LITTLE ROCK — President Barack Obama won the Arkansas presidential primary Tuesday, but a little-known challenger from Tennessee drew large numbers of votes.
Meanwhile, likely Republican nominee Mitt Romney swamped his largely inactive competitors in what promised to be an easy victory for the former Massachusetts governor.
Obama appeared certain to win the popular vote, but challenger John Wolfe received a good share of the ballots. Last week the Democratic Party declared that Wolfe wouldn’t receive any of the state’s 55 delegates, no matter how many votes he received.
With 2,366 of 2,370 precincts reporting, the unofficial results were:
Obama ....................... 94,752 Wolfe ......................... 67,395
Reached by telephone Tuesday evening, Obama spokesman Addie Whisenant declined to comment about the president’s Arkansas showing.
State Democratic Party spokesman Candace Martin said the incumbent had fared well.
“President Obama is carrying well over 50 percent of the primary vote, showing strong support for his presidency,” she said.
As for Wolfe, Martin said, a campaign to raise awareness about the Tennessee lawyer and perennial candidate had met with predictable results.
“There have been robocalls and advertisements working to drive his name and his candidacy. So it’s not a surprise that has driven up his name recognition,” Martin said.
Although the party’s decision last week not to award Wolfe any delegates made his votes for the Democratic nomination moot, Wolfe would have qualified for at least at-large delegates if he had filed the correct paperwork in December and February.
Wolfe, a 58-year-old Chattanooga, Tenn., resident, said Tuesday that he was pleased with his performance. Incomplete and unofficial returns showed he was likely to win at least 30 counties in the state, mostly in the rural 1st and 4th Congressional Districts.
His strong support in rural Arkansas was because of resentment of Obama, Wolfe said.
“I just think that shows that people feel that he’s out of touch. I think people are ready for a change,” he said.
In the Republican presidential primary, Romney had a commanding lead, more than 65,000 votes ahead of his nearest challenger for the state party’s 33 delegates.
The other three candidates: Texas Rep. Ron Paul; former Georgia Rep. Newt Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum have either suspended their campaigns or stopped active campaigning.
The Romney campaign attempted to make Tuesday’s results a referendum on Obama’s presidency.
“It’s clear President Obama hasn’t lived up to the promises he made in 2008, and we’re confident voters will be looking to support a candidate like Mitt Romney with a proven record on the economy and job creation,” Romney’s spokesman Sarah Pompei said.
Romney’s victory in the state takes him closer to clinching the national nomination. With Arkansas’ delegates and a Tuesday victory in Kentucky, Romney needs fewer than 100 delegates to reach the finish line of 1,144 delegates.
With 2,369 of 2,370 precincts reporting, the unofficial results were:
Romney. . . . . . . . . . . . . 102,930 Paul. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20,238 Santorum . . . . . . . . . . . . 20,101 Gingrich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,425
Wolfe’s strong showing wasn’t a total surprise. A recent poll by Talk Business/ Hendrix College showed Obama leading Wolfe by just 7 percentage points in the 4th Congressional District. The president’s strongest showing was in Pulaski County where Obama netted about 16,000 more votes than Wolfe in complete but unofficial returns.
In 2008, Obama lost the February presidential primary in Arkansas to Hillary Rodham Clinton. Clinton received 70 percent of the vote compared with Obama’s 26 percent. That November, Obama lost the state to Republican nominee John McCain by 20 percentage points.
Obama hasn’t visited the state since 2006 when he was a U.S. senator from Illinois, months before he announced his run for president.
The last Democratic incumbent president, Arkansas native Bill Clinton, won the state with 78 percent of the vote in the 1996 primary.
Wolfe promised to push on to Texas, which holds its primary next week.
Has he filled out the proper paperwork in that state?
“I’m going to call the secretary of state’s office tomorrow and check on that,” he said.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 05/23/2012