Politico Eyes Cotton-Pryor Match-up

Politico’s Manu Raju spent some time on the ground in Arkansas to follow Republican Senate challenger Cong. Tom Cotton.

Cotton and incumbent Democratic Senator Mark Pryor are locked in a near toss-up race that could determine control of the U.S. Senate.

In keeping the race competitive despite the reddening trend in Arkansas, Raju notes that Democrats have done a solid job of depicting Cotton “as repugnant as possible” from his votes on the Farm Bill to disaster aid.

So Cotton’s mandate is clear: Convince voters he’s likable enough so he can fight the campaign on his own terms. Heightening the challenge is the fact that Pryor and his popular father are both natural, back slapping pols, with a combined half-century of practice at retail politics.

“I’m warm, dammit,” Cotton joked during an interview over breakfast.. .My entire campaign is not just an effort to show warmth, it’s an effort for people to get a sense of me and know who I am — not just know how I vote,” Cotton said. “They can look at the House roll call and figure that out.”

Raju reports that while Republicans definitely view the seat as a pick-up and are pulling out all the stops to make that happen, Democrats are optimistic about their chances to hold it.

Democrats are equally upbeat about Pryor’s chances. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has reserved $3 million in TV airtime in the cheap media markets here from July through Election Day, with a Harry Reid-aligned super PAC reserving nearly $2 million itself, according to sources tracking the buys. Far more money is expected to pour in on both sides.

Pryor has faced his own deluge of scathing attacks from conservative outside groups linking him to Obama. Already some $13 million has been spent across the airwaves from both sides, according to media tracking sources.  “It feels like October when you turn on the TV,” Pryor said.

Read the full report at this link.