Attorney General Dustin McDaniel stirred a little excitement at last weekend’s Arkansas Democratic Party convention by promising that news would be coming soon about a candidate to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin for the 2nd District seat.
Strongest bet continues to be Democratic Party Chair Will Bond, a former state representative from Jacksonville and lawyer. So far, though, he’s mum. Candidates must file by March. If there’s no contested primary, a candidate has plenty of time to prepare for a November election contest, but Griffin has long been at work raising money.
A strong challenge, preferably a defeat, of Griffin is desirable to Democrats because of the widespread belief that he’ll use re-election as a platform to challenge U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor in 2014.
And speaking of Senate: Some still hope retired Gen. Wesley Clark could be encouraged to run for the 2nd District seat. The long view is that he could serve two terms, then face Republican Sen. John Boozman in 2016.