|
|
| |
| Thu, May. 15, 2008 |  |
 |
|
||
| |
The Holt factor in November Wednesday, May 31, 2006 By David Sanders Does state Sen. Jim Holt help or hurt Asa Hutchinson in November? I posed that question to a group of legislators last week while moderating a panel at the Arkansas Rural Services spring conference in Eureka Springs, expecting everyone to say the Republican lieutenant governor nominee would sink the top of the ticket. Some of the legislators immediately brought up the issue of illegal immigration and talked about how Holt has tapped into an issue that moves voters. Others admitted to having misjudged Holt's political skills. One other said it didn't matter because the Democratic ticket would be too strong for the GOP to overcome. I asked those in the crowd to raise their hands if they had talked to anyone about illegal immigration in the past of couple of days. Nearly 90 percent of the hands went up. When I asked if it is an important issue, several audible yeses were heard from a crowd of more Democrats than Republicans. What was said after the panel, however, made me begin to re-examine Holt's potential impact on the upcoming elections. A couple of Democratic legislators approached me and asked me turn off my recording device. One said that I could use his words and ideas but not his name. The other one nodded in agreement. Frankly, what they said surprised me: Not only does Holt not hurt Republicans in the fall, but he helps them - a lot. These two surmised that Holt, by demagoging illegal immigration, is tapping into an extremely popular issue that cuts across party lines and will turn out people at the polls. They both agreed that Holt would force Mike Beebe and other Democrats into taking an unpopular position - opposite of Holt - on the issue, which would hurt them in the fall. A former Democratic legislator, who asked not to be named, grabbed my arm and said Holt is a master of attaching himself to an issue and that those of us in the Little Rock media have missed the illegal immigration issue altogether. He claimed we have incorrectly defined it as a Northwest Arkansas right-wing Republican issue, and that it is just as important an issue in southern and eastern Arkansas as it is in the state's upper left corner. I'm not ready to crown Jim Holt lieutenant governor or say that he will help carry the day for Republicans. He has a lot to prove. First, if he has any chance to affect the upcoming elections, he will have to raise money. This has historically been a problem - not because he couldn't do it, but because he doesn't like to ask people for money. This is something Holt said he has gotten over. When I talked to him on Friday, he said he is prepared to spend a lot of time fundraising. Second, Holt will have to show that he can endure the negative attacks that will come during the course of the campaign. He garnered 44 percent of the vote against Sen. Blanche Lincoln in 2004, but she rarely uttered his name. Third, Holt will have to show that he can be a team player. This will be tough. At his core, he is an honest person. When asked a question, even when the answer is to the detriment of another Republican, he has not shown a propensity to temper his words. One point I will concede - there are several individuals currently serving in the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate who share Holt's beliefs that governments should suspend giving social services to illegal immigrants, and that the best thing to do would be to send them back to their home country. Perhaps he isn't as extreme as some observers want to think. I predicted months ago that if Holt became the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor, he had a 99.99 percent chance of losing in the fall. At least I gave myself some wiggle room. ------- David Sanders writes twice weekly for the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock. His e-mail address is DavidJSanders@aol.com. |
