Sometimes there a little tidbits of information that aren’t major enough to warrant a full story or post, but for the political junkies in our audience they feed your addiction.
Here are a few items of interest from the campaign trail:
Cong. Marion Berry’s one-time consulting firm, The Markham Group, is also working for 1st District Democrat Chad Causey in his inaugural political run. Robert McLarty with The Markham Group often provides political analysis for Talk Business unrelated to his clients.
State Sen. Joyce Elliott is working with CDP Strategies, the consulting firm run by Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s former chief of staff now political architect, Steve Patterson. Patterson is chief spokesman for Lincoln’s campaign. Interestingly, Elliott enjoys the support of several labor organizations who are supportive of Lincoln’s opponent, Bill Halter.
Cong. John Boozman and State Sen. Cecile Bledsoe share a common consultant group, Diamond State Partners, led by former State Rep. Ted Thomas and Keith Emis. Boozman is running for the U.S. Senate and Bledsoe is challenging for Boozman’s opening Congressional seat.
Diamond State is also performing work for GOP Second District Congressional candidate Scott Wallace.
Another interesting Boozman note: The Tarrance Group, whose principals include noted Republican pollster Ed Goeas, serves as pollster for Boozman, who has represented the 3rd District for nearly a decade. The biggest economic engine in the 3rd District is Wal-Mart. Goeas has served as a board member for Wal-Mart Watch – the pro-union, anti-Wal-Mart group that dogged the retail giant for years with negative publicity.
The connection hasn’t seemed to hurt. David Glass, former CEO for Wal-Mart, hosted a fundraiser for John Boozman this week.
Former Gov. Mike Huckabee has endorsed someone in every Congressional primary: Rick Crawford (CD1), Scott Wallace (CD2), Doug Matayo (CD3) and Beth Ann Rankin (CD4). He has yet to make a formal U.S. Senate endorsement although he has written a $2,400 check to GOP candidate Curtis Coleman. Huckabee’s daughter, Sarah, is campaign manager for Boozman for Senate.
