Princella Smith put out word today that she will officially announce for Congress in the First Congressional District in east Arkansas on Saturday at 11:00 AM in Wynne. Smith will take on Rick Crawford in the Republican Primary. Several candidates are considering running on the Democratic side.
I sat down with Smith a few weeks back for an interview. Check it out here.
Full announcement on the jump. (more…)
I finally tracked down the details on the fundraiser with former Gov. Mike Huckabee and former head Hog Houston Nutt that Skip Rutherford tipped me off to earlier. It will be tonight in Oxford at the private residence of denist Walker Swaney, who interestingly enough was a major donor to the Fred Thompson for President Campaign. $250 per couple will get you in and $500 per couple with get you a picture and some face time. I am also told Coach Nutt spoke in chapel at Ouachita Baptist University earlier this week, an alma mater Huckabee and I share.
Huck PAC and
The Lafayette County Republican Party
Cordially invite you to a reception with Governor and Mrs. Mike Huckabee And Ole Miss Head Football Coach Houston Nutt In support of Huck PAC
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
The Home of Dr. and Mrs. Walker Swaney
634 North Lamar * Oxford, Mississippi
Business Attire | Hors D’Oeuvres
5:30-6:15 PM Private Reception and Photo Opportunity $500 per couple
6:15-7:00 PM General Reception $250 per couple
Please RSVP to 662-513-0705 or elamconsult@bellsouth.net
It was a short maybe 20 second portion of her speech but the praise Sarah Palin gave Congressional Candidate Tim Griffin last night apparently sent some folks spinning.
It happened fast and I was not allowed to record anything with my flip cam but towards the end of Palin’s speech she discussed how conservatives need to step up and run for office at all levels.
She then singled out only one Arkansas candidate for her praise, Tim Griffin. As best I can remember it, she praised him for his years serving in the military and said this is the type of candidate that needs our support. The spotlight shone on Griffin who stood and waved to the applause from the crowd. You betcha!
Being the pesky blogger that I am, my eyes immediately went to Griffin’s Republican primary opponent Scott Wallace to see what his reaction was. Needless to say it was not a pleasant one. Of course, I felt the need to tweet the obvious information that he was “unhappy” which apparently prompted him to block me from his twitter feed. Gosh darnit!
The murmur today is growing from the Wallace camp as well as from other candidates who would have liked Palin to spread love to them as well. There are also rumblings from folks who felt any shout out at the Republican Party event was inappropriate. Usually Republican events during primary season will recognize everyone or no one. Of course that is for party officials, Sarah Palin can do and does whatever she does.
Wallace responded this morning on his website to the event saying, “Too often, the same old cast of characters gets re-elected even though their performance is lacking. In 2010, don’t vote for the same Washington DC insiders and allow them to continue to shirk Arkansas values. Get involved today to bring NEW blood to Washington DC!”
Is he talking about Sarah from Alaska – Mrs. Goin’ Rogue? Interesting.
Wallace also announced the endorsement of John Paul Hammerschmidt, the long time Congressman from northwest Arkansas, at a fundraiser today. Which Griffin countered with his endorsement from Jay Dickey, former Congressman from south Arkansas.
Here is my question - would any Republican running for office turn down a shout out from Sarah Palin at a gathering of several thousand Republicans in the thick of a primary? Really?? I for one wish she had singled out the Tolbert Report as the single greatest blog in state of Arkansas. If she had asked if she could, I would have said – “Yes, please.”
UPDATE - I am hearing some rumors float that Palin shout out was some sort of payback for political consulting work Griffin did for Palin. I think they are confusing work Griffin did on some sort of ballot initiative in Alaska that I don’t think had anything to do with Palin.
Also, they might want to check out this MSNBC clip from July where Griffin was pretty tough on Palin for resigning as Governor.
UPDATE II – Someone from the Wallace Campaign called me and says that blocking me on twitter was accidential. They also say that they don’t think Sarah Palin is a Washington insider just Tim Griffin. So there you go.
The bigger story is someone from the Wallace Campaign called me. This is the first time in about three or four months. Perhaps this means there is a sign of life.
Sarah Palin spoke Tuesday night to a crowd of around 5,000 in Verizon Arena. Republican Party of Arkansas Chairman Doyle Webb said he estimated that the events tickets sales grossed around $400,000 however it is unclear how much of that will be taken up by fees and expenses. Palin normally charges a speaking fee ranging from $100,000 to $75,000. “The liberal pundits were wrong again, the Republican Party is not dead,” Webb told the crowd.
A bluegrass quintet played as those with dinner tickets ate and the others mingled in the stands. President of the Young Republicans of Arkansas Elizabeth Aymond served as the emcee for the evening and Will Rockefeller, the son of the late Win Rockefeller, introduced Palin.
“Two years ago I had not heard of Sarah Palin,” said Rockefeller. “And neither had most of you. Now everyone has.”
“Whether you are from Lake Wasilla Lucille or Little Rock, we want the same thing,” said Palin as she began a classic conservative message of lower taxes and less government with some standard criticism of the Obama Administration thrown into the mix. The speech was rich on conservative sound bites, even if it may have been lacking much substance.
“I am not so sure what Washington was trying to accomplish with the so called stimulus plan,” said Palin. “But I don’t feel stimulated. How about you?”
She explained that Washington is currently engaged in “generational theft,” which she described as the excessive spending now at the risk of taking away opportunities for our children with our debt.
“I just want government to get out of my way,” explained Palin. She said this was her philosophy both as mayor of Wasilla and as governor of Alaska. “I had a ball cutting taxes.”
As for policies, she advocated drilling in ANWR to reduce the United States dependence on foreign oil. She said that “the inconvenient truth” is that green technology does not yet allow us to be energy independent “so we need to drill here and drill now.” She dismissed concerns about global warming as a theory advocated by “snake oil salesman.”
She also said that we need to encourage democracy around the world as “democracies don’t go to war with one another.”
She ended the evening by encouraging conservatives in to get involved in politics locally. “You don’t need a title to make a difference,” she said. She pointed to the number of conservative candidates seeking office as a positive sign for the state and said that conservatives around the country were watching because “we desperately need a change” in an apparent reference to Sen. Blanche Lincoln. The only candidate she singled out was Republican Congressional candidate Tim Griffin who she praised as the type of conservative that we need to be supporting.
All in all the speech touched on the right tone that conservatives want to hear. As always, her personality shone through in a way that average people can relate to and she brought a solid message of the basic conservative principles.
The headline might sound like the start of a bad joke about Arkansas Republican politics but it is about the some development in the inside baseball world of the young Republicans of Arkansas Politics.
I appeared this morning on KARK Channel 4’s morning news show to discuss Sarah Palin’s visit to the Land of Opportunity with Democratic Party of Arkansas Executive Director Mariah Hatta and KARK’s Matt Mosler. Palin is in town tonight at Verizon Arena and will be speaking at 7:30. Doors open at 6:00 and tickets are $35 or $65 and I am told some are still available at the box office. I will be there so stop by and say hello.
Content Partner Talk Business reports this morning that Sarah Huckabee will be heading over to the Boozman for Congress Campaign as their campaign manager. Huckabee is daughter of Gov. Mike Huckabee and has been heading up his Political Action Committee, HuckPAC, for the last couple years. No word yet if this move means she will be departing HuckPAC or pulling double duty.
The Arkansas News Bureau digs through Gov. Mike Beebe’s $1 million financial report for his re-election campaign for Governor to find a $1,000 contribution from Republican political consultant Clint Reed. This is interesting as Reed is the chief consultant on the campaign for Republican Gilbert Baker for Senate and Republican Jim Keet for Lieutenant Governor. Of course, Keet is not officially in the race as he has told his friend Bill Halter that he will not oppose him and will only run if this is an open seat.
Tolbert’s Opinion
Both the Huckabee and Reed news are interesting inside baseball stories. Boozman has solid support from the Hutchinson camp and currently has campaign staffers who have occasionally spared with the Huckabee camp. This could mark a brilliant move on Boozman’s part to unite the party behind his campaign or it could be the most boneheaded move in the history of Arkansas politics.
Reed’s contribution is also fascinating as he was a behind the scenes early critic of Stanley Reed’s Senate candidacy sending around reports of his donations to Democrats and his voting record in the Democrat primary in Lee County. Now in Clint Reed’s defense, perhaps he had to go along with his consulting firm Impact Management Group and partners Richard Bearden and Terry Benham (in his wife’s name), all of whom gave the Beebe Campaign a $1,000. Although I am not sure how well this move will be perceived by their Republican clients.
What you think? Any comments?
UPDATE - 
Press release from the Boozman for Senate Campaign on the jump.
Also, Hogan Gidley, former executive director of the South Carolina Republican Party, will move to Little Rock to head up HuckPAC. Gidley is originally from El Dorado and worked for three years for then Gov. Huckabee in media relations.
Republican Mark Darr picked up several key endorsements from state legislators today adding to the support he has generated in his race for Lieutenant Governor. Senator Denny Altes, Senator Gilbert Baker, Senator Michael Lamerouex, Representative Duncan Baird, and Representative Jon Woods have all signed on to his campaign.
“I am very happy to have the support of these members of the Republican caucus,” said Darr. “They provide great leadership in the party and have worked diligently to bring common sense to Arkansas. They understand and appreciate my willingness to run to increase transparency and they know I will oppose out-of-control government spending and tax increases.”
This Sunday on Talk Business, Roby Brock discussed Arkansas politics with your favorite Arkansas blogger (no, not Max Brantley you jerks, me.) We looked at the Republican Senate race and discussed whether frontrunner Rep. John Boozman can avoid a runoff and if Gilbert Baker or Jim Holt has the best chance to make the runoff with him. We also discussed the craziness of the three open Congressional races and how it will shake out as well as the boring fiscal session.
Watch it. Discuss it. And of course, tell me how great I am.
Jim Keet (pictured with his two sons at his restaurant) confirms to the Tolbert Report this evening that he will be forming an exploratory committee to consider running for Lieutenant Governor as a Republican. Keet ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1990 against former Rep. Ray Thornton before being elected to the State Senate in 1992 where he served until 1996. Keet owns Taziki’s Greek Fare in the Heights area of Little Rock.
Keet told me that the current condition of our nation and state with rising unemployment and threats of the government takeover of health care have compelled him to consider getting back into politics. The Lieutenant Governor’s race is attractive to him as he has no desire to go to Washington but would prefer to focus on issues effecting Arkansas. Specifically he points to the state tax structure as one area that is sending jobs to neighboring states.
Keet intends announce his exploratory committee on Monday and will file the paper work on Tuesday. He will have former Republican Congressman Ed Bethune as his committee chair. He said that he should be reaching a decision soon but admitted that the decision of the current Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter will play a large role in his decision. He said that Halter is a good friend of his family and he has told Halter that he would not running against him.
If Keet does get in the race, he will face Republican Mark Darr in the Republican Primary. And if Halter chooses to run for U.S. Senate or Congress instead of re-election, it is likely State Sen. Shane Broadway will contend for the Democratic nomination.
UPDATE - Clint Reed forwards Keet’s official announcment on the jump.
With Sarah Palin in town, Conrad Reynolds has been inspired to go rogue on the Republican Party of Arkansas. No need to pay for those expensive $500 or $125 $175 tickets for dinner at the Palin event says Reynolds.
He will instead be hosting a “Blue Collar Republican Barbeque” just before the Palin event in the parking lot west of Verizon Arena.
“These are tough economic times, so I am holding a free barbeque tailgate party before the Sarah Palin event for those everyday folks that might not have the resources to attend the $500 per person reception or the $175 for the dinner but they want to be involved,” said Reynolds.
It might ruffle some feathers with some state party leaders but then again it might be just the same type of thing Sarah Palin would do.
Several Republicans joined Bernie Skoch in the race to be the next U.S. Representative from the Third District this week, included Rogers Mayor Steve Womack and State Rep. Cecile Bledsoe.
On Friday, Womack kicked off his campaign with an announcement in Rogers and in Fort Smith. And in a good use of technology, Womack live streamed the announcement on his website – WomackforCongress.com.
“The race for United States Congress in 2010 is about changing the direction of our country,” Womack said. “I have deep Arkansas roots and strong conservative values. In Congress, I will fight for balanced budgets, lower taxes, the right to life, traditional marriage, and strong national defense.”
“Together, we can stop the bailouts and runaway spending and get our economy moving forward again. But,” Womack cautioned, “this is no time to take risks with unproven leaders or roll the dice on folks who talk conservative but don’t have the record to back it up. Now more than ever, we need proven, conservative leaders in Congress.” (Full release on the jump.)
Bledsoe made her official announcement today with stops in Rogers and Fort Smith as well. Reports are that she had a large crowd of supporters included many of the Republican state legislators. It appears that she has secured the support from the Hutchinson family with fundraisers coming from them. (I asked for her press release and was told to read Max Brantley’s blog. Um, okay?)
Others considering joining the Republican field includes State Sen. Denny Altes, State Rep. Jonathan Barnett, Boone County Judge Mike Moore, and former DEA agent Steve Lowry. So far David Whitaker is the only Democrat that has announced.