Way the Media Treats Holt's Victory After the Primary

Excerpts from various sources:

Links are provided to the main story for most of the excerpts.

Holt sweeps GOP lieutenant governor primary
Thursday, May 25, 2006  by Dough Thompson, AR News Bureau

http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2006/05/25/News/336361.html

"I thought he was out of the mainstream, and now I'm asking myself if I'm the one out of the mainstream," said Banks, a former U.S. Attorney who campaigned on the position that he was a mainstream, Reagan Republican.

"I don't want to take anything from him. This is his day," Banks said. "He obviously has a grass-roots organization that can mobilize at very little expense and get things done. They're fervent. I didn't pay enough attention to his high name recognition. Still, I would have bet half the farm that he could not beat me without a runoff considering the money I raised, the message I had and the media I obtained."

Matayo said he wondered the "extremist" label applied to a candidate who obtained 44 percent of the vote for U.S. Senate in 2004 against incumbent Democrat Blanche Lincoln in a losing effort, and who has now swept statewide GOP primaries twice in two elections.

Holt won the GOP primary for the U.S. Senate nomination in a three-way race without a runoff.

"After his votes in his last statewide campaign and in this race, you have to ask yourself if he's really outside the mainstream," Matayo said. "I've always thought the Republican primary voter in Arkansas and the Republican voter in November are different, but he does extremely well in May and November."
 

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http://arktimes.com/blogs/arkansasblog/

Arkansas Times blogspot 5/24/06 day after election

Looking ahead

The untold story this morning is the subtext of Jim Holt's smashing victory in the Republican primary for lt. gov.

Asa!-Holt is not exactly a dream Republican ticket (though Asa-Banks would have been). Asa Hutchinson, the GOP candidate for governor, wants to convince swing voters that he's not a raving right-winger. It will be hard to do if he's photographed embracing his running mate.

Asa and Beebe are both solidly establishment (with Bush, in other words) on the immigration question that is Holt's red meat. In short: What'll the chicken eviscerators do without immigrant labor? The candidates know who butters their bread. Yet Asa must excite his base, too. He could use Holt in this regard, but cool other voters.

Interesting dynamic ahead.

Democrats' rural strategy lives another day
Thursday, May 25, 2006

By John Brummett

http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2006/05/25/JohnBrummett/336367.html

One member of the state GOP committee, Ann Clemmer, who teaches political science at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, worried about her party tilting too far right.

She said the Holt nomination could hurt the party’s gubernatorial nominee, Asa Hutchinson, against Attorney General Mike Beebe, the Democratic nominee, in the Nov. 7 general election.

“One thing Holt does is he energizes that base of votes,” said Clemmer, who supported one of Holt’s opponents. “He brings a lot of energy. The downside is he pulls Asa further to the right by being on the ticket. He doesn’t actually pull Asa, but [it’s ] the image [Holt ] creates of Republicans. Asa will have to step to the middle. Be moderate and pragmatic. That’s how you win elections. You can be an ideologue all you want, but true believers scare people.”

State Sen. Gilbert Baker, RConway, chairman of the state Republican Party, disagreed, saying Holt “really relates to the guy on the street.”

Without a doubt you have one of the most extremist tickets to ever run for office for governor and lieutenant governor in the state history,” said state Democratic Party Chairman Jason Willett of Jonesboro. “We are going to define [extremist ] in the next several months [but ] it doesn’t represent the common-sense majority in Arkansas.”

Holt said it was “really sad” that Willett would label him an extremist.

“I don’t know how they can say that, and they say they represent the state of Arkansas,” Holt said. “It sounds to me like they are way to the left. We are extremely right in line with the people of Arkansas. Our views represent the everyday Arkansan, common-sense conservative values.”

A Hutchinson spokesman said Hutchinson endorses Holt’s campaign for lieutenant governor and will campaign with Holt.

May 24, Arkansas Family Council blog      http://arkansasfamilycoalition.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...  

Holt won, and won very decisively last night. I did not vote for Holt, but I do congratulate him and his supporters. Yesterday, the Arkansas GOP clearly defined intself as it exists in 2006. Jim Holt, Debbie Pelley, Bob Hester, Peggy Jeffries, and their ideological kin own and control the Arkansas GOP lock, stock, and barrel. It will be interesting to see where they take the party in November. They will be held accountable.

Arkansas Family Coalition blogspot day after primary:  http://arkansasfamilycoalition.blogspot.com/

Jim Holt cruises to victory

Jim Holt demolished his opponents yesterday in the Republican Primary race for Lt. Governor. He finished with 56% of the vote. Chuck Banks has 25% and Doug Matayo had 19%.

All three candidates ran good hard races. All three are good men. It is now time to rally around Jim Holt and make sure he is able to beat the Democrats' nominee, whoever that is.

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Arkansas Family Coalition blog May 25, 06 2 days after election

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: The most widely read Democratic newsletter in the state

The Democrat Gazette's bias shows up once again in today's front page story about low voter turnout. Both parties had low turnout, but the entire focus was on the Republican Party, andparroting the Democrat Party's spin that Arkansas voters won't go for Republicans because they are too conservative. The Democrat Gazette has gotten almost as predicatable as the Arkanas Times. Ironically, it's the Arkansas Times that predicts things might not bode well for the Democrats because the GOP ticket is one that will turn out voters.

Which part of the GOP platform do the "news" writers at the Democrat Gazette consider too conservative? Standing for the second amendment? Standing for property rights? Calling for better jobs? Calling for cracking down on illegal immigration?

Compare the Republicans values to the Democrats' and it is clear who is out of the mainstream. The Democrats are ruled by the beliefs of liberals such as Jason Willet, Howard Dean and John Kerry. They sneer at people of faith, they oppose private property rights, they are for higher taxes and bigger government, they want to eliminate local control of schools and centralize it in Little Rock.

Arkansas Family Coalition blog May 25 –[ I think this was satire  in response to someone who said they wouldn't vote for Holt and the crazies they get the point.]  http://arkansasfamilycoalition.blogspot.com/

PopulistIssuesWinVotes said...

America is an entire pack of crazies...
Gallup Poll (March 27) finds 80 percent of the public wants the federal government to get tougher on illegal immigration. A Quinnipiac University Poll (March 3) finds 62 percent oppose making it easier for illegals to become citizens (72 percent in that poll don't even want illegals to be permitted to have driver's licenses). Time Magazine's recent poll (Jan. 24-26) found 75 percent favor "major penalties" on employers of illegals, 70 percent believe illegals increase the likelihood of terrorism and 57 percent would use military force at the Mexican-American border.

Article link http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20060328-102545-2371r.htm

2:27 PM

Following article is from RPA, From Republican Party of Arkansas email.  Most of the information can also be found in this article at this website from the Arkansas Democrat Gazette,  GOP, Democratic chiefs duel over ‘extreme’ line http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/155763/print/

JIM HOLT spent less than $ 150, 000 and won 44 percent of the vote against incumbent Blanche Lincoln in his impressive run for the U. S. Senate two years back. He spent some $ 60, 000 and won the Republican primary for lieutenant governor with some 56 percent of the vote Tuesday night.

What gives ? Is this just a sad, frightening comment on a sad, frightened bloc of voters in Arkansas ?

There may be something else at work here. Word is that Jim Holt didn’t just rely on Them Lyin’ Newspapers to get his scary message out. He knocked on doors, hit the rubber-chicken circuit, made the rounds of the diners and grew those grass roots deep.

There’s a lesson here for future campaigners. We’d especially appreciate it if Mr. Holt’s opponent in the fall pays attention. The lesson: Money and TV ads are nice, but this is still a retail state. Get out there. Press flesh and kiss babies. Please. Bill Halter ? Tim Wooldridge ? Are you listening ? The basically good state of Arkansas needs a hard-working candidate willing to stand up to the latest incarnation of Justice Jim. The three big issues of Campaign ’ 06 in Arkansas will be, in no particular order, immigration, immigration and immigration. It’s an issue that needs to be discussed calmly, not exploited for political gain. WHAT A SMALL, wonderfully varied state. While Republicans were nominating the underfunded Jim Holt, a candidate with a full treasure chest topped the Democratic candidates for Lite Guv. Bill Halter lent himself close to a million bucks for his race. It got him into a runoff, at least.

Time was, the Republicans were the party of the rich and self-funded.

So Mr. Halter now has three weeks to redefine himself as something other than an ambitious young man with a Clintonesque pedigree and deep pockets who didn’t have the stomach to run for governor. It’s not as if there’s no there there. Bill Halter is a Rhodes Scholar, an economist, a private businessman. He should be a poster boy for the best-and-brightest in Arkansas. And we do want to keep the best-and-brightest in Arkansas. But this guy just keeps reciting the same old talking points. Like a television commercial that runs on the hour every hour. As for his opponent in the runoff, Tim Wooldridge just keeps on keepin’ on. He’s all substance and no style. Thank goodness. His showing in the primary speaks well of Arkansas voters. It says we can look past the flashy TV commercials and finger-pointing headlines. Arkies still know quality when they see it.

   -----Generally the one clear thing about Tuesday’s results was a lack of clarity. But there were some clear winners here and there. Jim Holt’s sweep of the Republican primary for lieutenant governor without needing a run-off means the stage is set in the fall for one of the meanest-spirited campaigns in Arkansas politics since the bad old days. It’s been half a century now since Orval Faubus played shamelessly on the fear and anger of Arkansas voters-and he was the moderate candidate often enough in that era of bad feelings. Among the other featured demagogues were Jim Johnson, Dale Alford, Bruce Bennett. . . . Well, don’t get us started.

   We’d hoped those days when Arkansas made the worst kind of headlines were long past, but the state’s reputation is likely to suffer a similar blow if Jim Holt, state senator and font of ill will, continues to run hard against illegal immigrants, homosexuals, and Them in general, meaning anybody who’s different from Us.

   The state senator from Springdale calls himself pro-life, but he would deny prenatal care, among other state services, to expectant mothers who don’t have the right papers-and to the Americans-to-be they’re carrying. There’s no room at his inn for such.

From Arkansas Watch blogspot.  Paragraphs in italics are from  Arkansas Democrat Gazette Editorial and other paragraphs are the answers by Mark Moore on the blogspot.   See this link for the rest:    http://www.arkansaswatch.blogspot.com/

Thursday, May 25, 2006