Sen. Mark Pryor is in the fight of his life protecting his seat against midterm election challenger Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.
The Arkansas Democrat has worked hard throughout the race to distance himself from President Obama and the White House’s policies, disguising his political allegiances so as not to sour the red state’s voters against his re-election bid. But his attempts to distance himself from Obama are not always so graceful.
Case in point: The Arkansas incumbent fell to pieces this week when MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt asked him about the Obama administration’s handling of Ebola, a deadly virus that has claimed many lives in West Africa.
“Do you think that the Obama administration has done an appropriate job handling the Ebola crisis?” the MSNBC reporter asked.
Pryor had to think for a moment: “Ummmmm … I would say that it’s hard to know, uh, because, uh, I haven’t heard the latest briefing on that to know all the details,” the senator said. “I mean, I read the paper and all, but my impression is that we have people over there, both from [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and other medical-type people and even some engineers to try to build, uh, you know, medical facilities,” he added. “That’s what they need over there. They need the medical infrastructure.”
The MSNBC reported persisted: “Have we’ve been aggressive enough in helping do that?”
“Ummmmmm … Again, I’d have to see the latest numbers,” he responded, once again avoiding the question.
The incumbent senator’s flubbing of the question is all the more embarrassing considering the fact that Hunt herself characterized it a simple line of inquiry.
“I was a little surprised that [the question was] so difficult because [Pryor] had aired this ad on Ebola in August, accusing his opponent, Tom Cotton, of not doing enough to fight global pandemics,” she explained Tuesday during a “Morning Joe” interview. “I expected he would, I guess, have, you know, read more …”
The race between Cotton and Pryor is nearly a dead heat, with the Republican upstart leading his Democratic opponent in the polls 45-41 percent, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.
Pryor had former President Bill Clinton, also a native Arkansan, stumping for him in the state this week.
