ov. Mike Beebe has offered his recommendation as to who should lead the state Democratic Party after last month's shooting death of slain Chairman Bill Gwatney.
Beebe told The Associated Press the decision should be announced "fairly quickly," but declined to name his pick. Darinda Sharp, a party spokesman, said the announcement likely would come sometime Friday.
"It would be inappropriate to release it without having internal conversations first," Sharp said.
Sharp said officials continued to have discussion with the pick and among themselves Thursday. Other officials did not return calls for comment.
Members of the state party's executive committee have said they would follow tradition and allow Beebe, a Democrat, to recommend a new chairman. Under party rules, the party's vice chairman must call a meeting of the party's state committee within 60 days of the vacancy.
Sharp said Thursday that a date has not been set yet for the state committee.
Beebe, who served in the state Senate with Gwatney, has said he would like to find a new chairman who could work with the different constituencies of the state's Democratic party. The party holds a majority of seats in the Legislature, all but one of the state's congressional seats and all the statewide offices.
Gwatney, who would have turned 49 during last month's Democratic National Convention, was shot and killed in his office at the party headquarters Aug. 13. The gunman, Timothy Dale Johnson, was shot dead by police after leading them on a 30-mile chase.
Rebecca Gwatney, Gwatney's widow, served as a superdelegate at the convention in her husband's place.