Arkansas Republicans

Jim Holt Will Take Your Money Now (Updated!)

Jim Holt
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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48 thoughts on “Jim Holt Will Take Your Money Now (Updated!)

  • Jim “The Loser” Holt will not be receiving any of my money.

    Reply
  • I am sure Jim Holt is a nice man and I probably agree with him on 75% of the issues, however, the RPA needs to move away from nominating his type if they ever want to become a viable party in the state. By his type, I mean the chronically underemployed, extreme religious right wing. We need candidates that have breakout appeal to the fiscal conservative and socially more moderate voters who have a built in urge to vote D by their growing up in southern or eastern Arkansas. The Jim Holt’s of our party simply scare those voters away. Stanley Reed was the type of candidate we need as a party in Arkansas.

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  • R Bryan, So what you are saying is our candidate “Republican” should look more like a Democrat. I disagree. That’s what we have had in the past and look where its put us, in the poor house. There currently isn’t 10 cents difference in the two Party’s we have in DC. I no longer will support a candidate just because there is an “R” beside his name or the lip service they throw out. Jim Holt is the only candidate who has proven to stand on conservative principles and that’s why he has my support.

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  • No Rick, what I am saying is that we should be able to field candidates that are fiscally and socially conservative and that have broader appeal. Jim Holt is not that candidate and never will be. Sarah Palin was once that kind of Republican in her rise to the Governorship of Alaska. I saw her interviews with Maria Bartiromo (sp?), Craig Ferguson, and David Letterman where she could stick to conservative principles without giving off the kind of vibe that makes people run away, people who might otherwise vote Republican.

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  • Also, in a state like ours the average “Democrat” is probably a conservative “Republican” that votes D because that is usually the only viable choice on their ballot. That might explain why our state keeps going for the Republican nominee in Presidential elections.

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  • R Bryan, Our state seems to have no problem going for the Mike Huckabee type candidate that is socially conservative and fiscally liberal. In ’04 Holt got no support from the RPA and yet made a good race of it. Whoever the nominee is this time around will face presumable Lincoln, who will have the baggage of her health care vote and “the one” Obama. Any of the republican candidates can beat her in the General Election. That’s why I am supporting the true conservative in the race, Jim Holt.

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  • I’m no Huckabean or Hutchisonian Arkie republican. I am sure I share the same criticisms of Huckabee that you do. Having said that, arguing about who the “true” conservative is among the party faithful has led to our party continuing its permanent minority status. We need better candidates, plain and simple. Holt is a step backward not forward in that regard in my opinion.

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  • Arkansas Blogger

    My money would go to Gilbert Baker. Giving it to Jim Holt would be like flushing it down the toilet in terms of electoral outcome. He is a perennial loser, driven more by ego than conviction. Just my thoughts as an independent scrub.

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  • “My money would go to Gilbert Baker. Giving it to Jim Holt would be like flushing it down the toilet in terms of electoral outcome. He is a perennial loser, driven more by ego than conviction. Just my thoughts as an independent scrub.”

    I think this bears repeating.

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  • carol

    Holt has had our nomination for statewide office twice before … AND LOST. Why would we entrust it to him AGAIN?

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  • RINO hunter

    Carol,
    Question….. where were you in ’04 and ’06? Did you donate to his campaign? Did you help pass out literature? Did you do anything to help the Republican Candidate whether you thought he could win or not? My bet is you did nothing…and in saying that YOU are the problem! If you did nothing then Why should Jim Holt entrust the establishment? Establishment are RINO’s. Bring back the true conservatives and we get our Nation and our party back. It’s people like you who make our party weak. Check out Jim Holt’s donations in those two elections and I bet not one of the other 7 announced candidates gave him a dime. I have checked it out and that Baker guy can complain about only getting 44% in ’04 or ’06. Where was he??? He didn’t give Holt a dime and he was our Republican Party Chair. Shame on him, shame on you and shame on the Rep. Party.

    My money, my time, everyting I’ve got to give is going to the only guy who has got the guts, religious or not, to do anyting about taking this beloved Nation back. Not to mention the only guy who has got the record to back up the talk! “Go Jim Go” We need you! America Needs you! Arkansas needs you!

    Will you join me????
    Bringing the RINO’s to extinction

    Reply
  • Entrust! Wow, Holt stepped up. Can’t fault a man for trying. Baker money equals success, naw you are not able to buy my moralty. I cannot see myself or any other conservative or even reasonable person voting for Baker. I have no respect for a man that hates women. To go and testify in court on your friend’s behalf for leniency, after he was found guility of voilenting raping and torturing that young girl just turns my stomach. As an individual or caring Christian, I could maybe understand. As a State Senator what was he thinking? In my mind he was throwing his weight around and his position of power. It just sickens me and it should for every father of every young daughter and woman as well. To ask forgiveness for this vile man and what he did is a stain he can never wash off his hands. Baker is not fit now or ever to be an Elected Leader of Arkansas in any capacity. To argue the point is to accept that it was right and it puts you in the same boat. click on my name I posted the link to see what I am talking above.

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  • Hunter-

    Jim “the Loser Holt didn’t receive money from the other candidates to Gilbert bc they knew he wouldn’t win and it was pointless to waste the money.

    When you have limited funds you don’t give to the ones that WILL lose, and the ones that WILL win. Its pretty simple to figure out.

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  • Br549

    Where can i contribute online?

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  • Br549, Holt has a website at jimholt2010.com. Jim never got support from the establishment because he didn’t play their games. In ’04 & ’06 Holt received more votes than any other Republican candidate. That includes Huckabee and Hutchinson. This should tell people that with a little help Holt can win this election. Its been obvious that both Party’s have lost their way and its time to clean house and put in a true conservative. Jim Holt for U.S. Senate!

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  • Fourche River Rex

    Rick,
    BR549 wasn’t being serious, he/she is a Dem. Which illustrates several problems with this whole thing…

    Reply
  • Br549

    FRR-

    Im an independent minded citizen and I most certainly like what Holt brings to the race.

    THanks for the tip Rick. Im gonna go check it out.

    Happy New Years all!

    Reply
  • Brett

    Rick,

    Saying Holt received more votes than any other Republican candidate in ’04 is quite misleading again. In ’04 he was the ONLY statewide Republican candidate other than President Bush. Bush by the way received greater than 100,000 more votes than Holt in AR. But you can’t hold that against him. Bush was after all President at the time. Saying that Holt received more votes than any other Republican that year is like saying the Governor of California is a better candidate because he got more votes than the Governor of Rhode Island.

    You are correct that in ’06 he received more votes than any other Republican running that year. However he only had 10,000 more than Asa. That’s a difference of only about 3%. I think we could all agree that if Holt was running against the conservative Democrat Beebe instead of the liberal Halter this wouldn’t have been the case.

    Obviously when you compare votes received with voter turnout Holt loses when compared to past Republicans such as Tim Hutchinson when he lost to Pryor. TH received over 46% of the vote. In Holt’s election with the very liberal Halter he only received 42%. So please quit throwing out crappy facts taken out of context just because you think Holt loses better than others.

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  • Johnny B. Good

    Jim Holt is an unemployed loser who wants your money to make himself feel a little bit better about his crappy life.

    I have known him for many years and he can’t hold a job unless it’s a public office. How can we elect someone that is a lazy bum like that? If I had the time off from my job I would work around the clock to make sure he DIDN’T win.

    Besides being lazy and no good, he also says one thing and then when he thinks nobody is looking does another. Pretty pathetic if you ask me.

    He is a guy who stands for all things christian, yet he has an extensive porn collection.

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  • R Bryan is right

    R Bryan is right. Holt will never receive the statewide, cross-party support that will be necessary to win. I’m certainly no RINO but I do live in the real world enough to see (and hear the talk) that Holt is viewed outside of Northwest Arkansas as an extremist in the worst Jim Bob kind of way. Sorry to hurt any feelings but mainstream Arkansans see those two as whackos. If we Republicans put our eggs in that basket, we can forget beating Lincoln this time around. I haven’t researched the other candidates to know which one I will support at this point but a primary vote or dollar given to a Holt campaign is wasted in my opinion.

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  • Fourche River Rex

    Wow, J B Goode knows how to hit the right buttons to get this crowd to vote FOR Holt. Kinkade’s ears certainly perked up at te word, “porn.”

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  • Johnny B. Good

    Jim Holt & Jim Bob Duggar are like brothers lost at birth. Not to mention they were at one time close friends. Not so anymore.

    at least Jim Bob Duggar has the balls to take care of his own family without robbing people from the “home church”.

    They have plenty of things in common, including a losing record when it comes to politics. We don’t need any losers in the State Legislature and we certainly don’t need any representing us in Washington.

    Reply
  • Zzzzz

    I heard about the porn issue too. It came second hand but from someone pretty reliable. I’ve been curious who all had heard.

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  • Bubba from Gurdon

    I been hearing this porn addiction thing about Holt as well. The way I hear it is he can’t look at a girl’s cleavage without thinking about porn. I hear he will even tell a young lady about his problem if she is not covered up properly.

    My point here is that all DK has to do now to keep Holt from reading this blog is to continue to post his little girlie pictures on each post. Maybe even dedicate a few bikini pics to Mr. Holt himself.

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  • Keith

    All this talk about Jim Holt not being able to win is very untrue. Of course he didn’t win, because he didn’t have the support of the Republican establishment. He won 44.07%, or 458,936, of the vote in 2004, when Blanche Lincoln was considered “strong” spending alot less than Blanche Lincoln I say thats pretty good. And in 2006 he won 42.64%, or 325,251, of the vote compared to 40.67%, or 315,040 that Asa Hutchinson got for Governor…I take that to mean that alot of people who voted for Gov. Beebe for Governor switched sides and voted for Holt for Lt. Governor, which means he had some Democrats vote for him. I had a friend work on Jim Holt’s Lt Governor campaign and I have met him personally, and I must say I would be proud to have him as my Senator

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  • Don’t know Jim Holt, but with this much action, he must be a major force to be reckened with. That is good. We need the primaries to be chock full of people to battle it out. Gives them some practice for the big one and enables them to get their message out. At least that is what I keep seeing posted on here and the Turdbert Report. Or is that only for the hard to get and replace seats, that no one wants to run for like the Governor? Let Holt run, what’s the harm? put one set of principeled values against another set. Mix it up. Get some controversy and blood out there. We want some action, make it worthwhile. Other wise Blanche Lincoln wins. Not really, but that seems the end all excuse that doesn’t work any more. Keep in mind no matter what happens out there in the GOP Primary, that Green Beret is sitting out there in a loincloth, watching, waiting and smiling!

    Reply
  • Brett

    You think Holt hasn’t won because of the “Republican Establishment”? You think the Republican establishment was that 6% which would have given him the election over Lincoln? That 6% is represented by independents who didn’t, and won’t vote for Holt.

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  • RINO hunter

    Johnny B Good & Bubba,

    If you don’t have proof from Holt himself then you are very close to liable. I would keep your mouth shut if you don’t have solid proof other than what “you have heard.” It’s real easy to find out who you really are on here so my advice to you is to stop this bs and get on with your lousy life.

    Reply
  • I agree RINO, to throw out these accusations just shows how stupid JBG & Bubba really are. Lets stick to discussing who you are supporting and why.

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  • Bubba from Gurdon

    I am just trying to get DK to post some more pictures. Lordie.

    Reply
  • Interested Observer

    For all of the Holt followers that want to talk about the number of votes he received in previous races, you should not forget that he had some very favorable conditions that will not be present in 2010. First, he will not have a popular incumbent president like George W. Bush was in 2004 to pull a huge conservative vote in Arkansas and second, he will not have the gay marraige issue on the ballot to draw out conservatives.

    In 2004, Bush has a double digit victory while Holt had a double digit loss with one of the largest and most conservative electorates to ever go to the polls in Arkansas. Jim has reached his high water mark with an ideal environment and he fell 12% behind Lincoln who at the time had no particular accomplishment to speak of.

    In 2006, Holt benefited from a very devisive Democrat primary for Lt. Gov. Halter was hated by the Wooldridge and Hathorn bases within the Democrat party. Many of them gave a free protest vote to Holt to make themselves feel better while knowing it would not change the outcome…those same people were unified for Beebe against Asa.

    Finally, as someone who has observed the process closely for many years, I can tell you that Holt was perhaps the least effective Legislator of the decade. He filed lots of bills to get headlines and rarely presented them to committee. When he did present a bill to committee, he was often unprepared and demonstrated a lack of understanding for legislative procedure. Finally, he missed a ton of votes. He not only could not pass a bill, he was also very ineffective when it came to stopping the bad stuff.

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  • In ’04 Jim Holt got zero support from the RPA, only spent $150,000 to Lincolns 4 million, and still got 44% of the vote. One of Holt’s biggest critics, Brummett, is still amazed at how well Holt did in that race.
    In ’06 we have the same story with the RPA, NO SUPPORT for Jim Holt. Bush was very unpopular in 2006 which was a drag on the ticket. Holt pulled 56% in a 3 man primary and pulled more votes than any other Republican candidate in the General. I reject the idea that we need more liberal candidates so we can pull in Independents. It is obvious the people we have been electing isn’t getting the job done. A lot of voters are like me in that I am tired of voting for someone just because they have an “R” beside their name. What in the hell has it got us? A big mess. That’s why I am supporting Holt, he isn’t an establishment candidate!

    Reply
  • Interested Observer

    I would also reject the idea of a liberal candidate. Neither Gilber Baker, Conrad Reynolds, or Curtis Coleman are liberal candidates. Gilbert has an 8 year record of being pro-life, pro-second amendment, pro-family, pro-tax cut, and with one exception (out of hundreds of opportunities) he has been anti-tax…the one exception being to resolve the school issue after the Supreme Court tried to take over public education in Arkansas.

    You really didn’t address any of my other issues, you just repeated what the Holt folks have been saying over and over and over and over. I guess to counter your argument that Holt got more than any other statewide candidate in 2004, I would point out that he was the ONLY Republican statewide candidate in 2004…I guess that means that he was the only Republican to lose a statewide race in Arkansas that year.

    My biggest problem with Holt is that as a Legislator he was lazy, unprepared, and completely ineffective on all counts. Those are facts that you just can’t counter.

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  • Also should be pointed out that in ’04 Holt got over 100,000 less votes than Bush. So that means 100,000 independents or conservatives voted for Bush but chose not to vote for Holt.

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  • Another thing that I think is worth mentioning is the fact that Jim Holt ran against Bill Halter. He was by far the most unpopular candidate on the Democratic ticket. Bill Halter is an unabashed liberal and a carpetbagger. Mike Beebe was the guy that lived down the street. It would be easier for ANYONE to pull more votes over Bill halter than Mike Beebe. Just a thought

    Reply
  • Common Sense

    Ummm, Holt didn’t just get more votes than Asa in 06, he got more than Delay and LaGrone too. And IO wants it both ways. He dismisses Holt’s 06 top-gop vote getting by saying Halter was unpopular, but gives Bush full credit for beating Kerry even though Kerry was a Mass. liberal who was not even trying to campaign in this state. Holt would have plastered a goof like Kerry too.

    You guys just don’t want to face up to the math. Holt is the best vote getter the Republicans have got. For your best to be good enough to win, his team either needs to be stronger or that team needs to support him more. The first would be difficult but the second would be easy, since at the state level his support was nil.

    Reply
  • RINO hunter

    wanted to add this prospective from a guy who was in the trenches.

    http://arkansaswatch.blogspot.com/2010/01/revisionist-holt-history.html

    and after reading this and checking out data the libs. are just flat out lying to make Holt look bad. I think it was Hitler that said, “Tell a lie often enough, loud enough, and long enough, and people will believe you.” That is EXACTLY what the RINO’s are doing and the libs.

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  • Barbara

    I hope that Holt will hire a competent compliance officer for his campaign. Having run a federal race once, it would be inexcusable for him to miss the reporting basics.

    He isn’t off to a good start on the compliance page….

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  • RINO hunter

    Barbara,

    FEC requires that a candidate files with them after he has spent or receive 5,000 dollars. Also, he hasn’t announced yet unless I missed that over the holiday.

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  • I would assume Holt raised $5,000 over the last two fundraisers so we should expecte his filing soon.

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  • Barbara

    Dear RINO H, the FEC requires more than just that….

    You might want to check it out yourself, lest you walk into a brick wall whilst attempting to defend someone.

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  • Wow… stay classy, Arkansas…

    Kind of glad I’m out of the whole fray now. It’s amazing how with such a relatively small group of people we can tear into each other so badly. Can’t we all get along? Maybe take a soda break and tell extremely lowbrow jokes about Drew Pritt or Marion Berry or something?

    On that note, when is congressman old man river going to quit?

    Reply
  • Jimbob, you are right my friend. Back in my day, we showed leadership and tolerence. Today, I wouldn’t last a day in the state GOP let alone hold an elected office. Seems these days, you step up, it is time to attack, no matter what you bring to the table. Well what can one say, opportunists rule the day and we spin our wheels and loose focus. Grand Ole Party! What a tradegy and a joke. Where is that great uniter that usually leads in circumstances such as this? In the end Senator Lincoln is not the worst that could happen I guess. I feel the end is near for our party in it’s current condition. We have almost hit rock bottom. These tea party people across the nation in some states have at least one thing that will work. They are listening to the people. If the GOP cannot make it happen, then some need to rise up and toss out the leadership and start over. Now hand me a creme soda pop.

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  • RINO hunter

    Barbara,
    Not trying to defend just trying to clarify.

    Reply
  • SidMcMath

    You can call Jim Holt all the names you want but soon you’ll be calling him U.S. Senator.

    It makes no difference. Any Republican candidate is going to beat Lincoln this year and why not run the most rightwing guy if we’re going to win anyway. That being said, Holt’s base and name ID is strong enough to carry him through the primary anyway, even with no money. He’s an excellent campaigner and his charismatic personality is the key behind his success on the local level and strong showings on the state level.

    The only question is whether he can raise the money to be competitive. If he does, you’ll see the Club for Growth and Jim DeMint in heavy for Holt and then, my friends, the ballgame is over.

    Reply
  • Ray Whitney

    Jim Holt will win. Last time he ran against Blanche Lincoln she was sitting on a 77% approval, he spent $130,000 against her $6,500,000 and got 44% of the vote!
    This time she is sitting on a 31% approval(because she voted for the health care bill).

    I have no doubt that she can get in.

    Reply
  • Ray Whitney

    Jim Holt stands: pro life, against taxes, pro gun, pro small business. and don’t think he’s like other politicians, !LOOK AT HIS VOTING RECORD! he votes what he says he is going to vote.

    YOU CAN TRUST HIM

    Reply

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