Photo courtesy of Arkansas Project reader Mike, who has a thing for both Boozman and impossibly leggy chicks posing in uncomfortable stances.

After a week-long tease that he was considering getting into the Arkansas GOP Senate primary for a chance to challenge embattled U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, Rep. John Boozman’s getting in, someone who would probably know tells me.

Of course, they’re telling everyone they can find, so it’s hardly exclusive. You might think they’d just issue a press release instead of offering a steady stream of breathless “sources say/you didn’t hear this from me” messages to everyone in the world, one by one, which appears to be the strategy.

As the lone Republican in the state’s Congressional delegation, Boozman will emerge as a strong candidate given his regional strength in Northwest Arkansas, proven fundraising ability, and dear God does anyone even bother reading these pat “impact” analyses at this point when the impacts are mostly obvious—I mean, you’re probably not even reading this sentence anymore, and if you are the question is, why, because it’s not like there’s going to be anything in this graf that you haven’t read before or even thought up yourself, right?

Boozman’s always struck me as a nice fellow but he has the charisma of an elbow. The End.

Oh, no, wait, one more thing: Jim Lindsey! Might run! OK, now really The End.

UPDATE: In a news release issued today, Boozman says to stay tuned till February 6, when he’ll have an “important announcement” about his political future. Golly, I wonder what it could be?

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Rep. John Boozman: What's one more?

Rep. John Boozman, the stalwart lone Republican of the Arkansas Congressional delegation, says he might just get in to the U.S. Senate primary to challenge embattled Sen. Blanche Lincoln, too. I haven’t been this excited since Stanley Reed got in the race!

Oh, and another poll out today, now from the Arkansas News Bureau, shows that Lincoln’s approval is finally rebounding after months and months of sagging approval ratings and grim prognoses for her electoral future. Ha ha! No, I’m just kidding, of course. The numbers are still just absolutely terrible for her.

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(Photo credit: Michael Williams/ZUMA Press)

An early morning e-mail showed up promoting a February 16 visit to Arkansas by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for a fundraiser on behalf of the Republican Party of Arkansas.

Palin’s visit was suggested a couple of weeks ago on The Tolbert Report, but some confusion arose because word had leaked out via Facebook before details were finalized. Tolbert had it right to begin with, and it appears the earlier confusion has been cleared up.

Looks like the state GOP is playing it smart with lower cost tickets for the speech ($65 and $35, I’m told), which is a good thing as the event’s slated for Verizon Arena in Little Rock. Tickets for seats at dinner tables on the floor are going for $175. More to come when more details emerge.

UPDATE: I received a subsequent message this morning on this matter, and the correspondent asked that we keep this news “under our hats” until the state GOP has had the opportunity to formally announce the event. So please forget everything that you just read above while we await the formal announcement.

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The conservative Sanders will run as a Republican, of course, setting him up for a primary challenge against John Parke, who’s already announced his intention to the seek the seat. Three Democrats have also said they’ll vie for the seat, which is being vacated by GOP Rep. Dan Greenberg.

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Man, is it ever cold outside….

(How cold is it, Dave?).

It’s so cold, I went to check the reading on the porch thermometer and I thought I was looking at Blanche Lincoln’s approval ratings! (Heyy-OOOOH!)

Anyway, here’s some political stuff that’s been going down this week that I wanted to note. Maybe you saw some of this scattered around the Arkansas blogosphere the last few days, or maybe you missed it, what the hell do I care what you do with your time:

• Former state Sen. Jim Holt announced that he would indeed enter the GOP primary in the U.S. Senate race to challenge the embattled Lincoln. He even filed paperwork and everything. The Washington Post says it’s one of the top 10 primary races in the country, but they also once ranked The Arkansas Project as a “Top Political Blog,” so who cares what those hacks say.
• GOP state Rep. Mark Martin says he will indeed make a run for secretary of state. Several Democrats have announced for the seat already.
• Republican Mark Darr made his candidacy for lieutenant governor official, and GOP Rep. Roy Ragland said he might just maybe enter the race, too, maybe.

And on Sunday, you’ll want to be sure you’re sitting by your wireless radio at 8 a.m., when I’ll be sitting in as the time filler special guest on Arkansas Sunday Edition with Blake Rutherford of Blake’s Think Tank, on 103.7 The Buzz in Little Rock. I know what you’re thinking: How on earth did Blake land the coveted 7-9 a.m. Sunday morning radio slot? I don’t know, man, he’s just got way more pull than we do.

We’ll probably be blathering on about politics, naturally, and, oh, I don’t know, how much Blake loved “Avatar,” probably. Christ, what a f**kin’ nightmare it will be.

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Jim Holt

Not a lot of political news this holiday week, but readers have been opening up some conversation on the potential impact of former state Sen. Jim Holt’s entry into the GOP primary for U.S. Senate, so let’s take note of that development.

Holt’s been flirting with the idea of getting in to the race for months, and he takes an additional step toward the race tonight with a pair of fundraisers in Rogers in Northwest Arkansas.

Any Arkansas Project readers who may happen to be in the neighborhood and want to shoot us a report or a note in the comments section, feel free to do so. Those who want to speculate on The Holt Effect and what it all means, feel free to start duking it out below.

In other Senate primary news, Republican Conrad E. Reynolds announces today that Joe “The Plumber” Wurzelbacher will join him in Arkansas in January for a three-day tour of the state, perhaps the surest sign to date that Reynolds’ underfunded campaign needs to be put out of its misery.

UPDATE: Roby Brock’s Political Buzz blog weighs in with a report on some preliminary numbers, suggesting 75-80 attendees at Holt’s $100 fundraiser and 11 paid attendees at the $1,000 event. Roby also notes that Holt has almost certainly crossed the $5,000 threshold that would require him to file with the Federal Election Commission.

And Mark Moore of the Arkansas Watch blog, who was on the scene for one of the events, offers some additional perspective.

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Campbell’s full news release at jump.

Political Veteran Announces Candidacy

Campbell to Run for State Representative

FORT SMITH, AR (December 10, 2009) – Gary Campbell, a veteran of Fort Smith public service, has announced his Republican candidacy for the position of State Representative, District 64, an area between Rogers Avenue and I-540 from 58^th street to the Oklahoma border. The primary election for the seat will be contested on May 18, 2010.

“I’ve been encouraged by many friends to do this for several years. This is the right time. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that I can make a difference representing residents of western Arkansas,” said Campbell. “My experience and service in civic, youth and municipal organizations has placed me at ground zero for local and regional issues. Working at the State Legislative level, I’ll be able to affect legislation that directly assists Fort Smith in its community development and its economic development. That will equate to improvements and jobs for this area.”

“Gary has cultivated working relationships in Fort Smith, Northwest Arkansas, Little Rock and throughout the country,” said fellow City Director Don Hutchings. “He’s exactly what Fort Smith needs in a state legislator; energetic, respected, accessible, focused, intelligent and knowledgeable. Everything he’ll do will start and end with Fort Smith’s best interests.”

Campbell is serving in his fourth term on the Fort Smith Board of Directors and has been elected Vice Mayor five times by fellow Board Members.  Locally he has served in leadership roles as Chairman of the Planning Commission, President of the Boy Scout Council and Scoutmaster where he coached over 35 young men to their Eagle Scout Achievement.  On seven occasions, he organized and trekked with scouts in the rugged mountains of Philmont Scout Ranch hiking over 500 miles of high altitude trails.   He was appointed to the 2008 Legislative Task Force for the 21^st Century Economy and in 2009 was appointed to the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority, one of three state economic development agencies.

Currently Campbell is serving as President of the Arkansas Municipal League, the first person from Fort Smith in 48 years to serve an organization that Fort Smith helped found.   Recently, he was the first person from Fort Smith to be elected to the Board of Directors of the National League of Cities where he has served as Vice-Chair of NLC’s Community and Economic Development Steering Committee. Throughout his service, he has showcased Fort Smith by bringing state and national groups here for meetings. For several years, he has volunteered in a state wide organization which works to raise Arkansas’ per capita to the national average and provide additional funding without raising taxes.

“The Arkansas Municipal League is an amazing forum.  It represents Arkansas’ 500 communities as their official representative at the legislature and provides a training venue for municipal officials. At any given point, I can talk with any city from across the state about topics that are relevant to Fort Smith. Those relationships are crucial to making changes at the state level and will serve to benefit Fort Smith,” said Campbell.

Campbell retired early from IBM Corporation and operates a successful management consulting practice. His hands-on economic development experience has come through his work with the City of Fort Smith and his personal Chamber of Commerce involvement. Gary estimates that in his role as a civic and community leader, he has directly participated in the recruiting and/or retention of over 750 jobs for this area with an estimated $300M of plant investment.

Gary has strong Christian values and is an active member of First Methodist Church.  His conservative viewpoint will guide his votes in the legislature as he represents the best interests of the District 64 citizens.  He and his wife Jo Ann, long-time residents of Fort Smith have three sons who graduated with honors from Fort Smith schools.

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Let’s go to Tolbert’s video:

Note the artful use of the passive voice when Reynolds talks about campaign money. It’s going to “flow into this state,” and “they’ll match anything that she’s got.” It absolves him of responsibility for raising money for his own campaign, right? After all, that money is simply going to flow!

This is not to pick on Reynolds, particularly; it’s a common trope among the under-funded and under-performing candidates to argue they don’t need to raise money because “the money will be there.” Well…perhaps. Or perhaps not. Are you sure you wanna stake your campaign on that?

But I don’t want to be overly negative, so let’s make a deal. Here’s the assignment for all these lower-tier candidates in the Republican Senate primary: Let’s set a threshold target of, oh, let’s say $4 million. You go raise $4 million, and you don’t even have to spend it—just park it in the bank.

Then, if your theories about all of this magical money “flowing” into the state turn out to be true, and you didn’t need the $4 million, you can simply return it to the contributors once you’ve won the race, and I’ll admit that I was terribly, terribly wrong. You can even park the money in a CD and maybe hold on to the interest you generate in the meantime.

You’ll have proven your point that money isn’t that important, but without the risk of entering the campaign season lacking the money you’ll need to run a competitive campaign. It would have the added benefit of proving that you CAN raise the money, and that your failures to do so thus far have not been a function of inability or unwillingness to do the basic things that a campaign requires.

Sound like a good deal? I thought so.

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