(Note: these learning modules encompass the actual class lectures, and are designed for those students who have to miss class through no fault of their own, and also as a refresher for all students. Bold print in the notes are what the professor writes on the board.)

LEARNING MODULE: WEEK 14, Arkansas- Democratic Titans

Arkansas has historically been one of the most Democratic dominated of the Rim South states. With few exceptions, Democrats held the governorship and both U.S. senate seats until 1996, when Republicans finally became competitive. The saga of Arkansas is best told by focusing on three Democratic titans and their campaigning and governing styles that perpetuated their party’s political hegemony, two of whom each served as governor and U.S. senator and one of whom became President. Their stories are so informative that they will make an excellent test question for the final exam.

Dale Bumpers beat two former governors to win the gubernatorial election in 1970. He was a practicing attorney and a civic leader from a small town who talked with a western drawl. Bumpers was viewed as being young, articulate, intelligent, and honest- a forward-looking person who would improve state government. As governor, he raised teacher salaries and expanded public colleges by raising the state income tax and making it more progressive. He improved care for the elderly, handicapped, and the mentally retarded, and established a consumer protection agency. Bumpers also reorganized state government, and instituted civil service exams for state jobs. In 1974 he upset in the Democratic primary the state’s Senator J. William Fulbright, a moderate liberal who as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee had been a thorn in the hide of Republican Presidents for his anti-Vietnam war activism. Fulbright had been in office for nearly 30 years, and he finally turned off voters with his aloof, holier than thou arrogant image. Bumpers on the other hand spoke in a language that factory workers and farmers could understand, and he was passionate in condemning the profits of big oil companies. His voting record in the Senate was initially moderate liberal, but over the course of his 24-year senate career it soon fell into the most liberal of the 5 ideological categories. Bumpers won re-election three times by stressing his constituency service, the federal projects he brought to the state, and the 100 days that he spent in his district each year. He also skillfully portrayed some of his stances in conservative terms, such as defending his opposition to the Reagan tax cuts because of the deficits and fiscal irresponsibility that they led to.

David Pryor was a moderate congressman who became famous for posing as a nursing home attendant on weekends to expose nursing home abuses. After winning the governorship in 1974, he worked to attract high wage industries to Arkansas, appointed an historic number of blacks and women to state government, and was fiscally conservative by holding spending down. Pryor was elected to the Senate in 1978, and he won his first of two re-elections by campaigning tirelessly for the year before the election with a person-to-person tour through the state and a slogan Pryor Puts Arkansas First. He defeated a very conservative Republican, talking about how he cared about issues that affected Arkansas and the people of Arkansas, and would represent “real people with problems” (Fenno book, 1996, Senators on the Campaign Trail). Despite an overall liberal to moderate liberal roll call voting record, Pryor avoided the liberal label by highlighting his support for a balanced budget, his opposition to flag desecration, his fight against government waste in the use of outside consultants, his enactment of a Taxpayer Bill of Rights, and his defense of the Rural Electrification Administration that helped Arkansas. Reporters following him as he met with constituents described Pryor as personable, folksy, unassuming, decent, a real nice guy who never made enemies and who knew many constituents on a first name basis (Fenno book, pages 284, 286-288). He would often get to his Senate office in D.C. before his receptionist, and he would humbly answer the phone himself to talk to Arkansas residents who were calling. I actually met him once when I attended a University of Arkansas ceremony, as the organizers trying to recruit their government institute director seated him on my left and a college board member on my right. Pryor, retired from the Senate by then, was still a real nice and down-to-earth guy. Before a public ceremony where I and other southern politics scholars spoke to the university community, he came backstage and set us at ease and humbly thanked us for coming to speak to the students of Arkansas.

And now we get to the saga of Bill Clinton. His career started as state attorney general, where he fought for consumers and against the utilities. He won the 1978 gubernatorial election as a New South progressive, but then angered voters by raising car tag fees and letting President Carter locate Cuban refugees (“undesirables” expelled by Castro) at the state’s Fort Chafee, where twice they scared residents by breaking out and fleeing the camp. Clinton suffered his one political defeat in 1980, as voters turned him out of office as they viewed him as too aloof, too egotistical, too big for his britches. Clinton became The Comeback Kid in 1982 by beating the Republican who had beaten him two years earlier. He did it by publicly apologizing for being out of touch, and by blaming the incumbent for the recession and high unemployment. As governor for the next ten years, Clinton was most known for improving education, an issue that the First Lady chaired a task force on. (Indeed, Hillary was so impressive when testifying before a state legislative committee on education that a Republican lawmaker joked that, “I think we voted for the wrong Clinton.”) Governor Clinton raised teacher salaries, lowered class sizes, and instituted a longer school year and an 8^th grade student competency test. He fought the teachers’ union by enacting accountability through teacher testing. Late in his gubernatorial career, he raised taxes for enhanced preschool opportunities, required kindergartens statewide, established a scholarship program, and funded another teacher pay raise. Diane Blair, a University of Arkansas professor who worked in the Clinton administration, related how he had great charisma and would personally connect with people. In her words, he would “show up at every fish fry, at every Democratic party event, at every bake sale and shake every hand until he had shaken them all” (Barth, Blair, and Dumas book chapter in Southern Politics in the 1990s, Lamis editor, 1999, page 180). He made a special outreach appeal to African Americans, attending black churches, homes, and black organization dinners. Clinton then went on to the Presidency in 1992, and even won four southern states, the best showing for a Democrat in the South since Carter in 1976.

So, what the ---- happened? Why is it today that Republicans control both of the state’s Senate seats and the governorship? Why do Republicans hold over three-fourths of the state legislative seats, and why have the last three GOP presidential candidates won with 60% or more of the state vote? Well, Republicans broke the near-Democratic monopoly in the governorship when Clinton’s successor, Jim Guy Tucker, was convicted of two felonies in the Whitewater investigation. When Tucker changed his mind about resigning the governorship, GOP Lieutenant Governor Mike Huckabee threatened to call the legislature into session to start impeachment proceedings; Tucker resigned. Huckabee had great people skills, as a glib, gregarious preacher of a large Baptist church, and like Reagan he was a great communicator over the media. Serving two full terms as governor, he improved education, promoted economic development, made African American government appointments, and along with President Clinton personally escorted the Little Rock Central High nine students into the school that they had been denied entrance into 40 years earlier. The next two term Republican governor was Asa Hutchinson, who was first elected in 2014 by stressing state issues, like creating jobs, making education more relevant to the employment marketplace, boosting tourism, and criminal justice reform. Hutchinson won re-election by working with both parties in the legislature to expand Medicaid under Obamacare but add a work requirement, and to require that all public high schools offer computer science classes. The current governor is Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump's press secretary and daughter of a former GOP governor. Her landslide election mirrors the over 60% of partisan voters who identify with the Republican Party.

Democrats had two great, recent 2-term Senators, yet they managed to lose them both. How could this have happened? Well, one was Mark Pryor, the son of David Pryor. He had the same appearance and mannerisms of his father, and the same philosophy of Arkansas Comes First. He lost a tough re-election bid in 2014 to Republican Tom Cotton, in a midterm when President Obama had a 68% disapproval rating among state residents and when Republicans outnumbered Democrats among exit poll voters by 5%. Pryor made two unforced errors in my opinion. He ran an ad with his aging father, and when his father talked about how his son had battled the insurance companies when also fighting cancer, I just saw two aging relics. Pryor also made a mistake in attacking his 37-year-old opponent as having a sense of “entitlement,” because Cotton talked about his Army combat service in Iraq and Afghanistan. The youthful Tom Cotton ran a playful ad that had his actual drill sergeant George Norton dressing him down, and Cotton talking about how he had learned accountability, humility, and putting the unit first from his military training. (Check out this ad on U-tube by googling Tom Cotton at ease ad.) Cotton looked cool, humble, the Democrat looked desperate. In Cotton's 2020 re-election bid, Democrats did not even have a candidate as their one hope withdrew after the filing deadline had passed. The Democrats’ other senatorial star was Blanche Lincoln, a moderate liberal. In 2010 state liberals like the AFL-CIO were angered that she wasn’t liberal enough, so they forced her into a bloody primary, and she squeaked through the runoff with a mere 52% vote. Conservative GOP Congressman John Boozman, benefitting from the 62% of residents who disapproved of Obama’s job performance, won that seat. Showing the political ignorance of the left-wing, 53% of exit poll voters actually believed that Lincoln was too liberal, so how could a more liberal Democrat have won the general election? In any event, a Democrat with a moderate liberal roll call voting record was now replaced by a Republican with a conservative roll call record. Way to go, liberal Democrats! Senator Boozman in my opinion was one of those smart Senators (like Rubio) who did not blindly defend Donald Trump in 2016 (especially after the groping tape). Boozman just admitted that both major party presidential candidates were flawed, and after winning re-election he said that the two parties should come together and find common ground to solve the problems that our nation faces. Boozman won reelection in 2022 by a two-to-one landslide.