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AR: Democrats Cautious in Arkansas, "Guns Can Be Winning Issue" (11/16/2001)
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Democrats Cautious in ArkansasBut Hathorn Says Guns Can Be Winning Issue for Party in Rural Areas By John Mercurio Al Gore's loss in Arkansas last year may have cost him the White House, but Mike Hathorn (D) hopes he can parlay some lessons from Gore's defeat into a victory Tuesday in his bid to succeed ex-Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R).Specifically, Hathorn, a state Representative who served as the director of Gore's campaign in Arkansas, said Gore's support for gun control cost him thousands of votes he needed to carry Bill Clinton's home state and other Southern states he lost to President Bush, including his native Tennessee."The gun issue was the defining issue in Arkansas last year, but it won't be in this race," Hathorn said Tuesday. "I spoke with Clinton pretty soon after Gore lost Arkansas, and he agreed."Hathorn clearly remains the underdog in the state's northwest 3rd district, which Republicans have held for the past 34 years. Clinton, who narrowly lost a 1978 bid for the seat, also lost the 3rd to Bob Dole in the 1996 presidential election. Further boosting the GOP, voter turnout should be particularly low in an election held two days before Thanksgiving."This is one of the most secure Republican districts in America," said Phil Schoettlin, campaign manager for GOP nominee John Boozman, an ophthalmologist. "If you put your name on the ballot, you've got a chance, so Mike Hathorn has a chance. But it's still a Republican district."Democrats counter with some statistics of their own. In the district's last open-seat House race, in 1996, Ann Henry (D) took 46 percent against Hutchinson. State Attorney General Mark Pryor (D) and Arkansas Secretary of State Sharon Priest (D) carried the district in 1998, and Democrats hold 87 percent of local elected offices there.Hathorn has drawn widespread attention for waging an energetic and organized campaign that outpaced Boozman in crucial October fundraising and for setting most of the campaign's issue agenda. But House Democrats are publicly downplaying the possibility of a win in the conservative district, while national Republicans have sent House leaders into the seat to campaign with Boozman and are financing an issue advertisement in the race that links him with President Bush.In some ways, the race resembles the special-election contest this year to succeed ex-Rep. Bud Shuster (R-Pa.). Shuster's son Bill, an auto dealer, was widely favored in the conservative, rural district. Indeed, he ultimately won. But Scott Conklin (D), stumping on his opposition to gun control and abortion rights, ran a surprisingly strong challenge, taking 44 percent. One Conklin ad featured the Democrat and his son walking through the woods, with his son carrying a rifle."We're traveling all over the place, nonstop. I am everywhere. It is absolutely incredible," Hathorn said. "We're energizing people every day. We see a level of energy Democrats here have never seen before." Two weeks after Mark Warner (D) won the Virginia gubernatorial race, in part by stealing the GOP's gun-owners' rights platform, Hathorn, 38, wants to help craft his party's 2002 strategy for taking back rural districts by focusing on the gun issue. In a new television ad, he boasts of the A-minus rating he received from the National Rifle Association and his pro-gun voting record in the state House. As it did in Virginia, the NRA has not taken sides in the House race. "The 2nd amendment is just as important as any other part of our Constitution," said Hathorn, who took a brief break from campaigning last Saturday to catch the first day of deer-hunting season. "We're rural voters, and we have a culture that's based around hunting." Hathorn does support some abortion rights but has chosen to highlight in television ads his vote for a partial-birth abortion ban. Nonetheless, his focus on guns has even drawn reluctant praise from some top Republicans. "Their position is exactly the same, they both oppose gun control. But I'm not sure that John Boozman has gotten his message out on that as well as Hathorn has," said ex-Rep. John Paul Hammerschmidt (R), who held the 3rd district seat from 1966 to 1992 and currently serves as Arkansas GOP chairman. Sensing the gun issue's potency, and Hathorn's potential threat, Boozman attacked the state legislator last week for missing a vote on a bill allowing concealed weapons in parks and restaurants. But Hathorn countered that a state legislator forgot to cast a vote for him while Hathorn took a phone call from his father.Although it is confident about the race, the National Republican Congressional Committee has dispatched party leaders to campaign for Boozman. Speaker Dennis Hastert (Ill.) attended a fundraiser last week, and Majority Leader Dick Armey (Texas) traveled to Arkansas last month.Eschewing his party's national leaders, Hathorn has countered with scheduled visits today and Friday from ex-Rep. Ben Jones (D), better known to many voters as * from "The Dukes of Hazzard." As Hathorn aides readily note, Jones stumped for Warner last month in Virginia and helped him carry rural reaches previously loyal to Republicans. "They're bringing in all these Washington guys, and we're bringing in *," said Hathorn campaign manager Warwick Sabin. "We consider it a really nice dichotomy."The ad war has also heated up recently. Hathorn is running two radio spots, produced by Main Street Communications, that slam Boozman for supporting Social Security privatization. "John Boozman wants Arkansas families to invest their Social Security in the stock market. That means that if the market goes down, Arkansas families could lose everything," says an announcer in one 30-second ad, called "Market."The NRCC financed an ad, which began airing Oct. 19, that seeks to link Boozman to the popular President, who beat Gore in the district by 22 points last year. The announcer in the spot says Boozman will "support President Bush in his fight to keep America's economy growing, and he's pledged to fight any tax increase."Fearing that Hathorn's aggressive campaign has raised unrealistic expectations that he could win the GOP stronghold, House Democrats have sought to play down expectations of a win in the conservative seat. While he was on Capitol Hill on Nov. 8, Hathorn was left out of a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee event featuring top House candidates."He's a great candidate and is a good fit for the district, but it's still a very challenging district for Democrats," said DCCC spokeswoman Kim Rubey. The DCCC has given Hathorn $5,000 and helped organize a Capitol Hill fundraiser last week with Clinton. Democratic Reps. Marion Berry (Ark.), Mike Ross (Ark.) and Rosa DeLauro (Conn.) each gave him $1,000 last week. Hathorn received $500 from Rep. Vic Snyder (Ark.) http://www.rollcall.com/pages/politics/00/2001/11/pol1115b.html
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