Democrats Pinning Hopes On Beebe Coattails
by July 31, 2012 8:31 am 71 views
He's the most popular Democratic elected official in the state and party officials and candidates are making strong efforts to tie themselves to him.
Gov. Mike Beebe (D) has continuously held high public approval ratings and with control of the statehouse legislature up for grabs this election cycle, Democrats are finding ways to work the popular Governor into their campaign efforts.
John Lyon with our content partner, The Arkansas News Bureau, reports that Beebe is helping Democratic candidates, but he's even unsure how much help he'll be in 2012.
Beebe said that whichever party may be in favor at the moment, he believes candidates can succeed by showing their individuality.
“Arkansans will default to the R or to the D depending on what’s going on, depending on the mood of the people, if they don’t know the candidate well enough t
o feel like they’re going to vote for or against the candidate,” he said.
“What I’ve tried to tell the candidates is, ‘You’ve got to get out and let the people know you to the point that they feel comfortable with you, so they’ll either vote for you or against you based on who you are, not whatever the flavor of the month happens to be.’”
Democrats hold a slim 54-46 margin in the House of Representatives and a 20-15 advantage in the State Senate. Due to redistricting and lackluster federal Democratic candidates, Republicans sense that they can win down ballot in local races to make unprecedented gains in the state legislature.
Read more at this link.