Arkansans end final push

LITTLE ROCK — Candidates in the state’s top races rallied their supporters Monday in a final push for victory today, Election Day.

At stake are a U.S. Senate seat, four U.S. House seats,the governor’s office and six other constitutional posts, a state Supreme Court position,100 state representative seats and 17 state Senate seats.

More Arkansans cast early and absentee ballots this election than in the last midterm election four years ago. The secretary of state’s office estimated that 264,820 were cast through Monday, up about40,000 from 2006.

Secretary of State Charlie Daniels has projected that 54percent of voters will cast ballots, compared with 48 percent in 2006. During the 2008 presidential election year, 402,905 early and absentee votes were cast and the total vote was 1.086 million in Arkansas, or 64.5 percent of registered voters.

The marquee race is the U.S. Senate race. Democratic incumbent Blanche Lincoln of Little Rock persistently trailed Republican 3rd District Congressman John Boozman of Rogers in the polls.

She started her campaign in March 2009 with fundraising help from Vice President Joe Biden in Little Rock.

Boozman has repeatedly accused her of siding with the Obama administration and Democratic Party leaders. She has maintained she is an independent voice for Arkansas, sometimes opposing the president and party figures.

On Monday, each of them was touting their support for farmers as they campaigned in Crittenden County.

Boozman got an assist from his campaign co-chairman, Stanley Reed of Marianna, former president of the Arkansas Farm Bureau and a University of Arkansas trustee.

“I want to validate to you how important John Boozman has been to our agricultural community,” Reed told about 30 people at county GOP headquarters in West Memphis. “He literally was our goto person in the House on agriculture issues in the House.Even if it didn’t concern agriculture in his district he was concerned about everything that went on in agriculture across the state.”

Reed said Boozman voted twice to override vetoes by former Republican President George W. Bush on farm bills. Reed said that proved Boozman was an “independent voice.”

“We have as much agriculture as anyone else,” Boozman said of the 3rd District. “It’s poultry, beef cattle, a tremendous amount of that. It truly is important. We lost manufacturing. We’re totally dependent on foreign oil. The last thing we want to do is lose our food supply to overseas.”

Lincoln is chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. A major theme of her campaign has been what she can do for Arkansas in that role.

Boozman has countered with Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky promising him a seat on the Agriculture Committee if elected. Lincoln has replied that maybe having a seat on the committee isn’t the same as being its chairman.

Lincoln, campaigning in Marion, shook her head upon hearing about Reed’s comment that Boozman was the Farm Bureau’s point man for farming.

“Oh, that’s a laugh,” she said. “If [farming] is as important [to Boozman] as [Boozman] says it is, maybe he would have gotten on the Agriculture Committee 10 years ago. I haven’t seen him stand up for it.”

Lincoln, who comes from a rice farming family, said she has “roots in southern production agriculture.”

She added, “I don’t know why in the world people [in Arkansas] would believe that when it comes time for the 2012 farm bill [Boozman] will stand up and defend them.”

Speaking to about 30 people during a rally outside the Crittenden County courthouse, she said she has helped bring $3.2 billion in rural development aid to Arkansas. She said it’s helped improve wastewater treatment, build roads, and fund community colleges.

“Folks, let me tell you you don’t get that unless you are willing to work for it,” Lincoln said. “That chairmanship provides me a pipeline of jobs and opportunities for our state and particularly the Delta.”

Lincoln urged people to get the vote out in eastern Arkansas - “If we win the 1st District, we win the race.”

Boozman said he was confident.

“We’ve got to step up and do everything we can to get our friends and family to the polls,” he said. “If we do that, we’re going to be very successful. The greatest thing we’ve got going for us is word of mouth. We’re going to hunker down and we’ll be very successful.”

One campaign volunteer asked Boozman what farmers would have to give up in order to get the federal budget as Boozman wants. Boozman didn’t give specifics, but said a proposed balanced budget amendment would help guide those decisions.

Boozman’s stops Monday also included El Dorado, Fort Smith, and Little Rock.

Lincoln stopped in Pine Bluff and Stuttgart and Little Rock.

One hotly contested congressional race is east Arkansas’ 1st District, where Republican Rick Crawford of Jonesboro is pitted against Democrat Chad Causey of Jonesboro. Each side has been calling the other liar. No Republican has held the position since Reconstruction.

Causey is former chief of staff for the departing Democratic incumbent, Marion Berry of Gillett. Crawford owns an agricultural news service.

The race in central Arkansas’ 2nd District has gotten testy. Republican Tim Griffin and Democrat Joyce Elliott, both of Little Rock, have called each other’s character into question. Griffin, an attorney, has been accused of helping Republicans suppress voting by poor blacks in Florida, a charge he denies and which Democrats say he is lying about.

Elliott, a state senator and former public school teacher, has been accused of a character lapse for citing some of the public accusations that have been made against Griffin about the voter suppression controversy and his role in supplanting former U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins in Little Rock without undergoing the usual congressional quizzing.

Polls generally have shown Griffin well ahead.

Elliott, who voted Monday, said she was “very pleased with all that we have done to prepare for victory which I am ready for and confident about. Some folks are going to be really surprised, but I won’t be.”

Elliott said she has only prepared a victory speech.

Griffin said he plans to vote today.

“I expect to keep working very hard to get our voters to the polls. My only expectation is that we will not be outworked,” he said.

In the governor’s race, Democratic incumbent Mike Beebe and Republican candidate Jim Keet said they’re ready for their duel to be over.

Keet, a Little Rock businessman and former state lawmaker, said at a news conference at the state Capitol in Little Rock that he and his wife are “going to be very happy Arkansans one way or another” on Wednesday.

But Keet said he is still optimistic about the race.

“At about 1 o’clock Wednesday morning the people of Arkansas are going to be amazed I was able to overcome an incredible spending deficit, that I’ve only been in the race for eight months and the governor has been in the race for a couple of decades, probably. They’re going to look around and say ‘You know what? I think this Jim Keet guy is going to be a pretty darn good governor,’” Keet said.

At his Pine Bluff campaign headquarters Monday, Beebe said he was glad it was the last day before election day.

“I know people are tired of phone calls and tired of commercials, but it’s part of the American process and it’ll be over tomorrow,” he said. “I think the campaign workers, the candidates and certainly the voters will all be glad that it will be over.”

Beebe said he feels good about his campaign.

“We’ve kept our campaign pretty positive and all our commercials really positive. People have constantly commented about enjoying the positive commercials, they keep saying they don’t like negative commercials, but I think what it’s going to take is voters actually reacting in a negative way to negative commercials before they quit doing them,” he said.

Democratic lieutenant governor nominee Shane Broadway of Bryant accompanied Beebe in Pine Bluff on Monday.

“It’s a matter of turnout, if our folks get out and vote.... then I feel very confident that we’re going to win,” said Broadway.

Republican lieutenant governor nominee Mark Darr of Springdale, who is locked in a close race with Broadway, spent the day in central Arkansas, according to his spokesman.

Voters will cast ballots today to elect 100 state representatives and 17 of the state Senate’s 35 members. The House of Representatives is now comprised of 72 Democrats and 28 Republicans and the Senate is now made up of 27 Democrats and eight Republicans.

Republicans are hoping to capitalize on voter dissatisfaction with the Democratic controlled Congress and the Obama Administration to make double-digit gains in Legislature seats. Democrats are hoping to stem GOP gains by pointing to, among other things, the Democratic-controlled Legislature’s tax cuts.

Election Day Polling places are open today from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Need help? Call the secretary of state’s Elections Division at (800) 482-1127 or try the office’s website, votenaturally. org.

Another option for those with questions about voting is to contact your county clerk’s office. In Pulaski County, call (501) 340-8336 for voter registration issues and (501) 340-8383 about polling locations. The county’s website is votepulaski.net.

For more election information, go to arkansasonline.com/2010results.

Information for this article was contributed by Sarah D. Wire of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.