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.3438 About ten days before the election, polls indicated that the race was a39 statistical dead heat.Huckabee s stratospheric approval ratings had fallen to 350 Continuity and Change in Arkansas Politics1 just below 50 percent, according to polls.However, an infusion of money2 (including funds transferred from the Republican Governors Association)3 led to record spending for a gubernatorial campaign: $2.7 million, which4 outpaced Fisher by just over $1 million.Much was used in a final appeal5 to rural voters.This took the form of a humorous television ad showing6 an actress dressed like Fisher riding a four-wheel vehicle and mudding 7 Huckabee yard signs and radio ads on Christian radio that criticizes Fisher s8 initial lack of clarity in her views on civil unions for same-sex couples.In9 addition, Huckabee made a concerted outreach to African American voters,10 relying on the endorsement of a high-profile Little Rock state senator and11 running unprecedented television advertisements targeted at African Amer-12 ican viewers that compared the candidates records on African American[350], (17)13 appointments.3514 The record spending in the governor s race was petty compared to the U.S.15 Senate race, which obliterated all past records for spending on any campaignLines: 21516 in the state.From early in the election cycle, the incumbent Hutchinson 17 was seen as one of the most vulnerable incumbent senators.Hutchinson,0.0pt Pg18 following a much-publicized divorce and subsequent remarriage to a former 19 staff member in 1999, initially leaned against running for reelection, knowingNormal Pa20 it would be a brutal campaign for himself and his new wife.Moreover, hePgEnds: TE21 had actively avoided returning to the state during the period when a reelection22 campaign should have been gearing up because he didn t want to go to23 the Third District home to the state s largest concentration of Christian[350], (17)24 conservatives, his closest political friends.But, Hutchinson did run, only25 to face a primary challenger from the Christian Right and, in the general26 election, another incumbent, Mark Pryor, the state s attorney general and27 son of the man who had held Hutchinson s seat for eighteen years.By28 the end of the campaign, the spending of candidates, parties, and outside29 groups topped the $20 million mark.By November 5, over thirty interest30 groups from across the spectrum and across the country had joined the31 political parties in spending on the race.Moreover, the contributions to the32 candidates own $9.3 million in spending arose from national fund-raising33 operations.The national interest in the race funded the blizzard of campaign34 communications, an average of three mailings, five radio spots, and twelve35 television ads per voter in the last week of the campaign, according to panel36 data collected during the race.The consummate irony was that, despite this37 external attention, the campaign was driven by the old Arkansas political38 traits of personalism and provincialism.3639 One personalistic element was, of course, the senator s personal life. Continuity and Change in Arkansas Politics 3511 Though the senator s primary opponent, state representative Jim Bob Dug-2 gar (best known for his family of thirteen children, with another on the3 way), said throughout the spring that he was not going to talk about the4 senator s divorce, he, of course, did just that.Duggar s candidacy also5 forced Hutchinson to focus on the conservative aspects of his voting record6 (and to spend over $1 million) to ensure a strong primary win.Despite this,7 Hutchinson lost one-third of the primary voters in Benton County, his home8 and the most Republican county in the state.379 Republicans tried to paint Mark Pryor as an illegitimate inheritor of the10 Pryor mantel.For instance, the state gop executive director claimed that11 if his last name wasn t Pryor, he d be a busboy at Taco Bell. Clearly,12 the Pryor campaign took advantage of David Pryor s popularity in large[351], (18)13 and small ways throughout the race, but the attorney general brought a14 number of his own strengths to the contest.Crucial among these was an15 ideologically moderate record in a race against an opponent who had, throughLines: 219 to16 his early years in the senate, been rated as one of the body s most conservative 17 members.Of arguably equal importance was Pryor s membership at Little0.0pt PgV18 Rock s Fellowship Bible Church, the state s largest nondenominational 19 church.On perceived religiosity, Pryor had one foot in there with us, Normal Page20 according to Hutchinson s campaign manager.Probably his greatest skillPgEnds: TEX21 was that the eminently likable Pryor, with mannerisms that looked so22 much like his father, performed amazingly well when talking directly to23 the television camera, a venue that has become the high-tech version of[351], (18)24 the state s traditional retail politics.Because of the tremendous amount of25 negative advertising by parties and interest groups, both candidates were26 able to stay entirely positive in their own advertising, a distinct advantage27 for the personable Pryor
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