Notes From The Campaign Trail 9.3.13

For our diehard political readers who have told me they aren’t fed enough to satisfy their appetite of daily campaign news, we re-start our popular “Notes from the Campaign Trail” posts.

Items in this section will appear frequently throughout the week depending on the level of news and content that comes from various campaigns and offices. Some of the news will come from candidates and special interest groups, while observations and other tidbits may also find their way into the copy. The round-up of what you’ll find here is pretty unfiltered – it is intended to show you the talking points and daily press release material that hits the inboxes of political reporters before some of it makes it into news copy.

ASA HUTCHINSON NAMES CAMPAIGN MANAGER
Asa Hutchinson (R) named Arkansas native Jon Gilmore to serve as his campaign manager. Gilmore will be overseeing the daily operations of the campaign out of Little Rock.

Gilmore most recently served as a pollster and strategist at the political consulting firm OnMessage, Inc. (OMI). He has conducted opinion research in every part of the country and was part of political strategy teams including: Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Congressmen Tim Griffin and Tom Cotton of Arkansas.

Prior to joining OMI, Jon served as a member of the Strategy Division at the Republican National Committee. A native Arkansan, Jon spent his early years in politics working for the Republican Party of Arkansas and the Bush / Cheney campaign in Arkansas.

CONG. COTTON STARTS BLOG ON SYRIA
Cong. and U.S. Senate candidate Tom Cotton (R) has started a blog on his office web site devoted exclusively to updates on Syria.

Cotton’s press secretary, Caroline Rabbit, says that over the coming days, Cotton plans to post updates regarding this developing situation. In his first post, Cotton says he has attended classified briefing and has read several top-secret reports.

Writes Cotton:

“Having reviewed the evidence, I have virtually no doubt that the administration’s publicly stated conclusions are accurate: Bashar al-Assad’s regime intentionally used chemical weapons on August 21 against opposition-controlled suburbs of Damascus. Alternative theories of culpability are not plausible at this time given the evidence I have reviewed. Assad’s use of chemical weapons last month is consistent with his pattern of using such weapons to break a stalemate in areas that he has struggled to seize.”

Read more here.

PRYOR AFFIRMS MINIMUM WAGE HIKE COMMITMENT
The Mark Pryor campaign said he attended the United Steelworkers Labor Day Picnic at the Four State Fairgrounds in Texarkana to “highlight his longstanding commitment to wage fairness for Arkansas workers and families.”

In a press release, Pryor said Cotton has opposed increasing the minimum wage and voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act and affordable student loans.

“Arkansas’ workforce is the core of our state’s economy, but the harsh reality is that wage gaps are growing and our families are falling behind,” Mark Pryor said. “We must ensure that hard work earns a fair paycheck for every Arkansan, and I’ll continue to be a reliable voice for a strong minimum wage, because standing up for Arkansas families is the responsible thing to do.”

Throughout his 22 years in public service, Pryor said he has supported raising the minimum wage nine times in the U.S. Senate and twice in the Arkansas legislature.

“Tom Cotton, on the other hand, opposed a minimum wage increase in the U.S. House of Representatives, even as he voted for tax cuts for millionaires,” Pryor asserted.