In another clear sign the Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s Senate campaign is in serious trouble, she sends out a press release complaining about the lack of debates. Rep. John Boozman has agreed to three but Lincoln wants more.
It was not too long ago that she was the presumed front runner in her primary fight against Lt. Gov. Bill Halter and was avoiding debating him, also claiming that three debates were plenty. She even blamed her mom for not being able to schedule a debate on Meet the Press. But now that she is way behind in the polls, three is not enough.
I found this quote from Steve Patterson, campaign manager for Lincoln for Senate especially comical for many reasons.
“It appears that Congressman Boozman is spending a lot of his time reading Republican-biased poll numbers and measuring the drapes for his new Senate office,” Lincoln Campaign Manager Steve Patterson said.
I also notice that the press release quotes a “transcript” of the Boozman-Thune press conference which appears they got from my coverage but did not give any credit. Oh well.
My column yesterday discussed the practice of legislators scheduling committee meetings in northwest Arkansas on the same weekends as Arkansas Razorback home football games. It is a ongoing practice that occurred for three Fayetteville games in 2009 and is scheduled for at least two weekends this year.
In short, the practice is to schedule meetings in northwest Arkansas on a Friday night and a Saturday morning before the game. This allows all legislators living further than 50 miles from the meeting site to attend both meetings and get reimbursed $232 per diem plus mileage.
Several legislators that attended these meetings have commented on the practice. Several explained that they attended the meeting but not the football game. Several commented how productive they feel the meetings were and worth the expense.
These comments are also on the jump (and I would be glad to add any more from other legislators.)
Roby Brock wraps up his polling of the four Arkansas Congressional districts with the race between incumbent Democrat Rep. Mike Ross and Republican challenger Beth Anne Rankin. This race is unique in that it is the only Arkansas Congressional race with an incumbent seeking re-election and is also the only one where the Democrat has a lead. Here is how the polling came out…
Rep. Mike Ross (D) 49%
Beth Anne Rankin (R) 31%
Joshua Drake (G) 4%
Undecided 16%
The comfortable lead is perhaps reflective of two things. First, Ross has worked hard to remain in touch with his district. He comes home and travels the district as frequently as possible holding townhall meetings several times in almost every county in his very spread out district.
Because of this, he was one of the first Democratic representatives to pick up on the unrest over the federal health care reform bill and over Washington in general and quickly modified his message veering hard to the right. And these two points are already the focus of his ads in his re-election campaign.
If there is a bright spot for Rankin, it’s that Ross did poll just under 50 percent. This affords her the opportunity to make the case to the undecided voters as to why she should replace Ross as their representative. To do this, she will need to put some serious money and effort behind her campaign and introduce herself to the voters for the next two months as at this point she is still largely unknown with almost 40% of the district having no opinion of her yet.
The was a couple interesting items tucked within the pages of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette today (both require subscription.) One was a letter from retiring Congressman Vic Snyder and the other was a harsh but deserved editorial rebuke for outgoing Arkansas House Speaker Robbie Wills.
Rep. Snyder submitted a letter to the editor to complain about the ADG’s coverage of the race to succeed him between Democratic State Sen. Joyce Elliott and Republican Tim Griffin. Snyder laments that the ADG covered his Congressional staffer Betsy Barrett being listed on the Hill’s “50 Most Beautiful People” list but did not cover the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington(CREW) listing Griffin as 11 “Crocked Candidates.”
Snyder pretends that CREW is a non-partisan groups but it is not even close to the truth. CREW is a far left organization that exists to try and give creditability to thin charges against candidates their backers oppose. Their attacks on Rep. Mike Rosswhen he opposed health care reform is a classic example of the type of Democrats they sometimes oppose to appear non-partisan.
Snyder is upset that the ADG did not lend some additional creditability to the charges against Griffin. An article in a statewide publication repeating CREW’s charges would be useful in the attack pieces that no doubt will be running against Griffin. Unfortunately for Snyder’s chosen successor Elliott, the ADG did not help with their plan. Obviously the ADG did not think too much of the charges against Griffin either.
A second interesting item today was the filleting of Speaker Robbie Wills for his arrogence on in the ongoing state AugoGate events. Wills has dug in deeper than anyone by insisting that he is completely entitled to his state provided 2008 Chevy Tahoe and he refuses to pay taxes on the use. Wills knows better but he is too arrogant to back down. The ADG does a great job explaining just how bad Wills’ position is.
Speaking of legislators using tax dollar for their travel expenses, make sure not to miss my column tomorrow.
The latest Talk Business poll shows Republican Mayor Steve Womack with a large 24 point led over Democrat David Whitaker. This is no surprise as this is one of the safest Republican seats in the country. However what is someone interesting is that it seems even Whitaker with 31 percent support in third is overperforming Sen. Lincoln who only had 27 percent in the latest poll.
The Lottery Commission Legislative Oversight Committee met earlier this afternoon at what was largely an uneventful meeting. The Committee merely reviewed the presentation without even casting a vote which has to make you wonder the purpose for the meeting in the first place. The Lottery Commission insisted this rule is in place as a separation of power and the the Oversight Committee has no power to approve or disapprove of the Commission’s rules.
There was some excitement during the meeting however thanks to Sen. Terry Smith (D – Hot Springs) who grew increasingly agitated when Family Council presented their argument against the machines to the committee. He asked Jerry Cox after his testimony if he was “the same guy who was just here arguing against scratch off ticket?”
The straw that broke the camel’s back was when local tea party activist Kenneth Wallis came to the table to speak wearing a Jim Keet for Governor t-shirt. I got some (but not all) of the video on my camera phone but it lead to a rather awkward and comical exchange.
Sen. Smith objected to the testimony unless Wallis would take off his Keet t-shirt. Sen. David Johnson (D-Little Rock) who was chairing the meeting said he understood the objection but he would prefer Wallis did not take off his shirt. Rep. Rick Green (R- Van Buren) gave his sport coat to Wallis to cover up his Keet shirt to make sure Wallis was able to testify. Wallis commented that the jacket was too big. The exchange brought nervous laughter to the meeting.
There was also some very interesting but seemingly “off the record” sparks between a legislator and a member of the public after the meeting that was less than attractive for the legislator involved (no video.)
“What I see – and I think it is fairly consistant with what the experts say – is that on a generic ballot, that this a generic ballot that favors the Republicans,” said Beebe. ”By that I mean if you ask somebody ‘Do you right now favor the R or the D?’ The greater number are responding that they favor the R.”
He said that the Democratic strategy is to focus of retail politics and making sure that voters know them saying feels confident that voters do know and appreciate him.
“In my case, I feel confident that the people of Arkansas are appreciative of how we have all worked together to lead our state through the toughest economic times since the Great Depreciation – the nation is going through the toughest economic times. And as you just heard, we are faring better than virtually any other state – one of only four without projected budget shortfalls.”
These comments mirror some criticism that I have heard about my column on Sunday examining Beebe’s record on jobs. It cannot be argued that his record is the worst in the last 65 years but his supporters have suggested I look instead at how Arkansas has fared over the same time period compared to other states.
I am fortunate enough to live in a Saline County where politics is never boring. Perhaps more so this year than ever. Inside Saline reports today on just how high unrest in the county, with my own hometown of Benton leading the way.
Benton claims the top spot in the first Voter Unrest Top 7 poll following the historic Saline County municipal voting period that produced an unprecedented list of 108 candidates.
Challengers outnumbered incumbents 59-49 when filing ended at noon Tuesday for candidates in the county’s seven cities.
Among those filing in the municipal election was the Republican Party of Arkansas finance director Heather Kizer who will be challenging incumbent Bryant City Clerk Brenda Cockerham.
“I want to bring my 13 years of experience in state government to the city of Bryant,” said Kizer in her press release yesterday. “Transparency and accountability in government are my top priorities and I believe that begins at the local level.”
An interesting races is former RPA Chairman and two time state representative candidate Dennis Milligan who is challenging incumbent Democrat Doug Kidd. Also, Jim Harris former communications director for Gov. Mike Huckabee and current spokesman for Beth Anne Rankin for Congress is running as a write-in candidate for constable against another write-in candidate Ed Collins.
If you are a true political junkie, you should read some of Inside Saline from the last few days on the all the race developments.
Chad Causey was asked about President Barack Obama yesterday at a forum with the Arkansas Economic Developers. I found his answer interesting. From the AP…
Democrat Chad Causey, who is running for the 1st Congressional District in east Arkansas, took a mild swipe at the Obama administration when asked to grade the president’s job.
“My mom said if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it,” Causey said. “This is a tough economy. This all didn’t start 18 months ago. The worst thing we can do is blame others for the problems we face in this country. I’m not going to do that.”
Wow, nothing nice to say? Not even one thing about the Democratic incumbant President? And is he indirectly implying that Obama is to blame for our country’s problem or is he critizing Obama for blaming them on President Bush?
Sen. John Thune from South Dakota was in Arkansas today lending a hand to Rep. John Boozman’s race to unseat Sen. Blanche Lincoln and also to help Jeremy Hutchinson’s race for the state senate.
Rep. Boozman told the press today that Sen. Thune “has really been one of the guys that I have looked up to over the years both in the House and now in the Senate.” He said that he was one of the first people he met when he was first elected to the Senate.
“There is nobody I would rather be helping then John Boozman,” said Thune. “I was good friends with Asa Hutchinson and when John succeeded him, I had the opportunity to work with him as a member of the House and look forward to working with him in the Senate…. He is someone that I think will be a great ally in what I think is a very important cause in the Senate and that is getting our country back on track, getting spending under control, dealing with this massive debt we are putting on the backs of our children and grandchildren, taking steps that will actually create jobs in our private economy.”
Thune said that for Boozman to defeat Lincoln he simply needs to “be himself” and work hard on connecting with voters across the state. “His best asset is himself and getting John out there is a very winning strategy,” said Thune.
Thune said he saw many parallels with 1994 and feels that there is a growing anti-incumbency feeling. “People are frustrated. They don’t think Washington is listening and they are concerned about the massive amount of spending and the dramatic growth in government,” said Thune. “I think this election is really going to be about the size of government.”
They both dismissed statements from Sen. Lincoln’s campaign and the DSCC that the two of them are “Washington’s most dangerous enemies to Social Security” as being classic Democratic scare tactics. “It’s a very predictable strategy,” said Thune. “Dust off the playbook when you are behind and roll out the usual ‘They are going to take away Social Security and Medicare’ attack against Republicans.”
As for questions as to whether Thune will run for President in 2012, he said that he was focusing on helping Republicans win during the 2010 elections but certainly left the door open.
“Right now my focus in on the mid-term elections and getting quality people like John Boozman elected,” said Thune. “The thing anybody can do – that might have aspirations beyond the 2010 elections – is doing everything that we can to restore some checks and balances in Washington. And the only way now that we are going to put some brakes on the runaway agenda that President Obama is carrying forward and his allies in Congress who support him is to elect more Senators like John Boozman. So I think that will be my focus up through the November elections.”
In another clear sign the Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s Senate campaign is in serious trouble, she sends out a press release complaining about the lack of debates. Rep. John Boozman has agreed to three but Lincoln wants more.
