HOW WE SEE IT GOP Primary: Members Only

Posted: November 23, 2009 at 3:23 a.m.

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Apparently, the filing deadline for Republican U.S. Senate candidates is two weeks from now.

Somebody tell the Secretary of State. He probably thinks the filing deadline is still March 8 - the date set by law.

The party faithful will meet for a leadership summit on Saturday, Dec. 5 in Hot Springs. There will be a straw poll. Getting your name in this spiritboosting, credibility-enhancing little exercise will require that you show you have $10,000 in the bank.

According to the party’s Web site:

“A candidate’s campaign must furnish proof that they have raised and have available the necessary funds to pay the filing fee that has previously been required of candidates seeking this office ($10,000).”

We thought a straw poll was more of a popularity contest than a serious vetting process. This “show us the cash” approach does more than take a lot of the fun out of this sort of thing. It prevents the party faithful from asking someone they truly want to get off the sidelines.

The idea of the candidate who did not desire to run but who answered the call of people out of a humble sense of duty is one of the most heartwarming fairy tales in politics. We are sorry to see all chances of it quashed.

We also note with interest the phrase “the filing fee that has previously been required.” “Previously” - now there is an ominous word. It suggests that if too many people get through this gate, the price of admission could rise.

The serious matter here is that it appears the Republican Party of Arkansas wants to thin the field of seven candidates who have already announced plans to run for this office and to preclude more upstarts.

This preference for “established” candidates is a mistake - a serious mistake - in an election year that has the very clear theme of “throw the bums out.”

This is an election cycle when the state party’s highest-ranking elected stalwart, 3rd District Rep.

John Boozman, R-Rogers, has drawn an opponent with the backing of the tea party voters - Gen.

Bernie Skoch. Skoch may or may not do well in the GOP primary. That is not the point. The point is that the “taxed enough already” crowd is not made up of old-time GOP campaigners in a new guise.

They are angry, very worried people who are not all that happy with the Republican Party either, particularly because of deficit spending when the GOP was in the majority in Congress.

In the worst case, people who feel blackballed from the club can support an independent conservative. Democratic incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln would marvel at her luck if that happens.

There are no runoffs in federal elections. In fairness, though, we point out that many of the people who are angriest at her come from the opposite end of the political spectrum. There is at least as much chance of a liberal independent opponent as a conservative. All this assumes Lincoln secures the nomination.

On a lesser scale of GOP disaster, this sort of screening discourages new talent. At least one prominent Democrat we know, Stanley Reed, is talking about switching parties for this race.

Now the state Republican Party has handed him a deadline of sorts. Being embargoed from a straw poll is not necessarily a slammed door, but it hardly throws out a welcome mat either. The state GOP needs to be more open to recruiting Democrats than it has been.

We do not know what beverages the state GOP will serve at Hot Springs. We suggest they serve plenty of tea - to anyone who wants a drink.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 11/23/2009

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