I moved to Arkansas from Massachusetts in August of 2004. That happened to be the year of the last presidential election. In national coverage Arkansas came out as a red state but it was interesting to watch the returns from within the state. In many counties it was quite close and John Kerry took more than one would realize.
This year Arkansas has two ties to the election. Hillary Clinton was the First Lady of Arkansas before she carried that same title in the White House. Mike Huckabee was the most recent governor before the last election. Each one represent different ends of the political spectrum, and also the divergent views to be found within this state.
I will be paying close attention tomorrow to what happens in both primaries that will occur here. It should be quite interesting.
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Comments: 14
Lynn - I think that up your way may be pretty conservative but down here around Fayetteville it is surprisingly liberal. Arkansas certainly has been a bit of a revelation to me.
Shan - I agree - Arkansas is a beautiful spot. It is ironic, isn't it? Though I guess Hillary was a transplant herself.
Charles - yes - that was the one thing about being in Ma - one could be pretty confident about how things would turn out :-)
John - can't says that I know - makes for an interesting year though.
Spencer - yes, the rural areas certainly tend towards being conservative though I think that even those areas are taking a long look at the state of affairs these days.
lynn a - it is intriguing to me that these are all happening so early in the year - the South has been working to change their primary dates so as to have more influence in selecting candidates. It would almost seem that every state should do their primary thing on one designated day and just get the whole thing over with.
Katherine - ahhh, the Independent - the votes to be most heavily courted.