Category Archives: Elections

Can the center make a comeback?

Elections, Politics, State government, U.S. Congress

vote, Mark Moore, 16-year-olds, Clarke TuckerBy Steve Brawner

© 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Does “the middle” equal “mushy”?

The concept came up in an interview with Rep. Clarke Tucker, D-Little Rock, by the New York Times. The newspaper featured Tucker in a story about national Democrats favoring moderate candidates in Republican-leaning districts like central Arkansas’ 2nd.

It’s represented by Republican Rep. French Hill, himself not a fire-breather, but national and local Democrats think they have a shot at winning it. So they recruited Tucker and have backed him financially.  Continue reading Can the center make a comeback? →

Voters flying blind on Supreme Court race

Elections, State government

Lake View, Arkansas Supreme CourtOnly three names appear on every ballot in Arkansas in the May primary elections: Justice Courtney Goodson, Judge Kenneth Hixson, and attorney David Sterling, the three candidates running for Goodson’s Arkansas Supreme Court justice seat.

For voters, making an informed choice between the three can be challenging – like flying blind or at least with limited visibility. The Supreme Court race is nonpartisan, and we voters rely on those Ds and Rs by candidates’ names. Moreover, judicial candidates aren’t supposed to say how they would vote in particular cases – unlike, say, a congressional candidate who can promise not to cut taxes. The thinking is, if a judicial candidate reveals a preference beforehand, he or she can’t serve as an impartial jurist when it counts.

Outside groups, however, don’t have those limitations.  Continue reading Voters flying blind on Supreme Court race →

Poll shows why GOP must ride the Trump train

Elections, Politics, U.S. Congress

Donald TrumpWe learned this week that it’s statistically possible that the only Republican voters in eastern Arkansas’ 1st District who don’t approve of President Trump are the half a dozen who said so in a poll.

The survey by Talk Business & Politics and Hendrix College found that 96.6 percent of respondents in that district said they approve of Trump’s performance. It polled 676 likely Republican primary voters statewide, or about 169 per congressional district, though it wasn’t exactly that. If it were, that would mean somewhere around six voters in the 1st said they didn’t approve of Trump or didn’t know, while the rest approve.

But the survey had a margin of error of 3.8 percent both ways, and 96.6 plus 3.8 equals more than 100. So who knows – maybe those are the only six? Continue reading Poll shows why GOP must ride the Trump train →

Looks like the governor is safe

Elections, Politics, State government

Asa HutchinsonAs the campaigns heat up before the May 22 primary …

I’d been wondering why Gov. Asa Hutchinson hadn’t been spending more of that $1.86 million he had in the bank as of March 31. A recent poll may provide the answer.

The governor has always been an overwhelming favorite to be re-elected, but if he were to face a challenge, it more likely would happen in the May Republican primary rather than the November general election. Primaries are weird because they attract a smaller turnout with more partisan voters. His opponent, Jan Morgan, is pretty good at bringing attention to herself through hot-button issues that are important in a Republican primary – guns, in particular. In the age of Donald Trump, she’s the more Trump-like candidate.

So I thought she might make the governor sweat a little. Continue reading Looks like the governor is safe →