President Clinton Rallies for Arkansas Dems

Staff Photo Nick Brothers:
Mike Ross (left) and Mark Pryor (right) stand with Former President Bill Clinton (center) as he addresses the crowd during his speech at the University of Arkansas.

Former President Bill Clinton called for early voting and voter engagement as the keynote speaker at the Arkansas Democrat candidate rally held on campus at University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Tuesday, Oct. 7.

Along with Clinton — who was wearing a Razorback red polo — was Arkansas gubernatorial candidate Mike Ross and senate incumbent Mark Pryor, who Clinton publicly endorsed throughout the speech.

There appeared to be several hundred in attendance to the rally, and the event started with energetic introductions and pop music anthems that contributed to the electric atmosphere. The podium sat on the stairway with a large group of students sitting behind the podium with a giant American flag framing the group.

Mike Ross was the first to speak, and the majority of his speech was about his policies he wants to implement, if elected governor. Namely, he spoke about his desire for improving education with a proposed bill to have pre-kindergarten education programs offered to every Arkansan four year-old as well as his stance on gender inequality in the workplace.

After Ross spoke, Pryor approached the podium to talk about his own stances and voting for equal pay for equal work. He also talked about how he prided himself on keeping a rock engraving on his desk that says “Arkansas Comes First.”

Then, the 42nd president himself got the most rousing introduction of the day, being introduced as “Arkansas’ Favorite Son.” He opened his speech by referencing a recent article in The Daily Beast with the headline, “Bubba Goes Back to the Briar Patch: Bill Clinton’s Arkansas Obsession.”

After referencing his strong Arkansas roots and his education at the University of Arkansas, he admitted that yes, the article was right, he was “obsessed” with Arkansas. He went on to say that, to him, Arkansas wasn’t a briar patch at all, but in fact was “the future.”

Among the topics discussed during the rally, Clinton talked about the need for bipartisanship in government, student loans, education, showing up for mid-term elections and early voting. He also managed to slip in a couple comments about becoming a grandfather recently, to which the crowd cheered.

“You’ve got more tomorrows than yesterdays, and you better show up at the mid-terms” Clinton said, encouraging the audience to go out and vote starting Oct. 20. “Here’s what I know, every place in the world where people practice cooperation, good things are happening. Where they are in constant conflict and bad mouthing each other, good things aren’t happening.”

Staff Photo Nick Brothers: During his speech, Former President Bill Clinton spoke about equal pay rights for women, the need for partisanship in government, student loans, education, showing up for mid-term elections and early voting.

Of course, the major purpose of the rally was to endorse the two Democratic candidates who are facing potentially stiff competition from their Republican opponents — Asa Hutchinson for governor, and Tom Cotton for Senate — as well as the historically red state that Arkansas is.

“Mark Pryor and Mike Ross have proved under Republican and Democratic presidents that they will listen to everybody, work with everybody and be open to everybody,” Clinton said. “Their opponents have proven under Republican and Democratic presidents that they are nowhere near them.”

Clinton went on to talk about the two candidate’s partisan scores they’ve received in the past. Clinton said that Pryor has consistently gotten scores of 49 or 50, implying that he has always been bipartisan, which he said Cotton saw as a weakness.

Clinton also commented on the opposing candidates’ attack ads on the Democrat candidates.

“The ads make Pryor look like he’s running a communist revolution,” Clinton said, with a chuckle.

Near the end of his speech, Clinton spoke about how the people should be voting for what they want, and not having to only vote against certain issues. He also spoke about the importance of mid-term elections and the historically low turn out they always seem to receive. He said that if people are upset with the way things are going in Washington or with the president, they need to show up to mid-term elections and vote in the candidates the government needs.

“If we can’t go forward, we can’t be what we ought to be, and we can’t guarantee you a future,” Clinton said.