Commentary: This Hutchinson Or That One

You can pick your friends and you can pick who you marry, but you can’t pick who you’re mistaken for.

I should know. As you can probably tell from my photo accompanying this column, the newspaper often gets calls from readers concerned it’s a mislabeled image of Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Ashton Kutcher or David Beckham, the famed soccer star. It’s a heavy burden to bear.

Last week, I got a phone call from a friendly gentleman who said he typically voted Republican, but was trying to make his mind up in the race for Arkansas governor. The race pits Mike Ross, the Democratic former congressman from Prescott and now Little Rock, and Republican former congressman, U.S. attorney and Homeland Security leader Asa Hutchinson of Rogers. Although there are others in the race, one of these two men are likely to fill the shoes of Gov. Mike Beebe, who leaves office at the end of 2014.

My caller had seen something on TV about Asa Hutchinson that raised a question in his mind. It was a commercial showing the candidate beside his wife, Susan, with her extolling the characteristics she finds valuable in a husband and a candidate for Arkansas’ highest office.

But my caller was perplexed. The commercial said Asa had been married for decades, but didn’t he get divorced and remarried several years ago?

It was the third call I’ve received since Asa Hutchinson started campaigning from people who thought they knew his history and were troubled by it.

The fact this commercial, in which Hutchinson’s wife conveys how the two met and got married, was the first TV ad of his campaign suggests I’m not the only one getting questions about Hutchinson’s marital situation. It’s also about the only way the candidate can try to clear things up without saying “That’s not me. That’s my brother.”

Oh yeah, remember Tim Hutchinson. He was the first Republican elected to the U.S. Senate from Arkansas since Reconstruction. Before that he served as a state representative in Little Rock and congressman from the 3rd District in Northwest Arkansas.

Their political lives make it extremely easy to confuse the two. But for Asa Hutchinson, it’s pretty important to make sure Arkansas voters — particularly ones who take a most conservative view of divorce — don’t get the two mixed up.

During his term as Arkansas’ U.S. senator, Tim Hutchinson divorced his wife of almost 30 years in 1999. In 2000, he married one of his former aides. In 2002, the son of former U.S. Sen. David Pryor challenged Hutchinson for the Senate seat. Mark Pryor won, with many crediting voter unhappiness with Tim Hutchinson’s marital swap as a reason.

Who Tim Hutchinson marries or divorces is a personal decision for him, except when it comes to asking Arkansans for vote. Tim Hutchinson hasn’t done that since losing the Senate seat, but his brother is going to need every vote he can get in the contest with Mike Ross.

The last thing Asa Hutchinson needs is misidentification with his brother.

And so the commercial rolls, and Asa Hutchinson’s website prominently features it on its opening page. As his wife says “The first time I met Asa, he got me with his smile,” the candidate sheepishly sits alongside her on the couch. The text reinforces, “married over 40 years.” Click on the “About Asa” link and you get a sidebar story about his “faithful wife” he’s been married to since 1973.

Whether Asa Hutchinson will make a good governor has little to do with who his wife is or how long he’s been married, any more than seeing the candidate decked out in hunting gear will. But any Arkansas candidate seeking statewide approval has to have an orange vest, shotgun and camouflage in the closet and needs to make sure voters don’t get them confused with someone else.

Asa Hutchinson is smart to devote some of that expensive TV air time to helping voters understand who he is and who he is not. And he is definitely not Tim Hutchinson.

GREG HARTON IS OPINION PAGE EDITOR FOR NWA MEDIA.

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