Arkansas Republicans' comments on slavery, Muslims stir controversy

[Art_from_Ark]

49. That's not how it is in Arkansas

The closest thing we've had to a "Boss Hogg" Republican is Huckabee. And he wasn't particularly corrupt, just addle-headed.

The state has had only 3 Republican governors since 1876 (all of them since 1966, serving a total time of 16 years), and only 2 US Senators who have been Republican since that time (including the current one elected in 2010). The Democratic Party nearly always controls the state offices (in 2010, for example, there were few Republican candidates for state offices; token opposition to Democrats was offered by the Green Party). The state legislature (of which the "slavery wasn't so bad" legislator is a member) is almost always Democratic. The votes in elections are tallied by county officials, nearly all of whom are Democrats, and the final tally for statewide and national offices is authorized by the Secretary of State, who also is almost always a Democrat.

In Presidential elections, however, the state almost always goes for the Republican candidate because of the "guns, gays and abortion" issues that are the driving force of so many of the state's voters for national offices. And when the Republican presidential candidate wins the state's electoral votes, it's always by a sizable majority-- usually 55-45%, or even 60-40%. Thus, unless the Democratic candidate is a Southern governor, diverting presidential campaign money to Arkansas by the national Democratic Party has been a lost cause since 1968 (although I believe the state would have gone for RFK in '68).