Category Archives: U.S. Congress

Cotton’s absence gave Harrington center stage

By Steve Brawner, © 2020 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Ricky Harrington had a good week.

The Libertarian challenger to Republican Sen. Tom Cotton released a poll Oct. 10 showing he trailed Cotton only 49% to 38%, with 13% undecided. Again, that’s Harrington’s poll, and we’ll need to see other polls from independent sources, but it did get him some attention.

Cotton is a polarizing figure. His approval-disapproval rating was 44%-47% in a June poll by Talk Business & Politics and Hendrix College. Independents disapproved, 39-51.

Also, Harrington is the only challenger after the Democrat dropped out hours after the filing period ended. Libertarians haven’t really cracked the 3% threshold of statewide support in Arkansas, but Democrats generally run close to 40%. It’s likely Harrington is winning their anti-Cotton vote by default.

The poll numbers gained Harrington some attention, and he’s been raising a little money lately – around $40,000 total, his campaign said. It’s certainly nowhere near Cotton’s millions, but he could afford to run a poll.

Then on Wednesday, Harrington had the stage to himself during the debates organized by Arkansas PBS. Cotton declined to participate. It wasn’t worth his time, and he saw more harm than good in sharing the stage with his opponent.

All the state’s other Republican congressmen participated in their debates. That includes the two who are safely headed toward re-election in races contested by both Democrats and Libertarians. Continue reading →

Poll: Libertarian Harrington trails Cotton, 49-38

Ricky Harrington speaks at a campaign event in Little Rock Aug. 28.

By Steve Brawner, © 2020 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Libertarian candidate Ricky Harrington trails U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, 49-38%, according to a poll commissioned by the Harrington campaign.

Thirteen percent were undecided. The poll of 600 likely voters by American Research Group conducted late last week had a margin of error of plus-minus 4%, the Harrington campaign said.

Harrington is Cotton’s sole challenger because the only Democratic to file, Josh Mahony, dropped out of the race hours after the filing period closed. An independent candidate, Dan Whitfield, tried without success to collect enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.

He’s picking up the protest vote that would have gone to Mahony or another Democrat.

Harrington reported raising $5,120.49 as of June 30 in his most recent filing report with the Federal Election Commission. Howington said there has been a significant increase in donations in the last few weeks.

Cotton, meanwhile, had raised almost $10 million, including transfers from other committees, and had $6 million on hand as of June 30.

Harrington’s press secretary, Andy Howington, said, “We are hopeful for an ‘October Surprise’ as more people are introduced to Mr. Harrington’s campaign in these last few weeks. The uncertainty in this race, coupled with the results of this poll, provide us a vision for a path to victory. We will work hard to court these undecided voters, and maybe even take some from Senator Cotton in the process. No one expected us to be here.”

Howington pointed to the FiveThirtyEight website, which predicted Cotton would win with 82.1% of the vote. It gives Cotton a greater than 99% chance of winning based on a model that simulates the election 40,000 times.

A debate between the candidates by Arkansas PBS is scheduled for 3 p.m. Wednesday, but only Harrington is scheduled to appear. Arkansas PBS will livestream Harrington’s appearance here and here.  It will air it at 7 p.m.

Related:

A third option for president visits Arkansas

Are there other choices? Actually 11

Is Arkansas the reddest state?

By Steve Brawner, © 2020 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Is Arkansas “the reddest state not only in the South but in the entire nation”? That’s what state Republican Party Chairman Doyle Webb said during his part of the roll call vote at the Republican National Convention.

Twelve years ago, that statement was unimaginable. Arkansas had been dominated by Democrats since the Civil War and had produced the nation’s previous president.

Now? All six members of Arkansas’ congressional delegation, its seven constitutional officers, and three-fourths of its state Legislature are Republicans. In the 2016 election, Trump beat Hillary Clinton, Arkansas’ first lady for 12 years back when Arkansas was one of the nation’s bluest states, by a 61-34% margin.

Arkansas still has many Democratic elected officials at the county level who have not yet retired, switched parties or lost. But Webb didn’t say Arkansas was the most Republican state. He called it the reddest, which is more of a national and state description and speaks to voter outlooks and trends.

Is he right? Let’s compare. Continue reading →

Cotton right about virus’ importance

Feb. 27, 2020

By Steve Brawner
© 2020 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Looks like Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton was on track Jan. 30 when he called the COVID-19 coronavirus “the biggest and most important story in the world.”

Time will tell if it’s actually the biggest and most important story, but it’s definitely big and important.

As of Thursday, the virus has killed nearly 3,000 people, mostly in China where it originated, and led to widespread quarantines in that country. More than 80,000 people have been infected globally. Outbreaks are happening in South Korea, Italy, and elsewhere. The leader of Iran’s virus task force tested positive one day after telling his country not to overreact to the disease. The International Olympic Committee’s longest serving member this week suggested the Tokyo Summer Olympics could be cancelled. Probably not coincidentally, Japan is closing all its schools for a month.

President Trump on Wednesday announced he was appointing Vice President Mike Pence to head the nation’s anti-coronavirus efforts. Only 60 Americans have been infected so far, most coming from a single cruise ship. But the latest person hasn’t traveled or come in close contact with anyone known to be infected. That’s concerning. On Tuesday, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the virus will spread here, though the CDC can’t know how much. Regardless, she said Americans should “prepare for the expectation that this might be bad.” Life here could be disrupted and marked by “social distancing measures” such as closing schools. There’s no vaccine, yet. Continue reading →

Cotton goes to war against a virus

By Steve Brawner, © 2020 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Feb. 4, 2020

Sen. Tom Cotton, the ex-combat infantryman, tends to see the world – and describe it – in terms of threats and adversaries: Iran, terrorists, illegal immigrants, legal immigrants who take Americans’ jobs, the Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei, President Obama and other Democrats, etc. He often uses strong, uncompromising language.

Lately, he’s focused on a new, developing threat, the coronavirus that China says has killed more than 400 of its people, and which has started spreading to other countries. As of Monday, there were 11 confirmed cases in the United States.

On Jan. 30, Cotton said in a Senate Armed Services Committee meeting that the coronavirus is “the biggest and most important story in the world” and something that “could result in a global pandemic.” He called for banning all commercial air travel between China and the United States and for a “Manhattan Project-level effort” to develop a vaccine. The Manhattan Project created the atomic bomb in World War II.

Cotton’s remarks are notable because this time the threat he’s talking about isn’t a person or group of people, but a virus.

Viruses are microorganisms that invade the body and reproduce by attaching to cells and reprogramming them to create more viruses. They can mutate, frustrating our efforts to stop them. Continue reading →