Arkansas Blog

I knew Bill Clinton before he was famous and 'charismatic' is not a term I would use to describe him.

Its a slow blog day, so what are ya'lls thoughts on this:

Take a look at the bolded portion of this article. Is an appeal necessary to take this law off the books?
And isn't there a conflict of interest here in Beebe opining on the issue?

Green Party petition rejected
Seeker suing, says threshold is unfair
BY SETH BLOMELEY ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Jim Lendall rolled a dolly to the state Capitol on Tuesday to deliver boxes containing a petition he said was signed by 18,000 people wanting to certify the Green Party as an official political party in Arkansas.
That's not enough signatures, said Tim Humphries, a lawyer for Secretary of State Charlie Daniels, who met Lendall in the elections office in the Capitol basement.
Lendall, a former Democratic state legislator, said he knew that. He said he plans to sue because he believes the state makes it so difficult for a third-party candidate to get on the ballot that the rules violate the U.S. Constitution.
The Democratic and Republican parties are the two certified parties in Arkansas, Humphries said.
Lendall of Mabelvale wants to run for governor under the Green Party label.
He said he needed to go through the formality of dropping off the signatures so he could get a rejection letter from Daniels to include in the lawsuit.
Humphries asked Lendall if he wanted a rejection letter mailed or if he wanted to stick around so that one could be drafted and handed to him.
Lendall said he'd stick around because he wanted the letter as soon as possible so he could file the lawsuit. He plans to file in federal court in Little Rock.
"I guess this means we'll see you in court," Lendall smiled, slapping Humphries on the back. Humphries laughed and asked whether Lendall wanted to take his petition back.
Lendall said he would leave the pages in case he won his lawsuit. In that case, the secretary of state's office would have to count them. He said he has about 18,000 names, plenty to ensure success in complying with the 10,000-signature threshold for independent candidates.
"But I'm taking the dolly," Lendall said.
Arkansas law requires that a third party obtain signatures from registered voters equal to at least 3 percent of the votes cast in the last race for governor. That means Lendall needs 24,171 signatures, according to the secretary of state's office.
But a candidate who wants to run as an independent needs only 10,000 signatures.
"Why put unreasonable burdens for people's access to the ballot ?" Lendall said in an interview afterward. "If you were wealthy, you could get on the ballot. You could get 30, 40, 80,000 signatures. But for the people to do that, it's a real battle."
Daniels said he was following the advice of his office attorney, Humphries, on the question. He said he hadn't given much thought as to whether, as a matter of policy, the higher bar is proper for thirdparty candidates.
"I don't know the rationale behind it, but I'm assuming it's to keep a lot of people from just coming in and filing as a matter of practice versus being serious," Daniels, a Democrat, said.
Lendall maintains the federal courts have already ruled on this issue.
"We feel the 1996 decision supports us completely," Lendall said.
A 1996 ruling by U.S. District Judge George Howard Jr. in a case in the Eastern District of Arkansas involving the Reform Party said Arkansas' signature threshold for third-party candidates was unconstitutional because it's significantly easier for an independent to get on the ballot. Howard cited the 14th Amendment right to equal protection of the laws.
Rep. Pam Adcock, D-Little Rock, Lendall's successor in the Legislature, this past summer asked Attorney General Mike Beebe, also a Democrat, for an official legal opinion to clarify the difference between state law and Howard's ruling.
In an Aug. 10 opinion prepared by Assistant Attorney General Jack Druff, Beebe said the state law remains in effect. The opinion said that Howard's ruling was never appealed and it's possible that another federal district judge could reach a different conclusion.
The attorney general's office also noted that Howard's decision regarded the combined effect of state election laws pertaining to third-party candidates. The opinion noted that since Howard's ruling, the state has removed a Jan. 2 election-year deadline that used to be in state law for third-party candidates to turn in their petitions, a deadline that was deemed to be too early.
In 2001, Howard ordered that the state place a Green Party nominee on the ballot for the special election for Congress in Arkansas' 3rd District. Howard ruled that there wasn't enough time for a third-party candidate to gather the necessary signatures. That candidate, Sarah Marsh of Fayetteville, received less than 2 percent of the vote.
Lendall isn't assured a spot on the ballot even if the Green Party is certified. The Green Party would then have to hold a convention to choose its nominees, which would have to happen by Sept. 8, if the party wanted them to be on the ballot, according to the secretary of state's office.
Rod Bryan of Little Rock has turned in signatures to appear on the ballot for governor as an independent. The secretary of state's office hasn't finished counting Bryan's petition's signatures.
Beebe of Searcy is the Democratic nominee for governor. Former congressman Asa Hutchinson of Little Rock is the Republican nominee.
This story was published Wednesday, May 31, 2006

When did Bill have this trance-like hold over Newt? I don't recall them being brothers in arms in the 1990s?

Very timely comment Dem-Gaz, click on my name below to an article about this very subject published yesterday by the New York Times.

Brantley....Thanks for the compliment on Holt. He will make a great Lt. Guv and will make a great Governor in Eight years when Governor Hutchinson's terms are over. The horrible income tax will be gone and the Legislature will be a majority of Republicans and will will be in great shape.

Newt had a man crush on Bill until he (Newt) resigned. It manifested itself in the usual juvenile sexual- tension- love- hate thing, very playground-esque, the usual matters of shutting down government and whatnot. Newt was finally broken by the revelation that, despite four years of carefully choreographed repartee and heated innuendo, Clinton gets caught with a 25-year-old intern. The Gingrich ego couldn't take such a shattering humiliation.

[Charismatic people] are more likely to smile and initiate physical contact and, consciously or unconsciously, they tend to mimic the body language of their listener.

I recall a study I read a few years ago on body language. In observing people who didn't know they were being watched, the researchers learned that most people talking to their boss or others in authority tend to unconsciously copy the powerful person's body position. If the boss stands stiffly, so does the underling talking to him. If the boss smiles, the underling smiles. If the boss scratches his arm, the underling will scratch his own arm.

So I guess mimicking someone else's body language makes the other person feel empowered, and people like that.

I've also heard that being a listener is a sure way to get people to like you. I remember hearing "person A" tell how he once sat by a stranger, "person B", on a long plane flight. At the end of the flight "B" told "A" that he had never met anybody so friendly or interesting to talk to. It turns out that, for the whole flight, "A" had never said more than "yes" and "no". He let "B" do all the talking and "B" just loved him for it.

Anonymous,

Dude, you have consumed waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to much kool aid!

How about a study of The Decider's body language? I especially like when he is thinking real hard and grips the podium until his knuckles turn white...trying so, so hard to come up with an intelligent answer to a simple question.
But, what do you expect from our simple president?
"I can only speak to myself." -George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005

Oh yeah....8 years of Governor Asa and 4 years of Governor Holt.....I'd rather have a rectal examine by Roto-Rooter. I'd rather be consumed over the course of several candle lit dinners by Jeff Dahmer. I'd rather wear a naked Janet Huckabee on my head like a party hat. I'd rather have my legs ripped off and sewed to my face so I looked like a grotesque Dr. Scholl's walrus. I'd rather make passionate love to Linda Tripp in full view of the public at high noon in the rotunda of the state capitol. I'd rather have a dirty toenail salad served up in my cell at Tucker Prison Farm. I'd rather shave my cat and tattoo 666 on his back. I'd rather be forced to watch 100 hours of Ronnie Floyd sermons on DVD. I'd rather have a peanut-butter and KY jelly sandwich. I'd rather............

If Jim Holt ever got close enough to gaze into my eyes, I'd punch the racist demagoging bastard in the mouth!

I'm not a Newt or a clinton fan but I doubt very seriously that Newt was in awe of clinton. That sounds like a wishful characterization of a clinton fan.

Hey, can we talk 'bout Jim Lendall in our own thread, Max?

i don't know it was charisma, but
david maraniss in his book
noted how gingrich was mesmerized
by clinton and got taken to the cleaners
time and time again.

In Clinton's case, it also helps to have memory like a steel trap. The guy never forgets a face, or if he does, he still greets you like a long lost cousin. And hell, since we're both Arkies, we may well be.

Clinton is very good at memorizing things. Often that has been confused with intellect. He is very good at 'back slapping' and it has served him well. However, books or no books Newt is not the type to be mesmorized by someone like clinton. They both have HUGE egos.

Though some people are creeped out when [Holt] does that up-close-and-personal-look-deep-in-your-eye thing.

I've know people who tend to stare you down. They keep looking into your eyes until you look away. I guess it's some sort of power/dominance thing.

I saw a new staff lawyer try that on James Spader a few weeks ago on Boston Legal. Didn't work. He stared her back into the ground.

Love that show!

Max fat-ass Brantley won't talk about us Greenies.

I DEMAND A THREAD ON OUR GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE!

In all seriousness, Newt was afflicted by a disease that was pandemic in DC in the late 1990s, and is commonly known as Colonel Klink Syndrome. It is a form of PTSD generated by repeatedly getting boned by someone who is much smarter than you, despite your most elaborate efforts to ensnare them.

Appears the Greenies are no better than the Religious Right - they resort to name calling, playground tactics when they don't get what they want. We got one whining, immature, judgemental party in this country and we sure don't need another.

My mother told me a very long time ago about men who call people fat = she said tell them that you can alway lose weight, but your shortcomings sadly for you will never change.

The way my mamma told it "I can always lose weight - you'll always be stupid"

Greenie needs to start his own blog so he can navel gaze to his lonely heart's content.

Alot of the Greens are supporters of Justice For Janie, a cancer of a murder coverup that Arkansas officials don't want to talk about,neither does Max Brantley in his little paper.

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