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.

[Lauratealeaf]

You make the argument that a woman should not vote convincing.

So the churchillbugg is a woman? It figures. No logic whatsoever. Nothing but vengeful frothing at the mouth against a nice man who got a divorce and has always voted conservative.

[olliemb]

Are you then saying that anyone who has divorced their spouses should not be running for public office? Excuse me, but you sound so jaundiced re: this divorce issue .
Should then doctors who divorce not take care of you b/c they too should be punished and not reap of financial rewards? Should judges not be divorce then b/c how can they be rewarded with being judges.

You are allowing your disgust for what you perceive as an egregious offcnse by Hutchinson to cloud what is right. Yes, condemn his actions if you are so opposed to divorce, but to punish to teach a lesson and in so doing risk losing the senate, is beyond reason. So much good can be done if Bush gets the support of the senate--the economy started going south when Jeffords jumped and gave the win to the democrats. Energy bill and lots of possible jobs are held kidnapped by Daschle and the democrts. These people are willing to hurt the country to get in the way of a good agenda. Judicial judges are tossed out right and left b/c they oppose abortion or they are in favor of a 15 year old having parents notified of a possible abortion.

Can you believe it--15 year old can't get a tattoo without parental consent but any teachr can take your beloved child and get an abortion without the parents (father and mother, intact family) being notified.

Put your priorities in the right place--what is it that God wants you to do with this vote--punish and set an exmple for Hutchinson (show me in the bible where God speaks against divorce and the consequences he wants mankind to meter) or save his children and have God become a central figure in our lives (read psalms, St Pauls letters, Matthew) and you can get a good idea what God wants of you.

[olliemb]

What fools!!

[churchillbuff]

"It is better to be faithful than famous" - Theodore Roosevelt.

Our generation doesn't agree. Hutchinson wants to be unfaithful AND famous and powerful. Why couldn't he have just declined to run again after dumping his wife? Why did he insist on continuing to inflict himself on the party - when he had to know his chances for reelection were hurt? Because he's selfish and self-centered - the very qualities that showed themselves in his dumping of his wife. And they say that "personal" issues don't have any relevance for a politican's public performance. Sorry, but CHARACTER COUNTS.

[kcvl]

the challenger hoping he won't be asked any serious questions. If he is, Mark Pryor will try to make insincerity sound like a duty. It might work. We've had senators from Arkansas who've won elections on a smile and a shoeshine before.

[churchillbuff]

to teach a lesson and in so doing risk losing the senate,

I want men (and women) of high character in the Senate. Hutchinson ain't one.

[kcvl]

while Pryor Sr. was governor of Arkansas his wife ran off and got herself an afro haircut and then stayed separated from Pryor for quite a while because she said she had to "find herself".

I wonder about that too! lol! We didn't hear anything about that because it was HIS PERSONAL LIFE!!!

Mark Pryor is a little(more like a lot) on the DUMB side! Just like his IDIOT father and his CRAZY mother.

[kcvl]

Are you staying home this election? I surely hope so because I dare say that you're going to find a MORAL person running for office. At least not one that suits you.

I hope you never have any problems in your own family because I dare say they would come to you for support.

[Cold Heat]

Actually it did not disenfranchise them, it prohibited some from voting in the college district. They can still vote but need to vote absentee or in their home district. Much ado about nothin.IMHO.

I am concerned about the broad nature of the ruling. The fact is, they exposed the rats at their own game of registering college students against state law.

Interesting!

[olliemb]

You are willing to mess the rest of the country by your standards--no, you, too, are selfish and self centered. You are mistaking Hutchinson' lack of character with yours b/c you too are getting caught up with your own selfish and self centered beast.

You don't care about the abortion issue and don't care what might happen with the senate control but as long as you punish all divorced men (I guess women too) then you are quite content. Sounds like you are the self centered and selfish one. Or perhaps some fool has made you an unhappy woman and you are out to wage war on one and all.

[Lauratealeaf]

"The women’s suffrage movement is only the small edge of the wedge, if we allow women to vote it will mean the loss of social structure and the rise of every liberal cause under the sun. Women are well represented by their fathers, brothers, and husbands."

Winston Churchill

If Winston were alive today he would be jeering at your ignorant stand, especially since you, by not voting for Hutchinson, WILL be helping a liberal cause.

[kcvl]

The Council for a Livable World, the Center for Arms Control & Non-Proliferation and PeacePAC are among the nation's preeminent arms control organizations and focus on halting the spread of weapons of mass destruction, opposing a national missile defense system, cutting Pentagon waste and reducing excessive arms exports. The Council and PeacePAC are also political lobbies which endorse political candidates.

Mark Pryor for U.S. Senate

[Cold Heat]

After 27 years of marriage, (probably for the kids) a couple has a legal right and a moral obligation to terminate the legality of the relationship in order to pursue other life interests.

The term is divorce and not wife dumping!

BTW, he separated first then divorced. He in no way dumped.

Your moral outrage is totally misplaced.

[kcvl]

Mark Pryor

The Mission Of HILLPAC

Mark Pryor doesn't have a problem with having HILLARY CLINTON (wife and supporter of adulterer Bill Clinton) support him?

[musicman]

I know this is gonna be long,but please hear me out.OK?.....WOW.....where do I start???.....

I guess I'll start with,I got a divorce in 1982.I filed for it,after 26 months of marriage.I got married so my mom and dad would pay attention to me again after ignoring me because we were "living in sin".They came to Florida for the wedding,my bride's mom came back home from Texas to be with her daughter after her displeasure with us "shacking up".The wedding was held in the home of my new mother-in-law,and I thought I was doing the right thing,(she got her mom back to Florida from Texas,and my parents were talking to me again.

My parents got religion 2 years after I had left the house. REALLY STRONG RELIGION!!!!These were not the same parents who I had been raised by for the first 18 years of my life.

When I filed for divorce in Feb.of 1982( because my "wife" wanted to move to Tallahassee(FSU)to be with her new lover),my parents flipped out with the prospect of me "going (directly) to hell, (DO NOT PASS GO AND DO NOT COLLECT 200 DOLLARS),because I would be breaking my vows........

Well I got the divorce,we split up our property (no kids), and life went on,.....kinda.

My parents quit calling me or communicating with me in ANY way.My repeated tries for communication were met with the,"Oh, we tried to call you,but you weren't there" line,(which after I had purchased an answering machine and let it "cook" for 4 straight months, found them in a lie the next time the "we tried to call" excuse was used.They didn't know I had the machine.When I informed them that there were no messages from them on it, the silence was unbelievable as they had realised the very big lie I had caught them in.I then asked if lieing was a very Christian thing to do and hung the phone up.This was Sept.1982.

I play music.In April of 1982,and divorced for 2 months,I met a girl named Lisa(a friend of mine wanted to get a trio together with her and me and we started playing together). The trio broke up due to my friend returning to college in August of 1982,(which left us as a duo)......we stayed together and in August of 1986,I proudly married my VIRGIN bride and have been together ever since.My parents were not invited, due to the fact that they did not even try to communicate with me since Sept.of 1982.

I am so thankful that I have Lisa as my wife.She is the one real thing in this world I can count on when everything else in this world is so darn unpredictable.We just had our 16th wedding anniversary.

OK.....I have not spoken to my parents since 1982.They have tried to get communication going again.They came to MY HOUSE in Florida from Michigan TWICE,left a few of my belongings from my youth that they still had,and because I was not home either time, (they caught Lisa home the second time,and being the very good Christian that she is,let them in for an hour,so she finally got to meet them)they left without "reconnecting" with me.

What if one day,one of your "kids",ends up getting a divorce?.....Are you going to be like my parents,excommunicate him or her from your life,like you want to do(or have done) with Tim Hutchinson and his"ilk",or will you then see that there are things that happen in this life,and that you need not be putting yourself in a "better-than-God" position????....

Thanks for letting me rant.....but think about it.....Even Jesus forgives us in the end......

[churchillbuff]

BTW, he separated first then divorced. He in no way dumped.>

He left her, bailed on her, separated from her, divorced her - - it all adds up to DUMPED HER. Notice that it's always the women who've stuck with men for decades who get dumped? And the dumpers never go for another woman of that age - - they're after younger flesh. It's age-old impulse of selfishness. The women are the losers. IT LOOKS LIKE HUTCHISON'S ALSO A LOSER, IF YOU LOOK AT THE LATEST POLLS.

Dump your wife, lose an election.

[olliemb]

Well said!!

[kcvl]

Who the WITCH supports with her money (lifted from the hands of others)and reminds them later who they NEED to support for President!

[churchillbuff]

You situation is obviously different from Hutch's (he dumped a wife of 27 years to go after a younger babe). Looks like he's gonna lose the election as a result.
The jerk couldn't keep zipped - and then couldn't keep from running again (you'd think he would have stepped aside to let somebody run who didn't have his baggage - - but he clearly has weak, selfish streak, rather than strong character, so we shouldn't be surprised)

[Lauratealeaf]

You are just a bitter, scorned woman. I also suspect from your stupid, stubborn, obsessive posts that you probably ran him off.