AR-Sen: Cotton seriously considering run

[RogueBeaver]

Per National Journal. Now whether he pulls the trigger or not... but he's the only one who can defeat Pryor.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/how-control-of-the-senate-could-lie-in-one-freshman-s-decision-20130125

[bballrox4717]

I view this similarly to a pre-Sandy match-up between Booker and Christie. Cotton could pull off a win, but he could seriously damage himself politically if he lost against the popular Pryor.

[Keystone Phil]

[krazen1211]

Cotton will probably kill his career if he loses. But the other congressmen aren't stepping up.

[Zioneer]

He just started his job at the House! Why on earth would voters want him to move up when he hasn't even been a Congressman for a month?

[Keystone Phil]

He just started his job at the House! Why on earth would voters want him to move up when he hasn't even been a Congressman for a month?

Yeah, I actually dislike that a lot. He's still the best candidate though.

[RogueBeaver]

Theoretically I'd agree that he should wait. In practice, all the other choices are frosh or sophomores, plus some of AR's biggest political names didn't wait their turn either. Pryor himself, Fulbright, Bubba. There won't be another upgrade opportunity for the next decade since Hutchinson seems set for the Mansion and Boozman is running in '16.

[justfollowingtheelections]

He will probably win.

[Drop Billionaires, Not Bombs]

He will probably win the primary.

Fixed.

[RogueBeaver]

Cotton: I'm not making any decisions till May/June. Since one generally doesn't give timetables if the answer is no... Now Pubs gotta hope Darr gets the hint ASAP.

http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2013/01/25/arkansas-rep-cotton-leaves-door-open-senate-run-2014

[CountryClassSF]

This would be a risky move for Cotton because he's a freshman and he's challenging a two-term Senator with a fairly high level of support in his state.

That being said, Pryor did help institute Obamacare which is not very popular out in Arkansas.

But, I don't think the Republicans can afford to let any states that voted against Obama (particularly one that voted as overwhelmingly as Arkansas) go uncontested.

It'd be more interesting if Mike Huckabee ran.

[Democrats Hate Leftists More Than Predators]

Well there goes whatever lean the Dems had.

[Obamanation]

Well there goes whatever lean the Dems had.

What are you talking about? Tom Cotton is a darling of the beltway press, but he isn't some god-hero back home. In fact, the primary reason he won in 2012 was because he was a Republican running in Arkansas with OBAMA at the top of the ticket. AND he didn't even really outperform Mitt Romney. AND his opponent was a joke. I don't really see Cotton winning this, especially since Pryor will bring up the issue of wanting a promotion without earning it, see Berg, Rick.