By Zack Stovall
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — A self-professed gaffe-prone Republican state senator who is challenging Democratic U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s re-election bid said Thursday he regrets referring to Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as “that Jew” at a Pulaski County GOP meeting last week.

“I don’t speak with a TelePrompTer, and if I had, that reference would have never made it in there,” Sen. Kim Hendren, R-Gravette, said in an interview with the Arkansas News Bureau. “I know I referred to him as Jew or Jewish, and I should not have done that. I got my foot in my mouth.”

The statement was first reported by Jason Tolbert on his conservative political blog, The Tolbert Report, after Hendren admitted to Tolbert he made the remark during his appearance at the GOP gathering.

Hendren said Thursday he made the remark in referring to comments Schumer made on the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC, in which the New York senator said that “American traditional values” were behind them, a point Hendren said he strongly disputes.

“I was simply making a point about those two points. I believe in those traditional values like Andy Griffith, Aunt Bea, Barney and Opie. But now all that was lost with this statement,” Hendren said.

“I don’t have any issue with Jews or Jewish people or whatever the politically correct term they wish to be identified as,” he said. “I very much respect Senator Joe Lieberman.”

Lieberman is Jewish.

Hendren is the only announced candidate against Lincoln, a two-term Democratic incumbent who has been targeted by Republicans in 2010.

Lincoln’s campaign manager, Steve Patterson, said Thursday the senator was made aware of reports of Hendren’s statement but offered no comment.

“Sadly, the remarks speak for themselves,” Patterson said. “Sen. Lincoln hopes the campaign will be about helping working people in Arkansas to get ahead and not about offensive comments by the candidates.”

Patterson said Lincoln and Schumer have worked together in the Senate in the past.

“He’s a Democratic colleague,” Patterson said. “She considers him a friend in the legislature.”

Schumer’s office did not return calls seeking comment Thursday. The New Daily News reported on its Web site that Schumer’s response was “Apology accepted.”

State GOP chairman Doyle Webb said the party would not comment on its candidates, particularly in what is expected to be a contested primary. Webb said he would let Republican voters decide whether the statement damaged Hendren’s candidacy.

“Several candidates are weighing their options about jumping into the race,” Webb said. “This, as well as other issues, may determine whether they enter the race or not.”

State Sen. Gilbert Baker, R-Conway, who is mulling a possible run in the Republican primary, said Hendren “has a good heart” but what he said was “inappropriate and (Hendren) knows that and has acknowledged that.”

Baker said his young children and his desire to remain in the Legislature — not Hendren’s comment — are the main factors to be considered in weighing whether to seek higher office.

Former U.S. Attorney Tim Griffin, who said in December he was considering challenging Lincoln, said Thursday he was still weighing a possible Senate bid and that Hendren’s comment would have no bearing on his decision.