No Clear Favorite In Ark. Senate Race

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AllPolitics, Nov. 2) -- Well into June, Republican Rep. Tim Hutchinson was certain to be re-elected to the House. Instead, he is in an unexpected battle for Arkansas' open Senate seat.

Under strong pressure from Republican leaders, Hutchinson entered the Senate race after the original GOP nominee, Mike Huckabee, withdrew in order to succeed Democratic Gov. Jim Guy Tucker. Tucker was forced to resign after being convicted of financial irregularities in a case related to the Whitewater controversy.

The popular Huckabee, who had been lieutenant governor, was a solid favorite to succeed retiring Democrat David Pryor and become Arkansas' first Republican senator since Reconstruction. But Hutchinson is running neck and neck with the Democratic nominee, state Attorney General Winston Bryant.

Though Bryant entered the race as the Democratic front- runner, he was pulled into a primary runoff against state Sen. Lu Hardin before he could get the nomination. The wounds from that hard-fought battle are not completely healed; Hardin's chief strategist, Bill Vickery, has gone to work for Hutchinson's campaign.

Bryant is using the same strategy against Hutchinson that Democratic candidates across the country are using against GOP House incumbents: tying him to the controversial conservative agenda of Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). Hutchinson voted overwhelmingly in favor of the items in the House Republicans' "Contract With America."

Bryant's TV commercials are being backed up with ads aired by the Arkansas Democratic Party. One spot features a federal worker who was laid off during last year's government shutdown. The worker says on camera, "Tim Hutchinson had the gall to shut down the government with Newt Gingrich and then announce he needed his paycheck, leaving the rest of Arkansas holding the bag."

Hutchinson was little known outside northwest Arkansas' heavily Republican 3rd District, which he has represented just since 1993. He has been traveling around the state and airing TV spots introducing himself to the voters. He has answered Bryant's attacks on the GOP record, claiming that House Republicans increased funding for Medicare (limiting only the size of future increases) and student loans while cutting taxes. "Shame on you, Winston Bryant," one ad says. "Arkansas deserves better."

The state GOP has weighed in as well, airing a TV commercial criticizing Bryant for sharply increasing his office budgets while attorney general and previously as Gov. Bill Clinton's lieutenant governor, and for traveling to the Virgin Islands. "For 15 years, Winston Bryant's been very liberal with your money," the commercial says.

Hutchinson also is trying to demonstrate his independence from the Speaker. He was one of only four Republicans to vote to release the outside counsel's report on Gingrich's alleged ethics violations.

Related Stories:

• Huckabee Chooses The Governor's Mansion -- May 31, 1996
• Run-Off Set In Arkansas -- April 22, 1996

Related Links:

• Arkansas State Profile