OK, then. The seven announced Republican candidates for U.S. Senate have qualified for a Republican Party fund-raiser, also known as a straw poll, in Hot Springs this Saturday. It should churn up plenty of media attention.
Each candidate had to buy at least one table of tickets, for $150; had to be a duly registered candidate, and had to show fund-raising sufficient to pay the $10,000 filing fee last go-round.
In the hunt: Col. Conrad Reynolds, Sen. Gilbert Baker, Fred Ramey, Buddy Rogers, Curtis Coleman, Sen. Kim Hendren, and Tom Cox.
Some 1,200 tickets were sold. In other words, the state Party essentially already knows who won (probably Gilbert Baker), because tickets were sold in blocks, unless it’s close and the 350 possible state committee member votes who can vote free are present and decisive.
PS — Former State Sen. Jim Holt isn’t on the list. He’s reactivated an old website. Does that mean he’ll soon be in? I’m ambivalent. He’s a monkey wrench. That’s good. But I like that Magnifcent Seven moniker.
PPS — Hmmmm. A very reliable tipster says Lauren Huckabee (daughter-in-law of the man who set Maurice Clemmons free) has resigned as chief of staff for the Coleman campaign. Does this mean the Huckabee family is switching to a coming candidacy by Jim Lindsey’s farm overseer, Stanley Reed? We’ll know soon. Her resignation note reveals nothing.