Friday, August 3, 2012
Arkansas Politics Tom Cotton gets the Bill Clinton challenge
Posted by Max Brantley on Fri, Aug 3, 2012 at 9:46 AM
He called on Cotton to address the rumor that Cotton plans to serve just one term in Congress and then run against Sen. Mark Pryor in 2014.
"We need a congressman who is focused on the needs of the 4th District and who is prepared to fight for the people and not be concerned about the next step up the political ladder," Tullis said. "Mr. Cotton needs to clarify this situation and pledge to serve , if elected, and not just care about his political future."
It's a time-honored tradition to try to pin politicians with overweening ambition — using the current election as a stepping stone to higher office. You may recall it caused Bill Clinton's some headaches once, though Arkansans forgave him, if their vote for him for president signaled a release of his pledge to serve out his last gubernatorial term in full.
The Cotton question is fair. Republicans are already talking about reputed Cotton camp contacts with the Republican senatorial election apparatus. A successful race for Congress would be an immense stepping stone, particularly if, as rumored, Republican Congressman Tim Griffin has settled on a race for governor in 2014 and Steve Womack's Potomac fever seems to be satisfied by his congressional seat. I've sent the question to the campaign. Will let you know what they say.
I think I can predict a response: "I don't have time to think about anything but working 24/7 to serve the people of the 4th Congressional District."
Speaking of...
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Who wants to be a U.S. senator?
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The mid-week line: Bomber sentenced, politics, George Jones
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Tom Cotton burnishes his warhawk image
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The Extremism Edition
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Tom Cotton's 'odd' argument on terrorism fight
April 26, 2013U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton of the Club for Growth was right proud the other day of his rush to make political hay of the Boston bombing by lumping it with some other incidents that he said represented failure of counter-terrorism efforts of the Obama administration. /more/
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Wednesday night line
April 24, 2013Sorry, folks. I've been working on a project and away from blogging duties. /more/
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'The spineless gun vote': Why?
April 20, 2013Joe Nocera writes this morning about the vote to block legislation to expand gun purchase background checks and his pursuit of an answer to why from the four Democrats, including Sen. Mark Pryor, who stood in the way of a vote. /more/
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UPDATE: Ethics amendment defeated
April 15, 2013The legislature has killed a proposed constitutional amendment to strengthen ethics laws. /more/
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