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Poll: Arkansas Senate race between Pryor and Cotton remains a dead heat
New poll shows Pryor with a slight lead that’s within the margin of error
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor
LITTLE ROCK (CFP) — Despite a deluge of negative television ads aired by both sides, a new poll shows the U.S. Senate race in Arkansas remains a statistical dead heat seven months out from the November election.
U.S. Senator Mark Pryor
The Talk Business Hendrix College poll puts Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Pryor’s support at 45.5 percent, compared to 42.5 percent for his Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton. The remaining 12 percent are undecided or for minor candidates.
The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points, which makes the race between Pryor and Cotton a statistical dead heat.
In that same poll in October, Pryor had 42 percent and Cotton 41 percent, which was also within the margin of error.
U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton
This latest poll of 1,068 frequent Arkansas voters was taken April 3 and 4, amid a wave of negative ads from outside groups against both candidates.
Cotton is being criticized him for his work as a corporate consultant before getting into politics, while Pryor is being hit for his vote in favor of Obamacare.
The poll shows Pryor with a 10-point lead among women and Cotton with a 7-point lead among men. Cotton’s lead among voters who call themselves independent was 50 percent to 34 percent for Pryor.
The poll also found that Pryor led Cotton in three of the state’s four congressional districts, including the 4th District, which Cotton represents in Congress. The only district where Cotton had a lead was in the heavily Republican 3rd District in northwest Arkansas.
Marco Rubio says he’ll leave Senate if he runs for president
Florida Republican, whose seat is up in 2016, says he won’t look for an “exit strategy”
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor
WASHINGTON (CFP) — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio says that if he runs for president in 2016, he won’t try to simultaneously run for re-election to his Senate seat, which would put him on the political sidelines should his White House bid fall short.
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio
“I think, by and large, when you choose to do something as big as that, you’ve really got to be focused on that and not have an exit strategy,” the Florida Republican told radio host Hugh Hewitt. He says he won’t make a final decision on which office to seek until next spring.
Florida law currently does not allow a candidate to pursue two offices at once. However, Republicans control the state legislature — where Rubio once served — and the governorship, opening the possibility of changing the law to accommodate the senator.
The most famous case of running for two offices at once came in 1960, when Lyndon Johnson ran for the vice presidency and his Senate seat in Texas. He resigned the seat after winning the vice presidency.
Most recently, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan ran for re-election to his House seat in 2012 while he was also the GOP’s vice presidential nominee. That kept him in Congress after the Romney-Ryan ticket lost.
Another possible 2016 White House hopeful, U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, is also up for re-election in 2016. Republicans in the Bluegrass State have been considering changing state law to allow Paul to pursue both offices.
Kentucky currently has a Democratic governor who could stand in the way, although the governorship will be up for election next year.
Paul’s father, former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, ran for re-election to his House seat in 2008 after ending his unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination. However, when he ran again in 2012, he opted not to run for his House seat.
Senate Conservatives Fund backs T.W. Shannon in Oklahoma Senate race
Conservative group is now backing GOP primary candidates in five Southern states
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com
OKLAHOMA CITY (CFP) — Former Oklahoma House Speaker T.W. Shannon has picked up an endorsement from the Senate Conservatives Fund in his Republican U.S. Senate primary battle with U.S. Rep. James Lankford.
Former Oklahoma House Speaker T.W. Shannon
Matt Hoskins, the SCF’s executive director, says his group is backing Shannon because he “is a constitutional conservative who will fight to stop the massive spending and debt that are bankrupting our country.”
“Shannon believes in the principles of freedom that make this country great and will stand up to the big spenders in both parties to balance the budget and stop Obamacare,” Hoskins says.
Shannon, 35, from Lawton, is an African-American and also an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation. A one-time aide to former U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts, Shannon rocketed to prominence in state politics, becoming speaker just six years after being elected in 2006.
U.S. Rep. James Lankford
Lankford, 45, represents much of metro Oklahoma City in the House, In just his second term in Congress, he was elected head of the House Republican Policy Committee, the fifth highest position in the House GOP leadership.
That insider resume has drawn fire from some Tea Party and conservative groups who have been rallying around Shannon as a challenger.
However, Shannon will have competition for the Tea Party vote from former State Senator Randy Brogdon, who jumped out of Oklahoma’s governor’s race and into the Senate race after U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn announced he would resign at the end of the year.
Brogdon has announced that if elected, he will vote to topple Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The SCF is backing McConnell’s primary challenger in Kentucky, Matt Bevin.
In addition to Oklahoma and Kentucky, the SCF is backing candidates in Republican Senate primaries in Mississippi and Louisiana.
There are four other Republican’s in the race for Coburn’s seat: Kevin Crow, Eric McCray, Evelyn Rogers and Jason Weger.
Given the Sooner State’s strong Republican tilt, the GOP nominee will be the prohibitive favorite in November. The lone Democrat is the race is former State Senator Kenneth Corn, his party’s unsuccessful nominee for lieutenant governor in 2010.
Alabama U.S. House candidate takes aim at Obamacare — literally
GOP hopeful Will Brooke posts a video in which he shoots guns at a copy of the Obamacare bill
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (CFP) — Taking literal aim at Obamacare, Will Brooke, a Republican candidate for Alabama’s 6th District U.S. House seat, has posted a video in which he shoots at a copy of the 2,000-page bill.
The video, posted on YouTube, is entitled “Let’s Do Some Damage.” With bluegrass music playing in the background, Brooke drives his pickup truck out into the country. puts a copy of the bill in a wooden frame and then shoots at it with handgun, a rifle and, finally, an automatic weapon.
U.S. House candidate Will Brooke
“We’re down here to have a little fun today and to talk about two serious subjects — the Second Amendment and see how much damage we can do to this copy of Obamacare,” Brooke says.
Not satisfied with the damage he is able to inflict on the bill, Brooke finally feeds it into a wood chipper.
Brooke is head of a Birmingham-based venture capital firm and served as chairman of the Business Council of Alabama. He is making his first run for political office
The 6th District takes in most of suburban Birmingham, along with a four rural counties to the South. It is one of most heavily Republican districts in the country, giving Mitt Romney 74 percent of the vote in 2012.
Brook is one of six Republicans running for the seat, which opened up after U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus announced his retirement last year.
The other Republicans in the race are State Senator Scott Beason, State Rep. Paul DeMarco,Chad Mathis, Gary Palmer, Rob Shattuck and Tom Vigneulle.
Here is the video Brooke posted on YouTube:
Edwin Edwards running for U.S. House seat in Louisiana
The former governor, who served eight years in prison for corruption, is attempting a comeback at age 86
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (CFP) — Edwin Edwards, the colorful and controversial former Louisiana governor, will attempt a political comeback by seeking the state’s 6th District U.S. House seat.
Edwards, 86, a Democrat who served eight years in federal prison on corruption charges, announced his run March 17 during an appearance at the Baton Rouge Press Club.
House hopeful Edwin Edwards
“I’m positive I can run, and I’m confident I can win,” said Edwards, who was accompanied by his wife, Trina — 51 years his junior — and their 1-year-old son.
Edwards said he did not think his run would be an embarrassment to Louisiana.
“It might be something the state should be proud of because forgiveness, understanding and second chances are important in life and in politics,” he said.
Edwards is seeking the House seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy, who is challenging Democratic U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu. The district takes in parts of nine parishes in and around Baton Rouge.
Edwards told reporters that he had considered challenging Landrieu before deciding on the House race. As a convicted felon, Louisiana law bars him for running for a statewide office.
The district is heavily Republican, giving Mitt Romney 67 percent of the vote in 2012. However, with 10 Republicans in the race, Edwards has a good shot at making it through the state’s jungle primary, where candidates from all parties run in the same race and the two top vote getters advance to a runoff.
Edwards served a record four terms as Louisiana’s governor between 1972 and 1996. In 1991, after being acquitted of federal corruption charges, he won a runoff against white supremacist David Duke. During that campaign, a popular bumper sticker urged Louisianians to “Vote For the Crook. It’s Important.”
In 2001, Edwards was convicted on 17 counts of bribery, extortion, fraud and racketeering stemming from his last term as governor. Among the charges was that he took $400,000 from former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo for help him secure a casino license.
Sentenced to 10 years in prison, Edwards was released in 2011 after serving eight years. Less than a month later, he married Trina Edwards, who had been a prison pen pal. The couple starred in a reality television show, The Governor’s Wife, which aired on the A&E cable network in 2013.
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