LITTLE FLOCK -- Democratic challenger Conner Eldridge campaigned in U.S. Sen. John Boozman's home county Saturday, asking voters at a Democratic rally when was the last time they saw the incumbent.
"He's been to Paris, France, more times than he's been to half the counties in Arkansas," Eldridge, a former U.S. attorney, told the crowd of at least 150.
The audience was attending the Little Flock Picnic, an election-year fundraiser for the Benton County Democratic Party that dates to at least the late 1950s, organizers said. The event was held in the city park at Little Flock, near Rogers. Boozman, a Republican-elected senator in 2010 after serving in the U.S. House, is from Rogers.
Eldridge's theme of criticizing foreign travel by Boozman is both inaccurate and missing context, said Christopher Caldwell, a spokesman for Boozman's re-election campaign. The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States happened while Boozman was campaigning for his first term in the House in a special election.
Boozman took office soon thereafter. Many of the trips Eldridge now tries to characterize as junkets were to Afghanistan, Iraq and the European countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, who were fighting alongside the United States, Caldwell said. Boozman was a member of the "NATO Parliamentary Exchange" of lawmakers from those countries, Caldwell said.
"It's a shame someone running for this office does not comprehend the responsibilities involved," Caldwell said.
Eldridge said polling tells him there are three messages he needs to get out to unseat Boozman, the Democrat told the crowd Saturday. First, he needs to make voters more aware of his background, particular in prosecuting crimes as a former U.S. attorney. Second, he needs voters to know Boozman frequently is out of the country at taxpayer expense, going to "53 foreign countries in 129 trips," Eldridge said. That number is not correct, Caldwell said. Third, he said Boozman's records of accomplishments is thin. "What's he done besides rename five post offices?" Eldridge said. Caldwell said the assertion Boozman has done little in office was "so absurd it does not deserve a response."
Later in the rally, state Rep. Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville, told the crowd they are all aware their party had been driven into the minority in recent elections. To rebuild, the Democrats must prioritize Northwest Arkansas, he said. Not only is it the growing part of the state where the voters are, it's the area where the elective offices will be as legislative districts follow trends in the population, he said. The region also is where the population is younger, which means that's where the future voters who haven't yet decided on a party preference are located, he said.
Northwest Arkansas was a GOP stronghold before the Republicans made gains statewide. "You know what it's like to be in the minority, to fight the Republicans," Leding told the crowd.
Doyle Webb, chairman of the state Republican Party, said Saturday the GOP is confident it will retain Northwest Arkansas as a party stronghold, and will continue to make gains in the remaining portions of the state where the Democrats are still a force, he said. He expects gains even in heavily Democratic areas of central Arkansas this election, he said.
Rep. Jana Della Rosa, R-Rogers, said the approach Leding advocates is the only viable Democratic strategy, but that even their best strategy will be a steep uphill climb. "He's right, but the Republican Party will fight tooth and nail to keep it," she said about Northwest Arkansas. "They have tried to make gains here, and they ran serious candidates. They didn't get anywhere."
NW News on 09/11/2016