ASA HUTCHINSON SAYS NO RUN FOR SENATE PLANNED

Associated Press | April 30, 2003

[HAL9000]

ASA HUTCHINSON SAYS NO RUN FOR SENATE PLANNED

The former Republican congressman says a Roll Call newspaper report that he would run against Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln was inaccurate.

The Roll Call story cited Republican sources as saying Hutchinson would run if the White House asked. He twice declined to answer the question today, saying his commitment is to his current Homeland Security job.

State Republican Party Director Marty Ryall said last week that Hutchinson is still "on the short list," along with Governor Huckabee, to challenge Lincoln. Huckabee has said he is tied up with work on state issues and has not had time to weigh a bid against Lincoln.

Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

[Kuksool]

Lincoln's chances of re-election look brighter and brighter each day. The voting rights of the people of AR are being violated. Hopefully Asa Hutchinson might run for AR Governor in 2006.

[Arkinsaw]

Lincoln's chances of re-election look brighter and brighter each day

Yep, Huckabee will be no help.

[HAL9000]

If Huckabee gets a budget passed in the special session that funds Medicaid, he will be a strong candidate against Lincoln.

[Kuksool]

I suspect Mike Huckabee shall retire from politics after 2006. He would most likely be teaching at Ouachita Baptist universitywhen he is done with the Governorship.

[Arkinsaw]

If Huckabee gets a budget passed in the special session that funds Medicaid, he will be a strong candidate against Lincoln.

Not without a base. The school consolidation thing didn't do him one bit of good, nor did abandoning his "Tax Me More" joke and turning it into reality.

The school consolidation plan would turn local school boards into advisory committees with the real power moved to the Dept. of Education in Little Rock. The NEA likes that, I don't. As bad as school boards are we can at least unelect them. The bureaucrats in Little Rock we cannot touch. The NEA gets one stop lobbying rather than having to deal with a multitude of school boards. Conservatives believe in local control, not centralized control.

When the tax thing came up I wrote him a letter asking why the State did not cut itself down to a level it could afford rather than raise taxes ("Tax Me More"). I got a note back listing all the government programs we would lose if taxes were not raised. DHS workers do work very hard, sometimes they drive 900 miles a day in our little state. But I think we can scale back on their travel for a while rather than try to tax ourselves into prosperity during a bad economy. He says its for the children and old folks though and thats always a plus.

Some folks are very disappointed about all this. I am one. I seriously doubt that Democratic voters will be impressed either. Why vote for a Republican just because he acts like a Democrat when you can vote for the real thing. We need tax cuts and reduced spending, not tax increases.

[Arkansawyer]

You are right. Huckabee is more of a Stephens Bros. Democrat than a Republican.

[Arkinsaw]

I suspect Mike Huckabee shall retire from politics after 2006. He would most likely be teaching at Ouachita Baptist universitywhen he is done with the Governorship.

All this time with a Republican governor and we still have a sales tax on groceries. We still have a state income tax dragging us down. We are talking about taking power from local school boards and moving it to Little Rock. Time's up.

We have a special exemption for Texarkana, AR on the state income tax because businesses always choose to locate across the street in Texarkana, TX because they have no state income tax and we do. My question is, what about those of us who do not live in Texarkana? Do they think business will choose us non-Texarkanans over Texas? If the state income tax is so obviously bad for Texarkana then how would it be good for the rest of us? The problem was that it was so OBVIOUS in Texarkana. But no effort was made to take that ball and chain off us and very little effort on taking the tax off of our FOOD either.

Makes no sense.

[HAL9000]

All this time with a Republican governor and we still have a sales tax on groceries.

The voters decided not to abolish that tax in the last general election. The legislature refuses to act on it. Not Huckabee's fault.

We are talking about taking power from local school boards and moving it to Little Rock.

Except for the Lake View case, I believe the actual plan was to consolidate some of the smallest disticts into larger ones - e.g. merging the Garnett and Tyro districts into a single one. We don't need a separate school district for every intersection. There are too many districts to be funded and operated efficiently, and Huckabee had a sensible plan for dealing with the problem. If some underutilized superintendents have to find work elsewhere, that would be an improvement.

[Arkinsaw]

The voters decided not to abolish that tax in the last general election. The legislature refuses to act on it. Not Huckabee's fault.

The governorship in Arkansas is relatively powerless. The governor has to use the bully pulpit. The governor did not use the bully pulpit in regard to the food tax. His agencies bemoaned the loss of funds publicly.

Except for the Lake View case, I believe the actual plan was to consolidate some of the smallest disticts into larger ones - e.g. merging the Garnett and Tyro districts into a single one. We don't need a separate school district for every intersection. There are too many districts to be funded and operated efficiently, and Huckabee had a sensible plan for dealing with the problem. If some underutilized superintendents have to find work elsewhere, that would be an improvement.

I didn't say anything about consolidating shrimp sized districts. What I complained about were the parts of the plan that emasculated the local school boards and increased power for the Dept. of Education bureaucrats. That is not a conservative plan and its unacceptable. When the NEA said that they favored it very early on I immediately knew it was a bad deal. Of course the NEA would like bureaucrats in Little Rock to be in control. One stop lobbying of unelected officials.

[Princeliberty]

Lincoln should put Huckabee on
her reelection committe
no one helping her and must as
him.

[Princeliberty]

Have the Stephens brothers being
giving money to Huckabee?

They operate in both parties you know?
And if they have would explain a lot.

[Arkansawyer]

No one is elected Gov. of Arkansas without Stephens approval. Who issued the bonds for the highway improvement plan the Gov did?

[Theodore R.]

Asa probably thinks that Tim, a big loser in 2002, has killed Asa's political chances as well. Democrat AR is just not as enamored with the Hutchinson brothers as say Democrat MA is (was) with the Kennedy brothers.

As usual, it looks like the AR GOP will "take a pass" on a difficult race.

[JohnnyZ]

The former Republican congressman says a Roll Call newspaper report that he would run against Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln was inaccurate.

The Roll Call story cited Republican sources as saying Hutchinson would run if the White House asked. He twice declined to answer the question today, saying his commitment is to his current Homeland Security job.

Is the AP title misleading? It looks like he didn't address whether he WOULD consider running for senate. He denied the story that said he told the White House he would run if they wanted. Then refused to go into it further.

An actual transcript, or quotes, would have been nice, but maybe the AP isn't the "we report, you decide" news organization I thought it was (sic).

[AuH2ORepublican]

I agree with JohnnyZ, the article doesn't say that Asa has decided not to run. But why would Asa deny this rumor at this early stage? Could he be worried that some may say that he's too distracted by a potential Senate run to do a good job at DEA? If so, maybe he hasn't forgone running and is waiting for a more appropriate time to express interest, but I have to admit I don't get a good feeling from this.

As for Huckabee, even if he's got all the negative attributes you all say he has, he would still have a good chance of defeating Lincoln. And what about Lt. Gov. Win Rockefeller? Could he beat Lincoln?

[fieldmarshaldj]

I still have to wonder about this. I'm not entirely convinced that Asa is out of the race. Huckabee I don't think will be able to get past 45% of the vote if he runs next year, and for all we know, he himself might decide against running. Perhaps one interesting candidate we could get in would be Lt. Gov. Win Paul Rockefeller, who would be able to fund his own campaign (but he'd have to do something about his abortion stance), or perhaps Congressman John Boozman.

[fieldmarshaldj]

You and I seem to be thinking alike here on Win Paul. :-)

[kcvl]

If George W. Bush asks Asa to run, he will run. I don't care what the AP says.

[AuH2ORepublican]

"perhaps Congressman John Boozman"

---

I fear that Boozman would carry NW Arkansas and lose because Lincoln would carry the rest of the state. We need a candidate who can fight Lincoln to a draw in Snyder's and Ross's districts (in which Bush got like 47% in 2000), get at least 45% in Berry's district (in which Bush got 49%, but which Lincoln used to represent) and get over 60% in Boozman's district (formerly held by both Tom and Asa Hutchinson). For that, we need someone with state-wide name ID and appeal. Arkansans won't vote for someone they don't know.