Ex-aide for Trump sure of state win
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, is predicting Republicans will easily win Arkansas' six electoral votes.
"My prediction is +40," Lewandowski told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Sept. 27. "I think he's going to do very well."
In 2016, Trump finished +22.9 in the Natural State, topping Democrat Hillary Clinton 60.6% to 33.7%.
To reach +40, Trump would need to beat Democrat Joe Biden 70% to 30% in a two-person race.
That type of landslide is within the realm of possibility, given Trump's popularity in Arkansas, Lewandowski said.
"It's a great state down there, and the people there have seen that his policies have helped them. Whether it's the economy, national security, homeland security, they have recognized the promises the president has made that he's fulfilled all those promises," Lewandowski said.
"If we're in trouble in Arkansas, we're in big trouble," he added.
David Bossie, Trump's deputy campaign manager in 2016, is also forecasting a blowout.
"We're going to win big in Arkansas," he said.
"We have a tremendous lieutenant governor there in Tim Griffin whose been helping the campaign a lot. ... The attorney general [Leslie Rutledge] is a great friend of the president, so we have an incredible excitement in Arkansas to reelect the president," he said, adding, "We're going to win big."
Arkansans among prayer attendees
Thousands of Christians converged on Washington on Sept. 26 for the Washington Prayer March, including Dwight and Karen Southerland of Conway.
"I'm blown away by the number of people, by the spirit that's here. Everyone is kind. There's no trash anywhere. It's genuine," Karen Southerland said. "We even talked with a CNN reporter this morning."
In the midst of division, Southerland is praying that God will heal the land and bless its people.
"Winning is really uniting, and it's really becoming one nation under God. That's our only hope. That is my prayer," she said.
When America turns its back on God, it does so at its peril, Dwight Southerland warned.
"The nation cannot continue to push the Lord away and profane the Lord and survive," he said."
These people are gathered here together ... [to] call for repentance," he said. "The nation whose God is the Lord will be blessed."
The Southerlands weren't the only Arkansans in the crowd.
Others included state Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, and state Rep. Mary Bentley, R-Perryville.
Former Southern Baptist Convention president Jack Graham, a native of Conway, also participated in some of the weekend activities.
Huckabee: Debate was hard to watch
After Tuesday night's presidential debate, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee gave President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden less-than-glowing reviews.
In a message to supporters Wednesday titled "Hotheads in Cleveland," Huckabee described the debate as "difficult even to listen to."
The candidate most helped by the debate was "probably Biden, by a hair," Huckabee wrote.
Trump "needed to strike a more controlled 'presidential' tone and prove he wasn't the Twitter bully he's depicted as, but his combativeness only played into that image," Huckabee wrote.
A two-time candidate for president himself, Huckabee ran against Trump in 2016 and lost.
"I know that he's very intelligent and he can be charming, thoughtful, gracious and diplomatic. That was the Trump I wish had been at the debate last night. Unfortunately, he brought his WWE persona," Huckabee said.
WWE stands for "World Wrestling Entertainment." Trump participated in Wrestlemania 23, entering the ring himself in 2007.
CNN commentator Alice Stewart, a former Little Rock journalist and onetime Huckabee staff member, said Trump's tactics didn't help him expand his support among women and undecided voters.
"A lot of them are tired with the tone and tenor of this administration and this president, and they wanted to see a little softer tone and, unfortunately, they did not get that," she said. "I feel as though the constant interruptions and the fighting ... was really off-putting for the voters that needed to be swayed."
Planning to visit the nation's capital? Know something happening in Washington, D.C.? Please contact Frank Lockwood at (202) 662-7690 or flockwood@arkansasonline.com. Want the latest from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Washington bureau? It's available on Twitter, @LockwoodFrank.