It's Bush v Clinton again as Arkansas goes to the polls

The Sunday Telegraph ^ | November 3, 2002 | Julian Coman

[MadIvan]

Arkansas residents will today and tomorrow witness what the rest of the country never got a chance to see: a political contest between George Bush Jr and Bill Clinton.

On the stump at Ouachita Baptist University, deep in rural Arkansas, the Republican senator Tim Hutchinson is standing in front of a cardboard cut-out of the President of the United States.

"I have a personal relationship with George W. Bush," he tells an audience of 300 students. "He is a good friend of mine. And President Bush will be here on Monday to push us over the finish line in the closest and most important Senate race in America."

Sixty miles away in Little Rock, the capital of Arkansas, the local Democratic Party chairman, Ron Oliver, is also preparing for a distinguished visitor - one whose credentials are more local if not quite as current.

"Mr Clinton will arrive back here on Sunday," said Mr Oliver, whose office walls are lined with photographs of the former president in his youthful days as governor of the state. "We will have the help of the best political campaigner of the previous century, back on his own patch, to give us the edge and get the vote out."

Control of the Senate is in the balance in Tuesday's congressional elections, with each party currently holding 49 seats, one seat vacant and one held by an independent.

Arkansas, the small southern state best known for its catfish suppers and the escapades of Bill Clinton, has once again taken political centre-stage.

The Senate race between Mr Hutchinson and the Democrat hopeful, Mark Pryor, is too close to call. The prize, amid the most tense congressional elections in recent memory, is valuable enough to have attracted the biggest names that the Republican and Democratic party machines can offer.

Anticipating the loss of at least one seat to a Republican in a handful of tight Mid-West contests, Democrats believe that they require a "flip result" of their own in the south to maintain control. Arkansas, which became a Republican Senate seat for the first time since the Civil War at the last elections, is the top target.

President Bush will speak at the Republican stronghold of Fayetteville tomorrow afternoon, on the eve of the national poll. Ex-president Clinton will speak today to the black Democratic heartland of Jefferson County. No other state can match that line-up.

In Little Rock, Mr Clinton's power base when governor of Arkansas and presidential candidate, it is quite like old times. Doe's Steakhouse is again full of politicians, strategists and hangers-on.

Waitresses at the Plaza Grille restaurant wistfully remember the times when tips were good and the gossip was even better. "It was never a dull moment with Bill Clinton," said one.

Pardon me whilst I'm sick in the corner - Ivan

In a race defined by who the two candidates know rather than what they say, the Republicans countered the Clinton factor with an extraordinary array of star appearances last week. Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, toured the state yesterday.

Charlton Heston, known locally as "Moses" after his most famous film role, spoke on the same platform as the Republican candidate the day before. Oliver North also made the trip to Little Rock.

The two candidates have meanwhile made a spirited attempt to keep a grip on their campaigns. Mr Hutchinson accused his opponent of favouring tighter legislation on gun ownership, a certain vote-loser in Arkansas. Mr Pryor responded by appearing in a television spot wearing military fatigues and brandishing a rifle.

Democrat campaigners have gleefully accused Mr Hutchinson, who is closely associated with the religious Right, of lax moral standards following his divorce and subsequent remarriage to a member of his Senate staff. To ram the point home, Mr Pryor appears on the hustings with a Bible. The poll ratings remain stubbornly even.

Among young Republicans at Ouachita Baptist University, there was a distinct air of apprehension. "Clinton is an operator and a pretty unscrupulous one at that," said Stuart Jones, the chairman of the university Republican group.

As he spoke, a student removed the cardboard cut-out of Mr Bush. With a fraught Senate campaign reaching its final stages, Mr Hutchinson will be relieved to see the President in the flesh tomorrow.

[DakotaGator]

He needs to have the knife twisted in his back.

I see you the twisted knife, and raise you a stake through the heart!

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

no hutchinson didnt lie and I am not saying dont vote for him but if some people dont vote for him because they think he is immoral than I would respect that there is nothing wrong with wanting your elected leaders to be moral repub or dem

[olliemb]

When you meet your creator explain to God why you allowed an opportunity to get a republican senate and therefore good conservative judges, banning of partial birth abortions--to slip thru your hands b/c you were so righteous. Remember, the Pharisees were also quite righteous, but Jesus embraced Mary Magdalene and did not Jesus write down the sins of the Pharisees when they were ready to stone the sinner? No one was left to condemn the sinner once Jesus finished with the Pharisees.

In my opinion, God's rules stand--I don't see anywhere in the commandments or in the beatitudes or in the letters, parables, psalms, where God says, let man do God's judging. God wants us to show his love to one another--is this how you show your love to the unborn 8 month old fetus who is about to be suctioned out of his mother's womb? Remember, Clinton vetoed the ban on partial birth abortions during his tenure. Even Mother Teresa did not like Clinton's actions.

[billhilly]

"This is good vs evil."

This is, sadly, a laughing matter. Here we have people claiming to have inviolable principals, ready to accept, not the lesser of two evils, but the greater of two evils. Has Bill Clinton outwitted GOD?

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

I am not saying I wouldnt vote for him I probably would with my nose pinched it would bother me though but let me ask you in 1992 before clinton ever lied under oath what did you say to people who were going to vote for clinton I know I said CHARACTER MATTERS

[olliemb]

Yeah character matters--did he not apologize? He divorces his wife but apologizes and he is prolife and is for banning partial birth abortions. What more do you want? You now hold yourself his judge and the one who meters out his punishment? Would not God forgive him ? Did not his son forgive him?--read the bible, it is full of people that God chose that were not the best( check out Saul who later became Paul--this dude Saul actually was pursuing the Christians and imprisoning them)not much in character, least to be chosen-- yet God chose him to do his work. Perhaps this is an opportunity for us to be less judgmental--we need to worry about ourselves and what we do for one another, not what punishment to meet out to others.

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

dude chill out I prob would vote for him only because the senate is too important but you can apologize all you want but there are consequences and I will not hold it against people who feel morally obliged not to vote for him.

[John Robertson]

There are shades in this spectrum called life. What is the difference between Tim and Clinton? Well, the latter is a serial adulterer/philanderer/womanizer/rapist sociopath. The former? Human foibles, human weakness. It happens. People fall in love--after they fell in love with someone else, married her, had kids, etc.

The pattern of the ex president's is hit-and-run, fast, never caring about the damage (emotional or physical) you leave in your wake. If Hutch had been known as someone who dallied whenever it struck his fancy, I'd say, Let him go down in flames. But just because he fell victim to a fairly common human weakness (and anybody who's reading this who's been married one or more times or for a long time knows the human heart can do some things to others or yourself you never would have expected; and we're not all able to resist or deny everything that comes our heart's way)...doesn't mean he's loving every second of his new life.

I'll bet he's guilty; I'll bet he feels full of remorse; I'll bet he wishes there were some other way to have handled it--I'll even bet, at times, overall, in terms of the human cost (and not in terms of his political vulnerability now) that he wishes he'd never done it.

But you have to weigh something: Do I want to punish a good but fallible man so badly that the federal judiciary could possibly be infested with liberal activist judges for a few generations (and let's be honest: Two or more generations of activist judges and there's simply no country as we know it)? Do I want to do this to my children and grandchildren?

To those Arkansans who are troubled by his behavior, I say: You have every right to be troubled--and, you're right. And he knows it. But, by meting out what you think is a just punishment, you must take responsibility for the result of your actions. It's your future. It's your children. It's their future.

[churchillbuff]

These things happen

Spoken like a true moral relativist, and somebody who doesn't believe in personal responsibility (why else write the phrase in a passive voice, without identify who it was who made the "thing happen"?) You're right, men abandoning their wives happens a lot in modern society. And Dan Quayle was right: the broken homes that result are bad for society because children are raised by one parent, not two. If Hutchinson loses because he abandoned his family, it will be a victory for a standard of behavior that this society needs to recapture.

[churchillbuff]

Do I want to punish a good but fallible man

I don't agree that a man who abandons his family is a good man. Such an act used to be called profoundly irresponsible at best and evil and wicked at worst. We have lower and perverse standards these days, so we call the men who abandon wives and children "good but fallible," but calling them that doesn't make it true.

[sweetliberty]

"Mr Pryor appears on the hustings with a Bible."

Echoes of Bill Clinton!

The Arkansas Hog Wild FReepers will be on hand to "welcome" Mr Bill in Pine Bluff tomorrow. Perhaps the Bible angle would be a good message for a sign....("Moral" Bill carried a big Bible too") with pictures of the two with Bibles side by side. Some Rat candidates seem to be distancing themselves from Clinton. This would be a good way for us to bridge that gap. Thanks Ivan.

[billhilly]

Well said.

[sweetliberty]

It is my understanding that there was never an affair and that he began courting the new Mrs. Hutchinson only after he was divorced from the first one.

Parsy, can you address this a little better?

[churchillbuff]

It happens. People fall in love--after they fell in love with someone else, married her, had kids, etc.

Yes, but responsible and moral people still stick by their commitments - they remain true to the children they brought into the world and the spouse to whom they pledged a vow. Vow-breakers are responsible for the epidemic of children being raised in broken homes, and the broken lives and crime that result (Remember what Dan Quayle had to say about the troubles that single-parent families have/and cause?). You're so forgiving of Hutchinson's abandonment of his family --- I wouldn't want to be a woman who would marry you (or a kid born into your family) because there's no guarantee you'd stick by your vows.

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

actually the more I read these post saying that we must vote repub because keeping power is to important the less I am inclined to vote for hutchinson (if I could) you people are beginning to sound like the now gang )who overlooked rape and adultery) and gave clinton a pass because power was more important. I want nothing more than a repub senate and like I said would probably vote for tim if I lived in ark. but I would do it probably for the wrong reasons lets not stoop to the dems level. I know its tough not to when they seem to get away with everything but their day will come I promise

[churchillbuff]

Sounds like you prefere the "Promise Breaker" philosophy to the "Promise Keeper" approach. Remind me not to enter into a handshake agreement with you.

[DocJ69]

Listen, I am a Southern Baptist Pastor, and everyone makes mistakes, God forgives, and so must we. Mr Hutcheson will stand before God for his problems, but we must be willing to give a man another chance. That is the way of a forgiving and loving God.

[olliemb]

Would you rather have the democrats continue to destroy the life of a fetus in partial birth abortions ?b/c if there is no republican senate the bill passed in the house will never come to a vote in the senate.

God would disagree with you re: your good man fallacy. I am amused how many of you out there are less merciful than God. Like, when were you voted God? How can you be like Jesus when you refuse to act like him. Judge not Hutchinson, but judge yourself.

[churchillbuff]

Would not God forgive him ?

If somebody leaves his wife and kids, marries another - and says "I'm sorry" -- but doesn't return to his wife and kids, it's not clear that his "sorrow" is genuine, or that God forgives. IF you steal a television set, and say I'm sorry, but keep the stolen TV - are you forgiven?

[John Robertson]

Oh good: My first FR p***ing match.

But seriously: I think "abandoned his family" is over the top. I'm not explaining him. I'm not justifying him. I'm not even approving him. But just for the record: abandoning your family means that literally...as in, going out for a pack of cigarettes and never being seen again, leaving the wife and three little ones to get by never knowing what happened to that louse they can barely remember as they get over.

He divorced her. I know there was great emotional fallout, and I know it will never be healed. And just because we've become a culture of divorce, and have all sorts of ways of "processing" it, doesn't make it right. But I know a lot of divorced people (statistically, we'd all have to know a lot of divorced people), and a lot of them are good people. Some of those good people were divorced by spouses, some of those good people initiated the divorce. Still good people.

I've been married 31 years...in a row, to the same woman, as the comedians might say. We're good people (though she is a far better person than I will ever be). But if for any reason we had divorced along the way...would the one who initiated it STOP being a good person?