Are we ready for Super Tuesday?
A volunteer for Hillary Clinton arranges campaign signs
at Clinton’s Little Rock headquarters.
By John Worthen
News-Times Staff
Thanks to Senate Bill 235, passed in March 2005, Arkansas is now part of “Super Tuesday,” the day when residents in more than 20 states cast their votes in the Republican and Democratic primary races.
Arkansas holds 47 total delegate votes. The Democrats require 2,025 delegates to secure a candidate’s nomination for president, while the Republicans need 1,191.
It’s a mind-numbing process, and we’re likely to see an onslaught of television advertisements and junk mail in the days leading up to Super Tuesday. But will we see any candidates on the ground here?
It’s possible, said Dennis Milligan, state chairman of the Republican Party of Arkansas.
“I can’t say that they won’t make a pass through the state, and I can’t speak for (Mike) Huckabee, who is well known throughout the state, but there certainly is a chance someone will show up here to campaign.”
Milligan said it’s important to note that candidates like Huckabee and Hillary Clinton, both of whom have strong Arkansas ties, aren’t ignoring the Natural State just because they don’t campaign here. “They’re simply trying to get their names and faces shown in states where people may not know them as well,” he added.
“Candidates want to go where they are least known,” Milligan said. “It’s the same for both of them (Hillary and Huckabee). Hillary has been to Arkansas two or three times already, and there’s not much sense in coming back to a place where you already have a pretty good hold.”
Strong voter turnout expected
Voters will likely turn off their coffee pots, put down their newspapers and head to the polls in record numbers on Feb 5, giving a boost to their favorite candidates.
Arkansas Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney said he expects that voter turnout will be “higher than we could have ever expected.”
Gwatney speculated that because Huckabee and Clinton have such strong Arkansas connections, voters here will likely want to be part of the Super Tuesday process.
“It’s going to be a big day, for sure,” Gwatney said. “But there will still be more than 50 percent of the delegates out there after (Super Tuesday). There will still be a long way to go. But there is definitely more interest in this thing in Arkansas, simply because of Senator Clinton and Governor Huckabee. Arkansas has the national spotlight again in politics.”
A recent New York Times article — dateline Bearden — says that Arkansas has been a fertile training ground for political candidates through the years.
Who knew?
For some perspective on the primary nominations from both sides, visit “The Green Papers.”