By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — A new poll showing Republican Rick Crawford leading Democrat Chad Causey in the 1st District congressional race has sparked a spirited exchange in which Crawford’s out-of-state high school alma mater and Causey’s patriotism have been called into question.
The two, along with Green Party candidate Ken Adler, are seeking the seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Rep. Marion Berry, D-Gillett.
The Talk Business-Hendrix College poll released Sunday showed Crawford with a 16-point lead over Causey in the traditionally Democratic district in eastern Arkansas.
This morning, Causey’s campaign said Crawford would not connect with eastern Arkansas voters, in part because he graduated high school in New Hampshire. It also noted Crawford once declared bankruptcy in Missouri, though Crawford has said the filing was more than 15 years ago and that he had repaid $12,000 to creditors by 1998.
The Republican Party of Arkansas quickly responded with a statement explaining Crawford graduated from a New Hampshire high school because his father was in the military and stationed there at the time. The GOP accused Causey of attacking the Crawford family’s military service.
“The Crawford family’s duty to country led them to military bases across the globe: The demands and sacrifices of a mobile military life should be met with great gratitude, not criticism,” state Republican Party spokeswoman Alice Stewart said. “Despite what Mr. Causey thinks, military service does resonate with people in Arkansas’ 1st District.”
Later today, the Washington, D.C.-based National Defense PAC announced its endorsement of Crawford, citing the “desperate and disrespectful attitude toward military service that Rick’s Arkansas challenge has shrunk to.”
Not since Reconstruction has a Republican been elected to Congress from the 1st District, a largely rural region covering 26 eastern Arkansas counties.
Talk Business-Hendrix College surveyed 630 likely Arkansas voters via automated telephone calls Aug. 17. Forty-eight percent of respondents said they would vote for Crawford, 32 percent said they favored Causey and 4 percent said they would vote for Adler, with 16 percent undecided. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 4 percent.
Because of the unprecedented nature of the results, the pollsters conducted a second, smaller sampling of 481 likely voters Thursday and got the same results.
Causey’s campaign cited internal polling that it said showed the race much closer.
———-
On the Net:
www.talkbusiness.net
