More than a dozen statewide candidates noshed on tomato-laden dishes, waved from parade cars or frantically shoveled tomatoes into their mouths during an eating contest at the 58th annual Pink Tomato Festival in Bradley County last weekend -- an event some Arkansas political scientists deem the kickoff of the state's general election season.
But there was at least one noted absence at the event that drew 21,000 festivalgoers that Saturday, the day most candidates attended. Festival organizers say U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton's campaign had called to reserve a spot for him in the parade, but that he later canceled his trip to Warren in the southeast corner of the state.
The Cotton campaign questioned that account. "If anyone got the impression that we had confirmed our attendance at the festival, then there was a mix-up in communication," said campaign spokesman David Ray.
Some political pundits said none of the top-tier candidates would have missed the Pink Tomato Festival 30 or 40 years ago, but the past decade has seen a rapid shift in Arkansas politics and seemingly a shift in how campaigns are run.
A 1985 Arkansas Gazette article on the festival explained its importance at the time. "The presence of those holding office or aspiring to hold it is required by custom, although not yet by law," it said. The last prominent politician to miss the festival in an election year had been defeated at the polls on Election Day, press accounts noted.
Cotton, a freshman Republican congressman, attended the festival in 2012 when he was running for his current 4th Congressional District seat.
Cotton is challenging incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor in November. Pryor attended the festival last weekend, arriving early to talk with runners gathering for the 7 a.m. 5k race, organizers said.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Asa Hutchinson finished third in this year's VIP tomato-eating contest, ahead of his Democratic rival, Mike Ross.
"Quite a few candidates were there, and I don't know why Rep. Cotton didn't come. I was told he was originally going to be here for at least the parade," said former Democratic state Rep. Greg Reep, who helps organize the nonpartisan event. "Quite a few candidates were there. This has traditionally been the kickoff of the general election season because it's the first big statewide event that happens after the primaries are over. I think voters expect them to be here."
A report published Tuesday in the liberal political magazine The Nation identified Cotton as one of a handful of candidates who attended a gathering held by conservative political donors Charles and David Koch last weekend.
The secretive and security-rich event, which booked the entire St. Regis Monarch Bay resort in Dana, Calif., featured a who's who of billionaire political donors, Political Action Committee representatives and a handful of rising star candidates in the Republican Party for what was billed as a strategy session on retaking the Senate, the magazine said.
Ray wouldn't discuss or confirm Cotton's participation, saying the campaign does not comment on the congressman's travel schedule when events are not open to the public or the press.
Hal Bass, a political science professor at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, said the traditional Bradley County event could have offered some valuable face time for the candidate.
"These events, the Gillett Coon Supper, the Slovak Oyster Supper, the Pink Tomato Festival and the Hope Watermelon Festival, are institutions in Arkansas politics," Bass said. "They're a firmly established way of connecting voters with candidates and vice versa."
"I think there is a resilient value to these events. People think more in terms of ideology and party labels than they did in previous ages, but personalities still matter in Arkansas politics. It's harder to demonize someone when you've sat next to them and eaten a pink tomato together," he added.
David King, executive director of the Bradley County Chamber of Commerce, said the increase in attendance at festivals like the Pink Tomato Festival point to their continued significance in the political landscape.
"I can't think of very many other events where you can reach this many people at the same time," he said. "We certainly had an increase in the number of attendees from last year, I would say from 18,000 last year to 21,000 this year just on the day of the tomato luncheon. And I would go out on a limb and say we had more in attendance than during the last election year in 2012 as well."
Bass said as Arkansas has shifted over the past decade to be more of a competitive two-party state, candidates are being forced to expand their campaign activities.
"I think Cotton embodies this new era in Arkansas politics that is far more nationally focused than 'Arkancentric.' This is a real contest between candidates but also between approaches," Bass said. "Pryor has inherited this form of politics from his father [former U.S. Sen. David Pryor]. He grew up in an era when these were considered must-do events. The question is how relevant is the old way of doing things in the second decade of the 21st century. To some degree, I think the voters will decide that at the polls."
Pryor's campaign staff said Cotton's attendance at the Koch brothers event last weekend was less about candidates seeking more national funding support, than about a candidate strategizing with outside interests instead of focusing on Arkansans.
"Cotton skipped one of the most important annual festivals for his congressional district, and that's because his billionaire backers wanted his ear, even if it meant ignoring the needs of Arkansas families," said Pryor spokesman Erik Dorey.
Cotton's campaign sent out a news release Wednesday pointing to a Senate Majority PAC fundraiser in New York City last week where President Barack Obama was hobnobbing to collect donations for the Democratic Senate candidates. Ray also pointed to other events held outside of the state by Pryor, including fundraisers in Los Angeles and Silicon Valley as evidence that both candidates are courting money outside of Arkansas.
"In contrast to Senator Pryor's Washington campaign of press conferences and scripted events, Tom Cotton is pounding the shoe leather harder than any candidate in this race," Ray said. "We routinely stop in at diners and coffee shops across the state just to shake hands and meet new supporters."
Dorey said Pryor did not attend the Senate Majority event, and the other events mentioned were direct meet and greets with supporters, not "strategy sessions with billionaire donors."
"Instead of listening to Arkansans, Congressman Cotton chose to hobnob with the billionaires funding his political ambitions behind closed doors," he said. "This was no ordinary fundraiser; this was an elite strategy session with billionaires that frankly look down on Arkansans, the very same billionaire special interest backers that told Cotton to vote against equal pay for women, affordable student loans and to raise the age to 70 for Medicare and Social Security."
Neither candidate has abandoned the shoe leather approach to politicking, according to their campaign staffs.
Both attended the Gillett Coon Supper in January, tailed by national news media and television camera crews enthralled with the high-profile race and the chance to film the uniquely Arkansas event featuring candidates chewing on hunks of on-the-bone raccoon meat from aluminum pans.
Ray said Cotton has attended 14 Lincoln Day dinners with county level Republican groups, high school and college level sporting events, and nearly two dozen fairs, festivals, parades and concerts.
"We're putting together an unprecedented grass-roots operation in Arkansas, as evidenced by the fact that we have a Cotton County Captain in all 75 counties in Arkansas," Ray said.
Meanwhile, Pryor's staff said the senator has come back to Arkansas most weekends since he was elected 11 years ago. Dorey said he's traveled almost 100,000 miles in Arkansas since the campaign began.
Both Pryor and Cotton will be crisscrossing the state during the coming congressional recess before the Fourth of July holiday, another time when voters expect to see candidates courting voters in parades. No word yet on whether the candidates plan to attend the Hope Watermelon Festival in August, famous for pitting candidates against one another in both a watermelon-eating contest and a seed-spitting contest.
Metro on 06/22/2014