The Tolbert Report

Charlie Frago with the Arkansas Democrat Gazette (subscription required) has an interesting look at the First Congressional Race in east Arkansas. But one item in the article caught my attention when discussing Republican candidate Rick Crawford…

Crawford, 44, who owns an agricultural radio network, touts his war chest more than $200,000 raised so far – and organizational strength. He said he has lined up the support of party county chairmen across the district.

Support of Republican Party County Chairmen? My understanding was that was frowned on in a primary and Crawford currently has to face Republican Princella Smith before he is the nominee. I asked Jonah Shumate, campaign manager for Crawford for Congress, about this and he attempted to clear up the confusion.

“The context of that statement was made in regards to starting the campaign early and going to First District GOP Committees to garner support for Rick’s Congressional run,” said Shumate. “And, that support was going to come from grass-roots supporters not the direct endorsement or support of County Chairman. Rick has not asked any County Chairman to support him directly or endorse him because GOP Party Rules prohibit just that.”

Aaron Blake with The Hill has an interesting story today on the Democratic candidate’s lack of interesting in discussing health care. He notes particularly State Sen. Joyce Elliot and House Speaker Robbie Wills who are squaring off in the Second Congressional Disctrict.

The only candidate to say unequivocally that he would support the Senate bill, which could be voted on in the House next week, is a primary-care physician running to face Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.).

Dr. Manan Trivedi said it’s important to get the ball rolling on reconciliation.  “The answer is yes,” he said flatly.

That was about as direct as the answers got — though another Democratic candidate, Arkansas state Sen. Joyce Elliott, said she was “inclined” to support the bill.

The campaigns of Trivedi’s and Elliott’s primary opponents — businessman Doug Pike and Arkansas state Rep. Robbie Wills, respectively — did not respond to multiple requests for comment over the course of the week.

“I most definitely think that we need to just bite the bullet and get with this process to get some kind of healthcare legislation in place,” said Elliott, who is running for the seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.).

Elliott and others cited the unsettled nature of the bill for their deferred judgment.

Elliott had also told me in a previous interview that she would vote for the bill. “I prefer a single payer option but I am not tied to that,” Elliott said. “I recognize politics is an art and I can’t just do it by science.”

Wills previously said that he would not support the House version on the health care bill due to concerns over the cost to the state of Arkansas. I have not heard him change this position with the latest version being debated but he did tell me that he would not repeal the bill if it did pass. “Should the current house health care bill become law, I would not vote for repeal,” said Wills.

The Arkansas Young Republican just put out word that they will be hosting a U.S. Senate debate in Little Rock next Tuesday, March 16 at 6:30 pm in Little Rock at the UALR Law School. KATV Channel 7 will be moderating the debate and will be live streaming on their website.

Full AYR announcement on the jump.

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Earlier this week, Chad Causey called for a debate in the Fist Congressional District.  Now the debate fever has spread the central Arkansas.  Democratic candidate David Boling has thrown down the challenge to his primary opponents for a series of debates.

“The people of the Second District will be electing a new congressman in November and they deserve to know where each candidate stands on issues important to them. A series of debates will be a great chance for citizens to know which candidate has the ideas, experience and judgment to best represent them in Congress,” Boling said.

In other words, It’s on! Full release on the jump.

UPDATE -  John Adams says bring it on in cyberspace…

“I gladly accept the call for debates and encourage the other candidates to do so as well,” said Adams on his website. ”I welcome the opportunity to share my ideas on issues important to Central Arkansans like healthcare and tax reform. People want to hear practical solutions for real-life problems. I want all citizens to have an opportunity to talk to me and ask their questions, so I strongly encourage having an open forum where citizens submit questions in person and via twitter, facebook and youtube. I look forward to debating these important issues.”

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In case you missed it, there has been a bit of back and forth between Republican Third District Congressional Candidates Steve Womack and Gunner DeLay over a wellness center in Rogers. It all started last Wednesday (March 3) when Womack put out a press release blasting Obama’s health care proposal. In that release, Womack pledged “to work to establish a national program to partner with local communities for the construction of regional wellness centers, like the one in Rogers, so that more Arkansans can enjoy the life changing benefits of Adult Wellness Centers.”

Gunner DeLay put out a press release calling the pledge a “boondoggle” saying “if Womack followed through on his proposal it would cost taxpayers billions of dollars. If he is seriously believes that every American should have access to these kinds of regional work-out facilities he will have to substantially increase spending by both federal and local governments.”

“It’s a bit early in the game still, but today’s false attacks were, unfortunately, not unexpected,” shot back Womack. “I presume as a member of Congress Mr. DeLay would work to end “boondoggles.” To the extent he believes the Wellness Center is one of them, I know the Center’s members would be eager to “visit” with him about any of his plans to try and shut the Center down. Regardless, the people of the 3rd District can count on me to fight for the Wellness Center and others like it.”

DeLay said that a tour of the wellness center sounded good to him. “If someone is proposing a massive increase in federal government spending I think the taxpayers of the 3rd District are entitled to know how their money will be spent. That is why we have extended the invitation to tour the facility to the other candidates in this race, as well as the media,” said DeLay in accepting the invitation.

The much hyped tour finally took place yesterday. ““I think Mr. DeLay’s visit was educational,” said Womack. “First, we learned why the Wellness Center has been nationally recognized as one of the finest facilities of its kind in the country. We heard first hand of the literally life changing benefits the Center has offered many citizens. Second, Mr. DeLay learned more about my proposals.”

“I’m sure Mr. Delay would never intentionally misstate my position for political gain. But I have never said that Wellness Centers should be forced on communities as ‘unfunded mandates.’ It may have looked good in Mr. DeLay’s press release, but it wasn’t true. My idea is that federal, state and local governments should be able to voluntarily join with private sources to build these highly successful wellness centers on a regional basis,” continued Womack. “Third, while Mr. Delay offers only rhetoric about fiscal responsibility, I have a record. As Mayor, I ended deficit spending and balanced the budget without raising taxes. Record beats rhetoric every time.”

Also, on hand was Kurt Maddox who is also running for Congress. “I appreciated being a part of Mayor Womack’s tour of the RogersWellness Center and can clearly see the positive impact of such a facility,” said Maddox. “I view this debate as not about the center’s glowing reviews, but about the role of the federal government. The message I hear loud and clear from the vast majority of Arkansans is that our national government is trying to do too much.”

Got all that?  Don’t worry.  With 8 Republican candidates in this race, I am sure more to come.

Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter is taking his campaign for U.S. Senate to the people in a series of town halls that he will be conducting. The first one is tonight at the University of Pine Bluff at 6:00. He will take questions from the audience and discuss “how to fight special interests that are not on the side of Arkansas’s working families.”

He has pledged to hold a town hall in all 75 counties in Arkansas each year if elected to the Senate. Interesting, idea, although it is not new. Republican Curtis Coleman proposed the exact same thing back in August. Perhaps, Halter and Coleman could save some money by car pooling to these events, provided they both have the proper shots and a visa.

Filing  just closed on Monday and the Republican Primary for State Representative District 64 is already heating up, where City Director Gary Campbell is taking on incumbent Rep. Stephanie Malone. The City Wire reported yesterday on the endorsement Malone received from Congressman John Boozman, who is her uncle. Boozman’s office had previously said they would not make an endorsement in a primary but Patrick Creamer, Spokesman for Boozman’s Senate Campaign said this endorsement was based on Malone’s record.

Campbell took issue with this telling The City Wire, “In today’s world, family ties do not guarantee performance as evidenced by my opponent’s mediocre record.”

I followed up with Campbell this morning to see what it was about Malone’s record he felt was mediocre. I reached him as he had just gotten stuck in a bog while putting up campaign signs.

“I don’t feel that Rep. Malone has done enough for the city of Fort Smith,” said Campbell. He could not point to any votes she cast specifically that he disagreed with but said in general he felt she did not do enough to bring projects home for the district. “When Congressman Boozman brings a project home for his district, everyone knows about it. I have not seen this with Rep. Malone.”

Malone strongly disagreed with this assessment. “I am proud of my conservative voting record,” she said this morning. “I am confused when my opponent says I have not done enough for the district but cannot offer any specifics.”

She said that she voted for lowering taxes on groceries and taxes on manufactures both of which have benefited her constituents. She also said that she has worked with federal and state officials to help bring highway funding for the area.

Malone was quick to point out that last term she was a freshman representative and knows she will be in a stronger position if re-elected for a second term while Campbell would not have this experience if voters elect him.

With no Democrat filing for this race, the Republican Primary will decide the election on May 18.

Watch the two videos below.  Can you tell which one was made by the Lincoln for Senate Campaign and which one was from Arkansas Business?

In the days following Rep. Marion Berry’s announcement that he would not seek re-election, the Washington insider publication CQPolitics moved their rating for the First Congressional District to Toss-up. At the time, I said this was pre-mature and today it seems they agreed moving the rating again back to the leans Democrat field.

There explanation is that “state Sen. Davy Carter” did not get in the race. News flash – Carter is a state representative and although he did consider it, I don’t think his consideration ever reached the point to warrant a ratings change on the race. They also point to state Sen. Johnny Key who did consider getting in a bit more seriously than Carter.

I am not trying to beat up on CQPolitics rating here. They do as best they can while sitting 900 miles away from the district. But it would be nice to have a local ratings group with more of a feel for the situation on the ground than could be found in D.C.

I caught up with Jim Holt today as he was filing for U.S. Senator at the state capitol, becoming the eighth Republican to do so. I asked him about a statement he made to KTHV a couple weeks ago where he said on the U.S. foreign policy, “To this point, I have not seen a clearly defined objective and if we do not have a clearly defined objective we need to get out, point blank.”

“I am a veteran and I don’t like politicians playing with our soldiers lives,” explained Holt. “Someone asked for 60,000 troops…and we give them 30,000 and then we say that no matter what happens we are going to pull out within a certain time frame. So what is that telling the enemy? That is telling the enemy that we are going to stay here, they are going to hunker down and they will pick us off.”

“It is just not logical to go in without an exit strategy, without a clearly defined objective,” continued Holt. “And that is what we have to have, if not, then we don’t need to be there. We don’t need to nation build. We don’t need a police state.”

When asked if he feels we should pull our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, he said, “If don’t have a clearly defined objective, Yes. If we are going to win the war of terror, let’s win it, and then let’s get back home. Let’s don’t keep them over there as sitting ducks telling the enemy how long we are going to be there.”