congressional races in Arkansas.
UPDATE - Jason Shepherd, Holt’s Campaign Manager, lets me know that what Holt was saying is that while he is receiving a lot of phone call requesting this and he is listening to them, he is committed to running for Senate.
When asked if this means he has ruled out a run for Congress in the 3rd Congressional seat, Shepherd replied, “Jim is absolutely not running for Congress. He is running for Senate.”
UPDATE II – Holt goes even further with his press release (on the jump) hitting hard at Rep. John Boozman for “incremental socialism.”
I often disagree with Max Brantley but never more so than today! He cites a poll today that purports to show that Republicans are Colts fans and Democrats are Saints fans. Poppycock!
My family at least plans to join in with Who Dat Nation this Sunday in cheering on the Saints. I admit to being late to the party. My parents moved to New Orleans about three years ago and have converted me into a Saints/Cowboys fan. I actually got to go to my first Saints game this past December in which they blew it at the end to the Bucks.
Anyway, for the record on this issue, there is bipartisan Arkansas blogosphere support for the New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl XLIV. If you don’t believe me, come out to Lugi’s in Bryant where I will be cheering them on with my college buddy Mark Darr who is running for Lieutenant Governor.
Former Congressman Asa Hutchinson put out word today that he will not be running for Congress. The Thrid Congressional District seat just opened up with the announcement from Rep. John Boozman that he will run for the U.S. Senate. (full statement on the jump)
