Arkansas Blog

Regarding Halter spending all that money and only getting 40%, I'd advise him to quite appearing as the nice boy with his high school coach, and start re-defining himself as a serious adult with some serious ideas.

How obvious can Brummett be that he prefers Halter to Wooldridge? I am not too keen on my support of Wooldridge at this time, but if Brummett says something this stupid again, I will be out on the campaign trail with Wooldridge, begging folks to vote for him!!!!!!

Brummett is a joke. With each passing column that he offiers political analysis, his readers learn more and more that he clearly has no idea as to what he is talking about. He is negative for the sake of being negative. His pontification on Halter, Wooldridge, McDaniel, etc. could not be more off.

How does a guy who gets it so wrong continue to earn a paycheck? There are people on this blog who are better at analyzing politics than John Brummett.

Save the column because after the runoff you're going to want to frame it to show how dumb this guy is.

Brummett should retire or he should be forced to retire because he has become an embarassment to the newspapers that he writes for.

Carpetbagger Halter & Old "raise the sales tax" Wooldridge both together can't beat Sen. Jim Holt in November. All Holt has to do is get these two Liberals into a debate and go straight to the "TAX' questions...Oh...yessss... it will be sweet.

An UP arrow for Martha Shoffner who spent $ 0.58 cents for every vote she got. She had a broad base of support that included an NRA endorsement and super majorities in her runoff opponents backyard.

A DOWN arrow for Mac Campbell. Mac is like Humpty Dumpty and all of Blanche Lincoln's staffers and all of his degrees can't put this faltering campaign back together again. Mac told a number of D.C. investors he didn't have any opponents worth worrying about. I guess that eight point loss to one of them is something to be scared of now.

Dustin McDaniel called my brother to bash on Paul and instead just ended up pissing him off. Dustin called Paul a bad democrat but what he didn't realize is that my brother knew Paul from when he worked on Winston Bryant's Senate campaign.

My brother isn't as active in politics as he used to be and he had planned on just casting a vote for Paul and being done with it. After his conversation with Dustin, well let me just put it this way- the Suskie campaign has a new volunteer.

Dustin has been on the phone bad mouthing Suskie since the run-off began. He is running scared and rightly so. Dustin dumped a ton of "walking around" money into several counties only to have Suskie win those counties. I think Dustin losses in two weeks.

Anonymous of 8:26 said of a fantasized Holt victory:

"Oh...yessss... it will be sweet"

So now we finally know where Holt supporters funnel all that pent-up sexual frustration.

Sheesh, and I thought their stances on education, race, and public displays of religiocity (as opposed to geniuine religion) were scary...

Max, for me the idiotic commentary is Masterson's piece in the D*G this morning. He just doesn't have a clue as to how ineffective Holt was in the Legislature. He thinks Holt won because he's a "good" Christian and conservative. 43% of the votes in that GOP primary came from 3 counties - Benton, Washington and Sebastian. Holt got less than 50 votes in 24 counties. Holt got 50% of the votes of the third place finisher in the Democratic primary. I'd say the wingnuts of NW Arkansas had a lot more to do with Holt's win that the Christians or conservatives across Arkansas.

Masterson rules....The Ark Times should replace Old Dumas, McCord, Sabin and Brumett with a good Mike Masterson column each week...Then you could finally have enough readers that would pay for your paper instead of giving it away free. No body wants to read Dumas especially..he is so left wing with class envy he is silly.

Masterson is better off sticking to his True Crime stories, or his self-congratulatory ramblings. He's as ignorant on politics as Wally is on baseball.

The truth is that Shoffner's campaign has picked up since Drew Pritt has gone over there and started running things. The fun times will begin when she wins. I can't wait until Pritt is Shoffner's Chief Deputy Treasurer. What a satire! By being so bad with his finances he was pushed out of the Lt. Guvs race to a place where he can really lose the state some money.

Drew Pritt is working for Mike Hathorn and Tim Wooldridge. Nice try though.

Max, worthy of a post - great story about baseball in Arkansas in AR Biz this week.

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=94486.55472.106630

This blog is getting to be pathetic. It's become a way to knowingly spread false rumors and try to stir stuff up. Max you really need to clean it up some.

Mock on, Little Rock liberals. Jim Holt is a real Arkansan who cares about Arkansas values like the pre-born, illegal immigration, and gay marriage. We will be blessedto have him as Lt. Governor, and he'll one day make a great Governor. Keep voting for people like Kathy Webb and see how you are judged.

It's all in the name.

So much for Halter's pledge not to go negative. Last night I received a very interesting phone call. It purported to be a poll about the Lt. Governor's race but spent a whole lot of time Bashing Wooldridge and talking up Halter without asking any real questions. I wasn't planning on going to the poles for the run-off, but any more shennanigans like this and I'm going to have to go. We don't need push-polls in Arkansas politics.

i got one of those "polling calls" too. the duck rule deems halter a desperate liar. if it looks like negitive campaigning, if it sounds like negitive campaigning, if it smells like negitive campaigning...it is negitive campaigning. halter said he would go negitive only if his opponent goes negitive first. say what you want about wooldridge, but he is the absolute last guy who will go negitive.

Halter has been lying from the beginning...he never ran Social Security for Clinton...Clinton can't stand the guy...neither can Clark. He's been running the biggest scam in recent political history.

Huge case of "little man" syndrome!

He's already gone negative on Wooldridge with no regard to his own skeletons, because he thinks Wooldridge won't hit back.

Suit up Napoleon....put on your cup. You're about to kicked right square in your marbles little man!

Woo Hoo!!!!

Marion Berry is straight up for Wooldridge...all the stops will get pulled out now.

Halter is toast.

Hey, deb. Come on, name three things you know about Kathy Webb that don't have anything to do with her private life. Bet you can't do it.

Then, name three things Holt has done to benefit, say, underfed children not affiliated with his church. Come on. I'm listening.

In fact, anyone. Name something good Holt has done for the general population that has nothing to do with gay people or abortion. I want, no, I need to hear it.

...Jim Holt is a real Arkansan who cares about Arkansas values like the pre-born, illegal immigration, and gay marriage.

Oh boy...just what we need: Another religious zealot who can't distinguish between the people's business and God's business.

Oh boy...another 'preacher' taking on the pressing demands of the Old Testament's world rather than the 'real' problems of today's world.

Hands down, the most (unintentionally) funny news release so far of the campaign was the one in which Wooldridge's campaign announced that Hathorn's staff had joined "Team Wooldridge."

Gary Moody, D. Foster and Mark Harrison ran a comically inept campaign. Hathorn could have and should have been in the runoff. The 150-count ethics complaint and the residency lawsuit were the epitome of asinine campaign strategy.

Don't look for a Hathorn-Wooldridge joint news conference announcing Hathorn's endorsement. Hathorn will get peppered with questions about how he can endorse someone with whom he disagrees on every major issue, from abortion [Hathorn is pro-choice, Wooldridge is anti-choice] to plaintiffs' rights [Hathorn voted against the 2003 "tort reform" bill, Wooldridge voted for it] to shielding nursing homes from abuse lawsuits [Hathorn voted against the 2003 "tort reform" for nursing homes bill, Wooldridge voted for it] to Denny Altes' 2003 bill to repeal the Arkansas estate tax [Hathorn voted "present," same effect as voting no, while Wooldridge voted for it].

Everyone knows Hathorn is supporting Wooldridge out of sour grapes, not because they have anything in common.

Oh, and Marion Berry has been "straight up" for Wooldridge since day one, and that got Wooldridge nothing better than No. 2 in the runoff, 40,000 votes behind Halter. Combined with Dustin McDaniel's pathetic showing in the African-American community, despite the mucho payola, the East Arkansas Mafia is looking more like the Keystone Cops.

If you are going to post anonymously, Bud, at least try to vary your writing style up a bit. Mike and Tim do share one key belief: That Arkansas' future is best left in the hands of those who have spent their whole lives here working for Arkansas, not those who have hopped all over the country serving nothing higher than their own ambition.

here's wagering NE Arkansas wins at least 2 of the state wide run offs....with a very good possibility of all 3. you know- it- alls from central ark spout off all you like, but the simple fact of the matter is 1/3 of the democratic vote comes from the first dist. craighead county votes the second most and greene the 5th most people of all counties in the democratic primary. and after this primary, greene may move to 4th. after being ignored and belittled by the likes of you central arkansas people for many years these people cant wait to make their mark. those first district voters have much more in common with a tim wooldridge, as does the average voter in the 3rd dist, than he or she does with halter......and you can imagine the GOTV effort going on in NEA now.

Where did you get those voter numbers?

curious,
if you are addressing your question to me, i think you can still get those numbers off the secretary of state web site. they are 2004 numbers.

I was and thank you.

If you want to get funny. Call the Prosecuting Attorney's office and asked them to give you a copy of this. I want to keep a tab on this.

Mr. Graham Sloan, Director
Arkansas Ethics Commission
P.O. Box 1917
Little Rock, Arkansas, Arkansas 72203.1917

RE: Mike Hathorn Complaint against Bill Halter

Dear Mr. Sloan and Commissioners:

This office received a copy of the complaint dated April 27, 2006, filed with you regarding the various accounts pertaining to Bill Halter's campaigns for Governor and Lt. Governor of Arkansas. It is our position that any futher review by this office of the allegations should follow you investigation. To that end, we would appreciate being apprised of any findings you may make, inasmuch as the allegations are substantial if validated, and raise some serious questions, in our view.

Our inital evaluation raises a few questions we think the Commission should review, specifically ones of timing. That is, it would seem appropriate that the dates the various accounts ere opened, the dates of deposits, withdrawals, transfers between account, and the like identification of the individuals who handled the eforementioned transactions would likely help you develop a cleaner picture of what is a fairly difficult situation to evaluate because of fungibiliy of funds.

Thank you for you review. If we be of assistance, please advise.

Sincerely,

Larry Jegley
Prosecuting Attorney
Sixth Judicial District of Arkansas

It occurs that the problem with Masterson is not that he doesn't know how "ineffective" Holt was in the legislature, or that he (Masterson) knows "less about politics than Wally Hall knows about baseball." It is that, in touting (again) an undisguised theocrat like Holt, Masterson seems not to understand the essence of American republican (lower case "r") government. And the real tragedy is that Arkansas' sole statewide newspaper not only publishes his droolings, and proudly, but pays him for them as well.

Just for fun, It has been rumored that drew pritt
will be Shoffners Chief
Deputy Treasurer. Who would Mac Campbell ,pick?

For chief of Staff who would
Woolridge pick ? maybe Gary Moody .

That's bull and you know it Mac. Are you really this desperate that you have to try to spread such crap?

Wanna talk about arrogance? The idea that the only people on here questioning the Hathorn-Wooldridge unholy alliance are people who are paid Halter campaign staffers. Whereas all the praise for Wooldridge by comparison comes from salt-of-the-earth Arkansans? Please.

Another example of arrogance: accusing Halter of trying to "buy" the election. This is an insult to Arkansas voters, arguing that their support can be "bought." No matter how many TV ads Halter bought, he wouldn't have gotten 109,536 votes on May 23 if he wasn't viewed with at least some credibility. There are plenty of wealthy candidates (Dr. Hampton Roy, who ran for LG in the '80s, Dr. James Billie, who ran for governor in '02 are prime examples) who went nowhere.

Halter has ideas on how to move our state forward in education and job growth. He has put out numerous and specific issue proposals that demonstrate he is a serious candidate. Imagine that--a candidate with ideas attracting votes.

Looking at Hathorn's and Wooldridge's Web sites, there is not a single substantive proposal on a key issue from either one of them. Neither one of them even has an "issues" section. Enough said.

total votes and amount spent:

Shoffner - 110,864 votes - $65k spent
Halter - 106,229 votes - $843k spent
McDaniel - 99,745 votes - $649k spent
Campbell - 91,200 votes - $210k spent
Suskie - 82,817 votes - $448k spent
Wooldridge - 69,840 votes - $438k spent

cost per vote:

Halter - $7.94 per vote
Wooldridge - $6.27 per vote

McDaniel - $6.51 per vote
Suskie - $5.41 per vote

Campbell - $2.30 per vote
Shoffner - .58 cents per vote

Anyone else wonder why people keep attacking a man who is no longer in the race?

Talk about avoiding issues.... geez. Move on, please. Or is this just a desperate attempt to keep Halter's name in the forum since he has no exp. working for this state?

from http://www.arkansasonline.com/election/

Lieutenant Governor - - Dem Primary
2515 of 2515 Precincts Reporting - 100.00%
Halter 109,536 40.1%
Wooldridge 71,627 26.23%
Hathorn 67,998 24.90%
Martin 23,936 8.76%

Attorney General - - Dem Primary
2515 of 2515 Precincts Reporting - 100.00%
McDaniel 101,737 38.04%
Suskie 86,059 32.18%
Herzfeld 79,660 29.78%

Treasurer - - Dem Primary
2515 of 2515 Precincts Reporting - 100.00%
Shoffner 114,264 43.9%
Campbell 93,795 36.04%
House 52,162 20.05%

Well, to tell you the truth people, the only thing I don't like about Holt is that he has this agenda for a theocracy and he has this agenda concerning my rights to my body as a woman. Oh, and I'm sorry Jim, but the Earth is a gazillion years old - try actually learning how to read Hebrew sometime and gaining some insight into real Torah wisdom and what Hebrew is all about and you will see where you are wrong about this 6,000 years crap.

But that aside, I like that he has taken a stance against helping Nursing Home Businesses escape responsibility. NURSING HOMES IN ARKANSAS ARE ATROCIOUS PEOPLE! Holt has all these issues laid out on his website. Wooldridge's links to the Nursing Home business and everything else is going to be made out to be immoral by Holt and he is going to crush Wooldridge. Watch and see. That's why I think Halter is the better choice. More money, smarter, and better appeal.

Dear "deb",

Do you think it's possible for you to disassociate Republicans from your "religious speak" with all of your "mock on" comments? I mean, please. "Mock on"??? What, you have a problem with someone taking the mighty name of Jim Holt in vain? The mighty Holt will not be mocked?

Don't you have better things to concern yourself with like, oh I don't know, fixing your 12 kids lunch or something?

I really abhor anyone putting forth any kind of tone that Liberals are not religious or spiritual or "mockers" as if the Almighty has chosen the GOP to be it's voice in America.

Right. If Holt is associated with "Christians" who advocate the type of "Conservatism" that is assocated with the likes of Dick Cheney (who Holt is proudly pictured with on his website) then I seriously don't know what the word "Christian" denotes anymore because that man has blood all over his hands, torso, and absolutely no regard for the people he sends to war, especially after he successfully dodged service 5 times himself.

Seriously, you theocrats make me sick to my stomach. I'll say a prayer just for you tonight, and may God bless us all by not putting someone as clueless as Holt (along with that big ol' board in his eye) in an office such as Lt. Governor.

"But that aside, I like that he [Holt] has taken a stance against helping Nursing Home Businesses escape responsibility. NURSING HOMES IN ARKANSAS ARE ATROCIOUS PEOPLE! Holt has all these issues laid out on his website."

If only this (seemingly) good point about Holt were true. Holt voted in 2003 for the atrocious "get-nursing-homes-out-of-abuse-judgments-free" bill, House Bill 1213, that almost became law (the session adjourned without the House concurring in Senate amendments).

Here's the roll call.

http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/2003/scripts/ablr/svote/rcsnumvote.asp?rcsnum=2739

Pritt is in the hospital or was there having blood work today. I know because I saw him. Everytime I tried to get him to talk about his health he changed the subject.

You're a sick little puke Mac to go after this guy. He hasn't picked a fight with you. In fact he has gained new respect in my eyes because he is not the bad guy some of you assholes make him out to be. I think you should lay off Pritt. He's more of a man than you'll ever be you skinny asshole!

Someone supporting Mac Campbell put this up in another thread and it's a lie :

"Drew Pritt drove Martha in the parade down here in Magnolia for Blossomfest. That is probably why Campbell won our county.

Posted by: saw it with my own eyes | May 30, 2006 08:01 AM "

You saw a lie. The driver was my fraternity brother Seth Minor from Texarkana.

Who wants a State Treasurer who lies and has people blogging who lies?

Mac Campbell needs to get a life and stop attacking people on the blog. Maybe if he actually campaigned and listened to people instead of picking fights with them, he would have gotten more than 35% of the vote!

I thought Pritt and Campbell were dating? Guess not...

Seriously though......why should anyone care what either of them do?

Not sure "zzzz" but someone on here constantly gives Pritt shit and I personally am starting to get tired of it. Sure Pritt gets on some people's nerves. So what? He doesn't deserve the bullcrap that is dished on here against him. I say let the guy be at peace on here and lets talk about something else other than the bullcrap thats regurgitated every dang week.

Candidate - total votes - % - spent - per vote

Halter -        109,536 - 40% - $843k - $7.70

Wooldridge -   71,627 - 26% - $438k - $6.12

McDaniel -    101,737 - 38% - $649k - $6.38
Suskie -         86,059 - 32% - $448k - $5.21

Shoffner -    114,264 - 44% -   $65k - $0.57
Campbell -     93,795 - 36% - $210k - $2.24

Candidate - total votes - % - spent - per vote

Halter -        109,536 - 40% - $843k - $7.70

Wooldridge -   71,627 - 26% - $438k - $6.12

McDaniel -    101,737 - 38% - $649k - $6.38
Suskie -         86,059 - 32% - $448k - $5.21

Shoffner -    114,264 - 44% -   $65k - $0.57
Campbell -     93,795 - 36% - $210k - $2.24

Dear Holt Voted To Screw Over Nursing Home Patients:

I humbly prostrate myself before you. I thought (hoped?) that maybe he was a decent person under the influence of religious pychosis and prone to magical thinking and beliefs. I now see that he is merely an immoral, lying dickhead under the influence of religious psychosis and prone to magical thinking and beliefs. Thank you for the correction.

Well, you know what they say about those homophobes, they all got a little gay in 'em. He's probably wanting to Top everybody.

Actually homophobes end up being slutty little bottom boys. Just an observation.

I'm straight and I wish there were more gay men. That's just less competition for us. Why would any truly straight man care? I think the previous posters are correct. Most homophobes are guys that aren't comfortable with their own sexuality. They think it's a choice because they are gay and choose not to act on it.