Arkansas Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor ran for re-election unopposed in 2008. At that time, as far as the Senate was concerned, Arkansas was a one-party Democratic state; there had been exactly one Republican in the U.S. Senate from Arkansas since Reconstruction. Pryor, son of Arkansas senator and governor David Pryor, seemed set to spend decades in Washington.
Now, however, Arkansas has made a rapid change from blue to red, and Pryor is in the fight of his life, running behind Republican challenger Rep. Tom Cotton. And one thing that comes with a competitive race is a certain amount of questioning from the press. It’s something for which Pryor, given his background in a virtually all-Democratic state, doesn’t seem entirely prepared to handle. On Monday, as he campaigned with former President Bill Clinton, Pryor seemed completely flummoxed when asked simple questions about his campaign’s own ads and claims.
The first happened in Conway, after a rally at Arkansas Central University. Pryor’s campaign has taken to referring to Cotton as “Superior Tom,” suggesting that the Harvard-educated Iraq and Afghanistan veteran Republican “looks down on Arkansans.” As Pryor talked to a few reporters, I asked him what he meant by “Superior Tom.”
“Well, I just mean that, uh — sometimes, uh, I would say, sometimes he sort of gives the —” Pryor began.
At that point, Pryor’s press secretary attempted to step in. “We’re going to cut it off, thank you,” he said.
Pryor continued. “He just — I think he’s out of touch with Arkansas. He’s out of touch with Arkansas.”
Another reporter asked how Cotton is out of touch. “Just in so many ways,” Pryor said. “Look at his voting record. I mean, look at the things that he’s voted for and the things he’s pushed in Washington. I just think that’s out of touch, and that’s what we mean by that.”
You can listen to the audio of the entire exchange above.
It was a simple, straightforward question about a simple, straightforward statement from the Pryor campaign. And yet the candidate himself appeared completely unprepared to answer it.
Later on Monday, after an appearance in Jonesboro, Pryor spoke to MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt, who asked Pryor about an ad his campaign has run attacking Cotton on the issue of Ebola preparedness. The ad said, “Tom Cotton voted against preparing America for pandemics like Ebola.” Talking with Pryor, Hunt asked whether the Obama administration has done “an appropriate job” handling Ebola.
“Uh,” Pryor began, looking for words. “I would say that, it’s hard to know because I haven’t heard the latest briefing on that.” For several seconds, Pryor struggled to find an answer. You can watch the exchange, with Hunt’s introduction from Tuesday morning, here:
It was another simple, straightforward question about a simple, straightforward Pryor campaign claim. And yet Pryor again appeared unprepared to answer it.
What Monday’s performance seems to indicate is that Pryor, who entered political office in Arkansas as the son of a legendary Democratic politician in a one-party Democratic state, is struggling to adapt to a new world in which Arkansas is not only turning Republican, but candidates of both parties have to answer basic questions about themselves and their campaigns. Maybe it wasn’t that way in the past for Democrats in Arkansas. But things have changed.
