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Asa Hutchinson Considers Bid for U.S. Senator from Arkansas
C-SPAN, 04-25-03 | 04-25-03 | Theodore R.

Posted on 04/25/2003 5:58:33 PM PDT by Theodore R.

Chuck Todd reported on C-SPAN Friday that Drug Enforcement Administrator and former Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-AR, is considering a challenge to Sen. Blanche Lambert-Lincoln in the 2004 general election. Hutchinson has just under $200,000 in a political fund from his tenure in Congress (1997-2001), which he can divert to a Senate race. Hutchinson has opened a political account and reported the development to the Federal Election Commission.

It is not clear when he will step down from the DEA to make the race, or if he will follow through. In 1986, Hutchinson, then 35, was soundly defeated in a Senate bid by the popular liberal Sen. Dale Bumpers, D-AR. In 1996, Hutchinson was elected to the House to succeed his brother, former Rep. and Sen. Tim Hutchinson, R-AR, who lost his Senate race to Democrat Mark Pryor in the 2002 general election.

Chuck Todd said that AR Republicans seem to believe that Asa Hutchinson is the strongest candidate that they can recruit to take on Lincoln. Earlier there had been speculation that Governor Mike Huckabee (R) would challenge Lincoln. But were Huckabee to run and win, he would turn over the governorship to the pro-abortion Lt. Gov. Winthrop Paul Rockefeller, cousin of the liberal Senator John D. Rockefeller, IV, D-WV.


TOPICS: Politics/Elections; US: Arkansas
KEYWORDS: 2004; ar; asahutchinson; democrat; hutchinson; lincoln; republican; senate
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1 posted on 04/25/2003 5:58:33 PM PDT by Theodore R.
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To: Theodore R.
Huckabee is toast. He has run his course. The School Consolidation has done him in. Last year with the "Tax Me More Fund" followed by this years "gotta raise taxes" stance has done it for me. Hutchinson is the only potential winner.
2 posted on 04/25/2003 6:05:46 PM PDT by Arkinsaw
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To: Theodore R.
"...former Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-AR, is considering a challenge to Sen. Blanche Lambert-Lincoln in the 2004 general election"

Yeah!!

3 posted on 04/25/2003 6:10:02 PM PDT by Right_in_Virginia
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To: Theodore R.
Asa works for Ridge at the new Homeland Def. Dept.
4 posted on 04/25/2003 6:11:50 PM PDT by bybybill (first the public employees, next the fish and, finally, the children)
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To: Theodore R.
And on another topic . .

". . . pro-abortion Lt. Gov. Winthrop Paul Rockefeller, cousin of the liberal Senator John D. Rockefeller, IV, D-WV."

What is it with the Rockefellers and these small, rural states anyway?

5 posted on 04/25/2003 6:16:59 PM PDT by KeyBored (Beam me up, Scotty. There's no intelligent life on this planet.)
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To: Theodore R.
He'd be more useful in the Senate. And it's a good move. The Drug War is lost. Better to get out before that is obvious to everyone.
6 posted on 04/25/2003 6:22:48 PM PDT by eno_
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To: KeyBored
There was a Winthrop Rockefeller who was governor of Arkansas and Winthrop Paul Rockefeller is probably his son.

The book Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., by Ron Chernow, has some interesting paragraphs about Winthrop Rockefeller, a grandson of J.D. Rockefeller, Sr., and brother of Nelson Rockefeller. Winthrop went to Yale but spent his time there drinking and gambling, and was finally expelled after being caught in the shower with a young woman. He bought property in Arkansas and when he was elected governor in 1966, he was the first Republican elected governor of Arkansas in 94 years.

7 posted on 04/25/2003 6:37:18 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: KeyBored
What is it with the Rockefellers and these small, rural states anyway?

Without the Rockefellers there would be no Republican Party in Arkansas. Winthrop Sr. came down because he wanted to strike out on his own. He established a business up on Petit Jean Mountain above Morrilton. That area was the center of the Democratic Machine. The county was controlled by the Sheriff and the legislature was controlled by a cabal of Democrats from the immediate area. The Sheriff was the guy who wrote the book "How I Stole Elections" back in the 80's.

The local newspaper attempted to fight back and was almost crushed. Rockefeller had tried to stay out of it, but the soon to be demise of the newspaper was too much.

He got involved and spent a great deal of money and effort to help solve the situation. He backed the local people in their fight for democracy. Before long the Faubus administration tried to coopt him by putting him in charge of economic development. Before long he became active in the tiny husk of a Republican Party and started breathing new life into it.

He ran for Governor but could not beat the machine. He preached a reform message. Before long the Republican Party had staggered to its knees and the Democratic grassroots grew tired of its own machine. A WHOLE lot of Democrats and the small Republican Party joined together and put him into the Governor's office.

In office he had a relatively powerless position, a Democratic machine who hated him, and a legislature bound and determined to see him fail.

For the most part he did fail. He did manage to finish the integration of the schools quietly and peacefully, he implemented much needed prison reforms, and he focused on education. He was unable to make sweeping changes because of the intransigence of the legislature.

He was called every name in the book. His personal life was explored and he was called a drunk and a womanizer. The attacks against him were appalling. But he bore it all with good grace, honor, and dignity and focused entirely on the people of Arkansas and improving their lives.

Neither he nor the tiny Republican Party could break the Democratic machine themselves, but he emboldened the reform minded Democrats and grassroots Democrats to revolt and do it themselves.

When he came into office he was a big gruff man and by the time he was defeated and left office he was a shell of his former self. He had been battered and beaten and slandered and left office an old man. He died of cancer very soon after leaving office.

EVERYTHING that is good in the politics of this State (and that aint much) traces its way back to the actions of the big man in cowboy boots, Winthrop Rockefeller. The Republican Party of Arkansas owes its very existence to him. He was a hero. Though he wasn't a native Arkansan, he was an Arkansan, and his memory is a fond one and an honorable one for nearly all Arkansans.

His son, Win Paul, has run two good clean honorable campaigns. While he hasn't suffered the same level of calumny that his father did, he has still had to put up with the Democratic charges of drinking, womanizing, carpetbagging, and having a silver spoon in his mouth. He is not as conservative as many would like. But he is a decent and honorable man who won't get down in the dirt and suffers such tactics with silence. He has no need to serve in office, he has no need of monetary gain, the only reason he serves is for the people of Arkansas and to uphold his father's memory.

In a State where the legislative session has been called "GrabFest" this kind of politician is rare.
8 posted on 04/25/2003 7:05:51 PM PDT by Arkinsaw
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To: KeyBored
Lt. Gov. Winthrop Paul Rockefeller, who is in his mid-50s, is the son of the late AR Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller (died 1973) and his first wife, Barbara "Bobo" Sears, the daughter of a WV coal miner! At one time Winthrop Paul was said to be a close friend of the Clintons. So they do run in bipartisan circles sometimes.

Senator Rockefeller of WV (reelected by a large margin in 2002) is a nephew of Governors Winthrop and Nelson Rockefeller and therefore a cousin of Winthrop Paul Rockefeller. His father was John D. Rockefeller, III.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller's father-in-law is the liberal former Sen. Charles H. Percy, R-IL. Rockefeller's wife and Percy's daughter, Sharon Percy Rockefeller, was a long-time director (or some similar title) of PBS. I believe Reagan reappointed her to the PBS board. Sharon's twin sister, Valerie Percy, was murdered in 1966 in a still unsolved case.

Yes, some of the Rockefellers do run in bipartisan (but still liberal) circles. I think Winthrop Paul, despite his pro-abortion stands, is otherwise probably the most conservative of all the Rockefeller. Oops, don't know how Nelson Rockefeller, Jr., (born before the CA primary in 1964) stands. I think he was a hard worker for Dole in 1996.
9 posted on 04/25/2003 7:38:11 PM PDT by Theodore R.
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To: Theodore R.
I believe that Winthrop Rockefeller's first father-in-law was a coal miner from Lithuania, not WV, as I reported earlier. Or perhaps, he came from Lithuania and later settled in WV. But on second thought, I think "Jay" Rockefeller provides the sole Rockefeller family connection with WV.
10 posted on 04/25/2003 8:21:42 PM PDT by Theodore R.
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To: Theodore R.
I must admit this Rockefeller Family History is a bit beyond me, but the news that Hutchinson IS thinking of making this race is Good News.

First Tier
Georgia: Johnny Isakson & hopefully others, waiting on Kingston
Florida: Mark Foley & Bill McCollum & hopefully others
NC - Edwards/Bowles: Rep. Richard Burr, strong conservative candidate
NV - Reid: Rep. Jim Gibbons, strong candidate
South Carolina: Rep. Jim DeMint & others, strong conservative candidate

Second Tier
AR - Lincoln: hopefully Asa Hutchinson, strong conservative candidate
SD - Daschle: likely John Thune, strong candidate
WA - Murray: George Nethercutt, str -- well, conservative candidate.
CA - Boxer: Ose, Marin, Mendoza?, Simon?, decent candidate
WI - Feingold: um, state senator Welch?

Wild Card: Louisiana with John Breaux, if he retires we have good candidates in Reps. David Vitter & Billy Tauzin

Illinois - likely Jim Edgar, strong very-moderate candidate (I won't abuse the RINO term).

11 posted on 04/25/2003 9:04:46 PM PDT by JohnnyZ (Hold muh gun and watch this!)
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To: Arkinsaw
The bad thing too is Huckabee's going
to be so disliked by 2006 he could really
hurt other Republicans.
No way he running for anything again.
12 posted on 04/25/2003 9:13:18 PM PDT by Princeliberty
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To: Theodore R.
According to Titan, page 661,

"In 1948, after dating actress Mary Martin, Winthrop married a voluptuous blonde named Barbara "Bobo" Sears--nee Jievute Paulekiute, the daughter of Lithuanian immigrants. Junior and Abby boycotted the wedding, and the marriage scarcely lasted the year."

13 posted on 04/25/2003 9:14:05 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: Verginius Rufus
Well, wasn't "Bobo" Winthrop Paul's mother? Or was a there a second marriage? The last marriage (second?)was to a matronly woman who was active in the mental health field. Her name slips my memory at the moment. I am thinking it was "Jeannette."
14 posted on 04/26/2003 7:24:20 AM PDT by Theodore R.
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To: Theodore R.
Yes, Bobo is Paul's mother. My mother, who died in 1975, lived across the street from Bobo in Chicago. According to my mother, Bobo was poor, but very beautiful.
15 posted on 04/26/2003 7:43:28 AM PDT by Atlantian
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To: Atlantian
What an interesting story! Who supported "Bobo" after the divorce? Why was there a divorce in the first place? Did Winthrop Paul grow up with the father and Jeannette or with Bobo? Or did he live in boarding schools? It seems like he must have not seen Bobo that much, or she would not have been allowed to be so poor considering the wealth of the Rockefeller family. I bet Winthrop Paul, as an adult, felt terrible about his mother's financial condition. How sad, the Rockefeller family gave tens of millions for "worthy causes" but let Winthrop Paul's mother languish in poverty! So much for liberal compassion.
16 posted on 04/26/2003 7:55:01 AM PDT by Theodore R.
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To: Arkinsaw; Theodore R.
...and to add insult to injury, the "next generation" of 'Rats (Bumpers, Pryor, Clinton) all hijacked the mantle of Winthrop, Sr. on a number of issues, specifically race. It was the Republican Party and no other that brought racial unity and healing to Arkansas, but not in the 19th Century, in the late 1960s and early 1970s !

Also a bit of a mention about the fella that served as Winthrop, Sr.'s Lieutenant-Governor, Maurice "Footsie" Britt. Footsie was a war hero (he won the Congressional Medal of Honor for valor in the European theatre, and lost his right arm) and was the first and only GOP Lieutenant-Governor until Win Paul in '96. It was certainly no picnic for Footsie, and he opted not to run for a 3rd term with Winthrop, Sr. in 1970 (but did serve as campaign manager). I don't believe he ran for office again.

17 posted on 04/26/2003 7:56:33 AM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (~Remember, it's not sporting to fire at RINO until charging~)
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To: Theodore R.
I'm not as knowledgeable about Arkansas politicians as some of those contributing to this thread, but I went to the library and checked Who's Who.

According to the 2003 edition, Winthrop P. Rockefeller was born Sept. 17, 1948. It lists his father as Winthrop but doesn't give his mother's name. He has 7 children.

According to the 1972-73 edition, Winthrop Rockefeller, former governor of Arkansas, was born May 1, 1912, and married Barbara Sears on February 14, 1948. They had one son, Winthrop, and were divorced in 1954. His second marriage was to Jeannette Edris, June 11, 1956; no children listed for this marriage.

18 posted on 04/26/2003 8:20:08 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: Verginius Rufus
Does Winthrop Paul Rockefeller have seven children? Are they by the same wife?
19 posted on 04/26/2003 8:35:56 AM PDT by Theodore R.
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To: Verginius Rufus
Is Jeannette, from whom Wintrop was divorced at the time of his death, still living? She would be nearly 90, wouldn't she?
20 posted on 04/26/2003 8:39:10 AM PDT by Theodore R.
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