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Thursday, August 31, 2006 - 20:10:47
Bush's LR visit: the media coverage
Driving home from work this afternoon, I caught a segment on National Public Radio about how the local Arkansas media covered President George W. Bush's visit to Little Rock yesterday.
The angle of the story was that there wasn't much to cover, because his event was not open to the press. The reporter speculates that may have been an indication that Republican gubernatorial candidate Asa Hutchinson wanted to avoid a connection with Bush.
The piece includes a couple of audio clips from KTHV and KATV and some analysis from University of Arkansas professor Hoyt Purvis.
Hog trivia
LA Times offers this trivia question in its encyclopedic coverage of the UA-USC game:
Trivia time: Who served as a ball boy for the 1974 Arkansas football team?
Fourth and rising
Hotline, the blogs say, put The Huckster fourth in the GOP sweepstakes behind, in order, McCain, Romney and Guiliani. Truth is, quote us, The Huckster is better than his betters in that field.Woody buys TV
It looks like Democratic congressional candidate Woody Anderson is going to launch a campaign ad this week, and it may even air during the Razorback football game on Saturday night. Anderson is running against incumbent U.S. Rep. John Boozman in the 3rd District.
In what we hope will be a regular feature here during the campaign season, we're bringing you a preview of the ad. Check it out (Adobe Flash Player required):
Wag that dog
WASHINGTON - The U.S. military is operating on the assumption that Tehran is five to eight years away from being able to build a nuclear bomb, The Washington Times reported in its Thursday edition. The five-year window provides the Bush administration time to decide whether to launch air strikes to cripple Tehran's atomic program, the newspaper said, citing defense sources familiar with discussions inside the Pentagon.
More poll numbers -- UPDATED
Here's Survey USA on the race for lt. gov. -- Halter, 48; Holt, 39; undecided, 12.
The margins are wider in races for other constitutional officers, as well as that for governor, mentioned earlier.
Mark Raines, news director at KTHV, says the link we supplied this morning was for an earlier KTHV poll. The numbers are slightly different for the installment to be announced tonight at 10 -- 50 Halter, 41 Holt and 8 undecided.. They'll have secretary of state numbers at 5 today and attorney general at 6, both with big leads for the Dems, just as Mike Beebe enjoyed in the governor's race.
And this appears to be a correct link to the internal numbers on the polling.In answer to a reader question, the party identification breakdown is 42 D, 28 R and 26 I. From that link:
Democrats Sweep Arkansas State Offices: In a general election in Arkansas today, 8/30/06, Democrats win in contests for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, and Attorney General, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for KTHV-TV Little Rock. The election is on 11/7/06. For Governor, Democrat Mike Beebe beats Republican Asa Hutchinson, 55% to 38%. Since an identical SurveyUSA KTHV-TV poll 6 weeks ago, Beebe has gained 7 points and Hutchinson is unchanged. Beebe's lead has increased from 10 to 17 points. Incumbent Republican Governor Mike Huckabee is term-limited. For Lieutenant Governor, Democrat Bill Halter beats Republican Jim Holt, 50% to 41%. 6 weeks ago, Halter led by 9; he still does. Incumbent Republican Lieutenant Governor Win Rockefeller, who was not running for re-election, died 7/16/06. For Secretary of State, incumbent Democrat Charlie Daniels beats Republican Jim Lagrone, 57% to 33%. 6 weeks ago, Daniels led by 23, now leads by 24. For Attorney General, Democrat Dustin McDaniel beats Republican Gunner DeLay 53% to 35%. 6 weeks ago, McDaniel led by 15, now leads by 18.
Citizens, arrest this man
Andy Mayberry, the congressional candidate, has scheduled some Labor Day weekend gimmick events in hopes a bored TV crew or two will give him some free air time. News release on jump.
The release got us to thinking about his slogan, "It's time to take Mayberry thinking to Washington."
Apart from the fact that there are a growing number of Americans who don't know what the heck he's talking about, even though the Andy Griffith show/Mayberry RFD still airs on cable, we happen to have many recollections of Mayberry thinking that his slogan evokes and what of it he might take to Washington.
Would Andy Mayberry be Gomer, madly racing around shouting "Citizen's arrest!"
Or dopey Goober?
Or befuddled Floyd the Barber?
Or rock-chunking Ernest T. Bass?
But we keep being drawn back to the image of earnest Deputy Barney Fife, entrusted with but one unchambered bullet and a propensity for bamboozlement by everyone from the town drunk to visiting bank robbers.