State Sen. Cecile Bledsoe (R-Rogers) confirms today that she is “99.9% sure” that she will run for Congress in the Third Congressional District assuming Rep. John Boozman vacates the seat to run for the Senate.
Bledsoe said that she began considering the race after being contacted by many of her supporters and she that she is compelled that Washington DC needs good conservatives running for office. She praised Rep. Boozman as an example of a Congressman who has listened to the people and not gone along with whatever President Obama wants to do.
She told that while she as almost positive she would run she still needed to finalize a few more details before making a final announcement.
Bledsoe joins a list of names of people considering the race included former Congressman Asa Hutchinson (who I am told is leaning no), Rogers Mayor Steve Womack, State Rep. Jonathan Barnett, and State Rep. Rick Green. Retired Air Force General Bernie Skoch has already announced he will run and was planning to challenge Rep. Boozman.
With Rep. John Boozman all but certain to officially enter the race next week, a few more names leak out for the Third District Congressional Republican Primary. Sources tell the Tolbert Report this evening that John Arthur Hammerschmidt, son of former Congressman John Paul Hammerschmidt is seriously looking at the race. Hammerschmidt has served as Vice President of the National Transportation Safety Board and is well connected within the Republican Party but I am not sure how well his is known across the district.
In addition, State Rep. Rick Green from Van Buren tells The City Wire that a run is appealing but he is not sure the timing is right. Rep. Green is a tight pal with Democratic Speaker of the House Robbie Wills so that would make for an interesting pair if they both ran.
As previously mentioned, Rogers Mayor Steve Womack, Senate Candidates Buddy Rogers and Kim Hendren are considering running. Former Congressman Asa Hutchinson was looking at the race but indications are he no longer is.
It also appears likely that both State Sen. Johnny Key of Mountain Home and Congressional staffer Princella Smith of Wynne will both challenge Rick Crawford in the First Congressional District.
Rep. Mike Ross puts the rumors he will run for Senate to rest and announces he will seek re-election to Congress for the Fourth Congressional District.
“This is an historic time in Arkansas politics. At least half of the House members in the Arkansas Congressional Delegation will be leaving at the end of the year,” said Ross. “As a result, I believe I can be most effective for my home state by continuing my service in the U.S. House of Representatives. That is why I am officially announcing that I will be a candidate for re-election.”
Robbie Wills took questions yesterday from reporters at the state capital after ducking them at his announcement on Tuesday Wednesday where he said he run for the Congressional seat opened by Rep. Vic Snyder’s retirement. One of the first questions was whether he supports the health care reform bill. The AP reports that he said – unlike Rep. Snyder – he would have voted against the bill.
“I would not have voted for it because I’m an ‘Arkansas first’ guy and I think any bill Congress puts out, the first thing it should do is no harm,” Wills said. “That bill is going to add $300 million or so to our Medicaid budget, and we have no idea how we’re going to pay for it.”
That is fine but the real question is will he commit to voting to repeal the health care bill if it passes. All three Republican candidates have signed the Repeal It pledge which says the following…
“I hereby pledge to the people of my district/state upon my election to the U.S. House of Representatives, to sponsor and support legislation to repeal any federal health care takeover passed in 2010, and replace it with real reforms that lower health care costs without growing government.”
If Wills is serious of opposing the health care bill, will he make the same commitment? I have a message into his campaign and will let you know if I hear back.
UPDATE – Wills replied with the following statement…
Should the current house health care bill become law, I would not vote for repeal. If elected, I would fight to eliminate the unfunded mandate the current bill puts on Arkansas. I would pursue savings and efficiency on every legislative front. Meaningful reform must move towards a balanced budget, not away from it. We need health care reform that controls costs, increases quality and value, and improves access to cost saving preventative care.
UPDATE II – Robbie Wills further discusses his views on health care reform with Blake Rutherford on Sunday morning.
John McArdle with CQPolitics breaks out another name in the Arkansas Senate race tonight on their blog. It is a name I have been hearing for a while but have never felt good enough about the rumor to post anything. Anyway CQPolitics did feel it was strong enough to post. They write…
A source close to wealthy real estate developer Jim Lindsey (R) said Wednesday evening that the former Minnesota Viking football player is in the final stages of launching his bid to unseat Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D) this fall.
Lindsey would join a crowded field that is expected to soon include Rep. John Boozman (R). Nine other Republicans, including state Sens. Gilbert Baker and Kim Hendren, are also in the race.
This rumor started floating around Arkansas after Stanley Reed dropped out in December but it has never materialized. I suspect the timing of the source CQPolitics quotes could very well be attempting to preempt an announcement from Rep. John Boozman which is expected by the end of the week.
Could Lindsey get in? Yes. Will he? I doubt it.
UPDATE - A realiable source connected to Lindsey confirms that he is likely to enter the Senate race regardless of what Rep. John Boozman does.
Lindsey certainly has the potential to pull together a lot of funds and could muddy the Northwest Arkansas vote. To add another twist, it appears that my previous report of Buddy Rogers and Kim Hendren exiting the race if Boozman runs is correct. Hendren has reportedly stopped raising money.
UPDATE II - This story keeps changing slightly. Talk Business sources report the same as mine are reporting – Rep. Boozman is definately running while Lindsey is back to an undecided.
Meanwhile, Baker for Senate consultant Clint Reed takes a shot at Rep. Boozman’s lack of “decisiveness.” I am not sure if that is the best line of attack due to this, this, this, this, this, then this, … oh and this.
It appears the First Congressional District may attract a couple more Republicans to challenge Rick Crawford in the May Primary. Following the announcement of Rep. Marion Berry that he will not seek re-election, both State Sen. Johnny Key of Mountain Home and Congressional staffer Princella Smith of Wynne are taking steps to enter the race.
State Sen. Johnny Key confirmed to me that he is seriously looking at the race. He says that he has been contacted by many of his supporters who have encouraged him to run. Sen. Key was elected to the State Senate in 2008 after serving a full six year term in the state house and five years on the Baxter County Quorum Court. Traditionally Mountain Home is an area with a high turnout of Republican Primary votes which may give Sen. Key an edge if he decides to run.
Princella Smith from Wynne works as communication director for Rep. Joseph Cao is also looking to get in the race as well. Her website – princellasmith.com – now appears to be a campaign website for Smith for Congress and says that it is paid for by Princella Smith for Congress Exploratory Committee. Before working for Rep. Cao, Smith was a spokesperson for Newt Gingrich’s organization American Solution. She is well connected inside the beltway and will be able to raise money quickly.
On the Democratic side, I am told by sources that former State Senator and candidate for Lieutenant Governor Tim Wooldridge of Paragould is likely to get in the race. The Paragould Daily Press reported today that he has formed an exploratory committee. Wooldridge lost to Bill Halter in the runoff for Lieutenant Governor in 2006 and is considered a conservative leaning Democrat.
Democrats State Rep. Keith Ingram of West Memphis, Berry’s Chief of Staff Chad Causey, and former State Rep. Chris Thyer of Jonesboro are also all rumored to be strongly considering running. However Wooldridge’s likely entrance probably means that his long time friend from Paragould State Sen. Robert Thompson will not get in.
Rep. John Boozman was on KARN this afternoon as part of an apparent media circuit around the state today. He said that he will be reaching a final decision on whether to run for the Senate on Thursday or Friday of this week as he does not want to drag out the decision.
He also addressed an area of criticism that he has received from some conservative, his vote for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in 2008.
“It was a very different time and a very different vote,” said Boozman. “We were in a situation where they simply wasn’t an landing going on, the stock market was in a free fall. We had all our investment banks in major trouble. In fact, there are no Wall Street banks any more they have all been sold or re-bought. And this was going on literally all over the world. The life blood of the economy is credit.”
“Because of all that, I visited with many businessmen in Arkansas. I visited with conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation. Warren Buffett was walking the halls saying this was the greatest crisis since the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. So I just can’t overestimate what a difficult time it was.”
“So, at that point, I felt like it was something we needed to do to loan the money. Now a lot of people don’t understand, they think this was just a gift. The original AIG loan was like 11% and all that was modified down to 5% which is still over the going rate. Much of that money has been repaid. I think we have made about $80 or $90 billion interest. So that was the effort. I felt like the bottom line is less of your listeners would lose less jobs, less of their pensions plans, and less of their retirement accounts. Now we could have let them go and no body knows what would have happened. But I think the danger was that it would take a generation to get through that.”
He went on to point out that he opposed the economic stimulus package and the cash for clunkers program which in his mind were “totally different.”
The whole thing is worth listening to and will no doubt be an issue if Rep. Boozman gets in the primary.
It appears Democratic House Speaker and fellow blogger Robbie Wills will make an announcement that he is running for the Second District Congressional Seat. The announcment will be at noon in Pickels Gap which is just north of Conway.
Why Pickels Gap? I have no idea except perhaps it is the furtherest possible place for me to get to on my lunch break today meaning no flip cam coverage. Sorry Tolbert Fans.
The National Republican Congressional Committee has already sent out a statement on blogger Wills. “After leading the charge for higher taxes on the middle-class, Robbie Wills had the gall to vote himself a pay raise in the midst of a deep recession,” said NRCC spokesman Andy Seré. ”He’d fit right in with the self-serving liberals in Washington, but the last thing Arkansans want in Congress is another out-of-touch politician.”
UPDATE - Blogger Wills turns his blog into his campaign website saying, “Welcome to RobbieWills.com and the campaign to elect Robbie Wills Congressman from Arkansas’s 2nd District.”
UPDATE II – Andrew “The Machine” DeMillo made the long trek up to Pickles Gap to hear what Wills had to say. Appartently it was not much.
Wills announced his bid Wednesday by saying he wanted to bring “Arkansas values” to Washington. Wills offered few specifics on his proposals and quickly left his announcement without taking questions from reporters.
I hope Wills will tell people more than that before his primary against State Sen. Joyce Elloitt.
On the other hand, Republican candidate Tim Griffin was not afraid to take reporters’ questions today as he discussed Robbie Wills entrance into the race.
“I welcome Speaker Wills to the race. I wish him the best as he speaks his party’s nomination. And I look forward to having a vigorous debate with him about the issues if he is the nominee,” comment Griffin. “I am interested in know what he stands on key issues like Speaker Pelosi, whether he would vote for her as Speaker, where he stands on the Pelosi health care bill, cap and trade, card check, the stimulus package and a lot of these other issues that Speaker Pelosi has been pushing.”
Gov. Mike Beebe spoke to the Political Animals Club yesterday afternoon and made it clear that he is running for re-election as governor and has no desire to run for anything else. One of the comments that sparked the most interest was in response to a question about how the development of a two party state has affected Arkansas.
“I think term limits have enhanced the ability to have a more two party state,” said Beebe. “It has opened more seats and the turnover tends to lend itself to the minority party.”
He went on to say that there are advantages to this as it gives people more a choice and allows for a healthy debate on the issues. “The bad part is if we start acting in an overly partisan manner after the election is over,” insisted Beebe. “I don’t want to make anyone mad that is in Congress or running for it, but they are dysfunctional up there. And I am not blaming the Republicans and I am not blaming the Democrats. It’s the system.”
“Now I want to brag on the state legislature for a minute,” said Beebe turning his attention back home. “In my twenty years in the senate, four years as attorney general, and now starting my fourth year of governor, we have not had that in Arkansas.”
Beebe said that most of the division in the state legislature was more along geographic or demographic lines rather than party lines but he added this. “Now here’s a warning. We saw a hint of it starting in the House of Representatives last time. We saw a hint of it. And I warned some folks about it and I am warning them again. We didn’t see it in the Senate with either the Senate Republicans or the Democrats. And most of the House did not do that. There were a few House members that thought it was Washington or wanted to act like it was Washington.”
“So what’s the downside of a two party system? You get too much of that partisan ideology that overrides the ability of people to work together for common ground and common good. And I think that is why we see greater and greater percentage of the people in polls that identify themselves as independents.”
I followed up with the Governor’s Communications Director, Matt DeCample for what specifically Gov. Beebe was referring to in last year’s session in the House. DeCample pointed me to the divide on the tobacco tax increase and some “partisan posturing on budgets” but he did say that most of the House members steered clear of it.
Gov. Beebe also told me that in addition to the partisanship, the concerns about the health care are contributing the political turmoil that we are seeing coming out of Washington.
Gov. Mike Huckabee today issued an endorsement that can only be seen as a pay back for a long time critic. Through his Political Action Committee – HuckPAC – he announced that he was endorsing Republican John Parke for District 31 who is running against David Sanders. Sanders has written columns criticizing Huckabee in the past.
What makes this endorsement odd is that only recently Parke was unapologetically pro-choice. He made this clear in his response to Arkansas Right to Life for their voter guide in 2004. This is a clear example of Gov. Huckabee holding a grudge and using his political action committee for political paybacks instead of endorsing based on candidates that represent the values he champions.
If Gov. Huckabee does not want to support the pro-life candidate in this race because of an old axe to grind, that is fine but to support John Parke in the primary when his stance of the issue of life is so questionable is beyond the pale. Parke’s election year conversion is the exact same thing that Gov. Huckabee criticized Mitt Romney for doing.
I have always respected Gov. Huckabee for his strong support of pro-life issues and do not understand how he can make this endorsement. I have contacted HuckPAC for their explanation and will let you know if they respond.
Sanders today also announced some key endorsement within District 31 from Justice of the Peace Doug Reed and Barbara Howell and Saline County Judge Lanny Fite.
UPDATE – Sarah Huckabee, executive director of HuckPAC, passes on this note.
“Our endorsement of John Parke has nothing to do with political grudges, but has everything to do with helping elect the best candidate in the race. I have personally spoken with John several times about this issue and I believe his heart and his belief that every life is sacred is sincere. If we had any question about where John stood on the life issue he would not have received an endorsement from Huck PAC.”
So it looks like the election year conversion was enough to convince them that Parke is alright. I suppose we will have to take their word for this explanation of a rare primary endorsement over a candidate with a long track record of being pro-life.
Also, Max Brantley points out that Parke’s son worked on the Huckabee Presidential campaign.
State Sen. Cecile Bledsoe (R-Rogers) confirms today that she is “99.9% sure” that she will run for Congress in the Third Congressional District assuming Rep. John Boozman vacates the seat to run for the Senate.
