In a state of over 2.5 million people, that twice supported President Bush, not one Republican could be found to run against the one-term incumbent.
Arkansas Democrat Mark Pryor 's bid for a second Senate term soared from highly likely to virtually certain Monday, when no Republican challenger met the state's congressional filing deadline at noon central time.Lapses like this and the recent loss of Denny Hastert's old house seat make 2008 look like a dismal year for Republicans. I'm sticking to my prediction, the Democrats pick up at least 3 Senate seats.CQ Politics has changed its rating on Pryor's race to Safe Democratic from Democrat Favored, reflecting the fact that he is the first Senate incumbent running this year to officially draw no major-party opponent.
It was likely that this rating change would have been made even if the GOP had fielded a candidate. Republicans' hopes for seriously competing faded after Asa Hutchinson, a former House member and former high-ranking official at the federal Department of Homeland Security, declined a Senate bid. Then former Gov. Mike Huckabee stuck to his pledge not to run for the Senate this year, even though he dropped his presidential campaign last week after Arizona Sen. John McCain won enough delegates to clinch the Republican nomination.
The GOP's chances of even fielding a candidate fell to Tom Formicola, a medical technology company manager and former city councilman, who publicly considered the race but ultimately did not file to run, according to the office of Arkansas' Secretary of State. Formicola's only congressional campaign experience was a failed 2006 bid to win the GOP nomination to run against 2nd District Democratic Rep. Vic Snyder .
Still, the Republicans' inability to field any Senate candidate in a Southern state that twice favored Republican George W. Bush for president this decade is yet another blow for a party that lost six seats and its Senate majority in 2006, and is mainly playing defense against further Democratic gains this year.
Hat tip- Allahpundit at Hot Air
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