Today is primary day in Arkansas. If you want a good rundown of the various races, check out this
MyDD post by Mr. Liberal. I want to focus on unchallenged Democrat
Mike Beebe in the governor's race because he can partly undo the effects of Kenneth Starr's Whitewater investigations.
This is for two reasons. First, ten year incumbent Republican governor Mike Huckabee, who is retiring due to term limits and is talking of a 2008 presidential run, owes two of his ten years in the governor's mansion to the resignation of Jim Guy Tucker, which was forced by Whitewater investigations. (Incidentally I saw Tucker at a luncheon with Howard Dean last summer. I had not seen him for seveal years and was surprised to see him looking tan and healthy. The liver transplant must be making a big difference.)
Once Huckabee was an incumbent governor, he was much harder to beat, especially since Democratic Senators David Pryor and Dale Bumpers also retired during his tenure as governor and left state dems with other big races to fill. Republican Tim Hutchinson, brother of the man who will be Beebe's opponent, won one term as a US Senator while the state Democratic party was in shellshock during this period. But Mark Pryor defeated him in 2004, using the office of AR state Attorney General, the same office currently held by Beebe, as a launching pad to build both name recognition and a good reputation. It didn't hurt that Hutchinson, who like his brother now running for governor spouts of a lot of values talk, was caught in an affair with his secretary.
Second, Mike Beebe's Republican opponent this fall will be Asa Hutchinson, who served as a prosecutor of President Clinton during the impeachment proceedings which were also a product of Starr's investigations. After serving as prosecutor during President Clinton's impeachment, Hutchinson left congress to serve in the Homeland Security Department, a seemingly excellent opportunity to build one's resume for later work. But the Homeland Security Department is not perceived well in Arkansas. And that failure has so far taken a lot of the political wind out of Hutchinson's sails.
Even though Bush won Arkansas 54-44 in 2004, Rasmussen recently had Beebe at 49% and Hutchinson at 38%. Angus Reid summarized the race here. Like current US Senator Mark Pryor before him, Beebe has done a good job as state Attorney General and gotten himself lots of good free publicity. According to a family friend of ours, he has been planning to run for governor for several years, even before he was attorney general. He has patiently and wisely played his political hand.
This brings me to the help part. Back in 2003 when a family friend told me that Beebe would be running for governor in 2006, I had actually met with that friend in Little Rock to discuss General Wesley Clark's candidacy for president. In an interesting coincidence, I recently received an e-mail from General Clark asking me to help Mike Beebe. Although, the Whitewater background isn't on everyone's lips in Arkansas, the national Republican party has a lot of loyalty to Hutchinson and plans to help him win the Arkansas governor's seat. Here is what General Clark said:
There's no shortage of big races in 2006. But one of the most important races I'm focused on this year is taking place here in my home state of Arkansas: the campaign for Arkansas Governor.
My friend Mike Beebe is one of the best prepared leaders we've ever had in this state. Mike is one of those people you meet who has a real, deep sense of integrity, and he's currently serving Arkansas as Attorney General. Now I'm committed to helping him become the next Governor of Arkansas so he can get our state turned around.
Mike Beebe's Republican opponent is former Clinton impeachment prosecutor and Bush Administration official Asa Hutchinson. Two recent polls have shown Mike leading Hutchinson by as much as 11 points.
But Asa Hutchinson is tapping into his national GOP fundraising machine to try to close the gap - throwing fundraisers with Republican presidential hopefuls including John McCain and current Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, as well as RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman.
So we can't take anything for granted. The Republicans don't want to lose this governorship, and they don't want to give Democrats a foothold in the South, so they're going to do everything they can to try and defeat Mike.
Mike Beebe's campaign is about the priorities we all share: more and better jobs, quality health care that's accessible to all, and only the best for our children in public schools.
And Mike's victory in 2006 is key to our future, not just in my home state of Arkansas, but for America, as the Democratic Party wins back the Governor's chair in an important Southern state.
If you want to give to Mike Beebe you can do that here. This is going to be an important race. Beebe is talking about reviving the state's economy. Hutchinson is doing a lot of values talk, emphasizing things like abortion. Expect this race to be getting national attention before the general elections this fall.
