Benton Courier - HARRIS: Don’t vote by race in 2nd District; vote by politics

Here is an easy prediction: Before the Nov. 2 general election: The New York Times will send a reporter to Arkansas to cover the Second Congressional District race in Arkansas and that reporter will determine that the race of the candidates is the only issue.
When it comes to covering the Old South in general and Arkansas in particular, The New York Times can never get beyond its stereotyping of all white Arkansans as racist.
In this political race there are two candidates. The Republican is Tim Griffin, a former White House staffer in the George W. Bush Administration and a former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern district of Arkansas, who has served in the U.S. Army Reserves for 14 years. Griffin, who holds the rank of major and was deployed to Iraq, is a white man.
State Sen. Joyce Elliott is the Democrat in the race. Elliott is a former school teacher and Director of Government Relations for the Southwest Region of the College Board. She served in the Arkansas House of Representatives before being elected to the State Senate in 2008. Elliott, the most liberal member of the Legislature, is a black woman.
Elliott is playing the race card as often as she can. On her campaign website she has a headline that says she is “chasing history.”
“There’s no denying that it’s important to many voters,” Elliott told a reporter asking about the race issue. “I certainly am very aware that my election would be changing history, because every one of the old Confederate states have elected an African-American, and we (Arkansas) have not.”
There were five Democrats seeking the Democratic nomination to replace Democrat Vic Snyder who has held that seat for more than 13 years. Snyder is leaving Congress to spend more time with his family.
In the May 18 Democrat primary, Elliott got 40 percent of the vote and was forced into a run-off election with Speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives Robbie Wills.
Wills, who called himself “ an unapologetic moderate,” got 28 percent of the vote in the primary.
Wills sent out a campaign mailer that said Elliott is “extreme” and “unelectable” in the General Election because of her views on guns, abortion and school prayer.
Elliott got a C-minus rating from the National Rifle Association — the lowest rating of any member of the Arkansas Legislature.
Wills was trying to make the election about issues and not race. He wanted voters to know Elliott is the most liberal member of the Arkansas Legislature.
Wills hit Elliott on guns, God and abortion. He pointed out Elliott’s record on legislation that would restrict gun and hunting rights, “outlaw” school prayer and allow an underage girl to have an abortion without parental consent.
Wills’ mailer asked: “Joyce Elliott’s values ... are they yours?”
It should be noted here that Wills didn’t attack Elliott on her record of never finding a tax increase she didn’t like. That is probably because his record on taxes is almost identical to hers.
Dale Charles, president of the Arkansas NAACP, responded forcefully to Wills mailer.
“The ‘unelectable’ is a racism term. In Arkansas — which has never elected a black person to Congress — “unelectable’” is code, another way of saying that a black person cannot win office in the state, so don’t waste your vote,” Charles said.
Wills said he was trying to let people know he was the better candidate to face Griffin in November based on the issue.
The response was again that it wasn’t about the issues, but about race.
“When you look at the votes on May 18, she (Elliott) pulled the most. In Arkansas politics, we have never had a black congressman — even Mississippi and Oklahoma have. A black has never held one of the seven state-wide offices in Arkansas. We’ve never elected a black to the state supreme court. That sentiment is a buzzword for racism,” Charles said.
Charles pointed out that in the 2008 election, U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, a white Democrat, got twice as many votes as Barack Obama in the second District. Obama was still elected President of the United States. John McCain won in the Second District by about a 10 percent margin.
“People have said they couldn’t vote for a black man for president,” Charles said. “Now it’s the same thing with Elliott, black and female. It’s pure racism.”
You don’t need a crystal ball to see where this is going. The idea put forth will be that people don’t oppose Elliott because she is a flaming liberal. Never mind that Elliott is to the left of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and even Obama.
If you oppose Elliott, it has to be because you are a racist.
Elliott wants to play down the importance of people voting on ideology in this campaign.
“People aren’t concerned which way you lean, they’re concerned what you’ve done over the years — a record, as a champion for education, as a champion for working families,” Elliott said.
People don’t care if you are liberal or conservative? They don’t care if you are for or against new taxes? They don’t care if you are for or against more federal spending?
Any good magician will tell you that the key to success is to distract your audience. Have them watch your left hand while your right hand does the trick.
That’s what the race issue is in this race — a distraction from Elliott’s far left record.
Here is the bottom line in this race: Don’t make a decision on this election based on the race or gender of the candidates.
If you believe Obama is taking this country in the right direction with higher taxes, and that more government spending and more government control of our lives are the answer to all our problems, send Obama some help by voting for Elliott.
If you believe Obama is taking this country in the wrong direction and you want someone who understands we are racing into national bankruptcy with Obama’s massive increase in federal spending and that higher taxes aren’t the answer, vote for Griffin.

Jim Harris of Bryant covered Arkansas politics for almost 20 years. He has been the press secretary of former U.S. Rep. Ray Thornton, U.S. Rep. Jay Dickey and Gov. Mike Huckabee. He was the Director of External Communications for the Huckabee for President Campaign. His column appears on Tuesdays.

< Prev		Next >

[ Back ]