Hurst Benefits from Republican Attacks (And Clark Hall, Too)

There are times when your friends and even your opponents can define who you are and how others perceive you.  This week, Fourth Congressional District candidate Q. Byrum Hurst learned firsthand that having opponents attacking you can come in handy.

Hurst is one of three candidates running for the Democratic nomination in the Fourth. This week, the National Republican Campaign Committee sent out three press releases attacking Hurst, but they never mentioned the other Democratic candidates.

The NRCC press releases were boilerplate material, trying to link Hurst to Obamneycare (my phrase), problems in Medicare and taxes, but that they decided to go after Hurst during a primary speaks volumes on who they believe will become the eventual Democratic nominee in the Fourth Congressional District.  Three attack releases in one week sends a clear signal that they’re attempting to soften him up for the general election.

The NRCC press releases also send signals to astute Democratic donors and party leaders that Hurst is the candidate to beat and that can only be advantageous to Hurst since it helps his own fundraising.

I’m told by sources the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee would prefer Hurst as the nominee of the three candidates that are running. Senator Gene Jeffress has been running since October, but he insists on running his campaign like it was 1972 and the DCCC wants a candidate who will raise money and run a modern campaign.

2010 Senate candidate and Republican Chicken D.C. Morrison is also seeking the nomination. I call Morrison a Republican Chicken because in 2010 he endorsed two Republican Congressional candidates, spoke at the State Republican Convention, but he doesn’t have the guts to come out of the closet and run in the Republican primary.

Currently, the nomination fight is between Hurst and Jeffress and the race is a toss-up.  Hurst proved in his unsuccessful State Senate race he has fundraising ability and the Jeffress name is known in deep South Arkansas due to the fact that there are actually two legislators named Senator Jeffress, Gene and his brother, Jimmy.

Those two factors make it difficult to properly handicap the race, but apparently the NRCC already knows who they may face and by attacking this early one could argue that they are worried about a Hurst nomination. Expect more Republican mud thrown at Hurst before the May 22nd primary.

In the end, the Hurst campaign should be proud the Republicans are attacking them before even securing the nomination. It means Republicans believe that Q. Byrum Hurst will be facing likely Republican nominee Beth Anne Rankin in November.

UPDATE: Today, the Clark Hall for Congress Campaign sends word that they have also been recently attacked via press release by the NRCC.

Hall’s campaign noted that in the past nine days, the NRCC has sent out four separate releases attacking Hall along the same lines that they attacked Hurst.  The NRCC releases did not mention the other main contender for the 1st Congressional District nomination, Scott Ellington.

Based on the NRCC’s actions, Clark Hall can also claim some bragging rights that Republicans are worried about his candidacy too.