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Arkansas Congressman Berry to Retire

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
AP

- January 24, 2010
Arkansas Congressman Berry to Retire

Marion Berry will be the sixth Democrat in a competitive seat to leave in the last two months.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Arkansas Democratic Rep. Marion Berry plans to announce Monday that he won't seek re-election this fall, people who have spoken to Berry told The Associated Press.

The three people, who had spoken with Berry on Sunday, said the congressman planned to announce his decision Monday. The people requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on Berry's behalf.

Berry has represented the 1st District in eastern Arkansas since 1997.

A spokeswoman for Berry did not immediately return a call Sunday night.

Berry, 67, was first elected to his congressional seat after serving in the Clinton administration as a special assistant to the president for agricultural trade and food assistance.

In 2008, he was re-elected without opposition. This year, he faced opposition from Republican Rick Crawford, who owns a regional agricultural radio network.

Berry had repeatedly said he had no plans to retire, but he fueled speculation last week when he told a radio interviewer asking about his re-election plans that "nothing is certain in this world but death."

"There has not been this much turmoil in Arkansas politics in a long time," Berry told Little Rock radio station KUAR. "I would be afraid to predict anything. I think in the next couple months you could see all kinds of stuff coming down the pike."

Berry is the second Arkansas congressman to announce this month that he was retiring. Earlier, Democratic Rep. Vic Snyder announced he would not seek an eighth term representing the 2nd District in central Arkansas.

Rep. John Boozman, a Republican representing northwest Arkansas, has said he's thinking about running for the GOP nomination to challenge Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln.

Republicans welcomed the news of Berry's retirement, blaming his exit on public backlash to his support of Democratic-led efforts to overhaul the nation's health care system.

"He now realizes that the people of Arkansas were very opposed to it," said state Republican Party Chairman Doyle Webb. "Now, they will be looking for a conservative to replace him."

Crawford praised Berry's years of service.

"I respect Congressman Berry's decision to retire and applaud his many years of public service," Crawford said. "I will continue to run a strong campaign based on creating jobs, reducing the deficit and representing Arkansas values."

Earlier this month, Berry had criticized the Obama administration for its approach on issues such as the proposed health care overhaul and climate-change legislation.

Berry's retirement comes as Republicans have targeted Lincoln, who has seen her approval numbers slip. Like Berry, Lincoln has faced criticism from Republicans over her support of health care legislation.

Nine Republicans have announced they're seeking the party's nomination to challenge Lincoln this fall.

Berry's district has voted reliably Democratic in congressional races, but Republican John McCain won the district in the 2008 presidential election

Democrats occupy three of the four U.S. House seats in Arkansas, both of the Senate seats and all statewide offices, but the state has seen its vote move increasingly Republican in presidential elections. McCain won the state's six electoral votes with a 20-point lead over Obama in the 2008 election.

Webb said he didn't know if more Republicans would join the race for Berry's seat after word of the congressman's retirement.

Democrats from the district who could be potential candidates for Berry's seat include Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, former state Democratic Party Chairman Jason Willett and state Rep. Keith Ingram.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
jingo2 said:
TSR said:
Just wondering, any Republicans retiring?


Yep 14 Rep's are retiring.....only 12 Dems

jingo would you say there should be a cleansing on both sides of the isle of about 95 percent of all of Washington? Starting with the potus?
 

jingo2

Well-known member
Pig Farmer said:
jingo2 said:
TSR said:
Just wondering, any Republicans retiring?


Yep 14 Rep's are retiring.....only 12 Dems

jingo would you say there should be a cleansing on both sides of the isle of about 95 percent of all of Washington? Starting with the potus?


No I would not say that and I'm not saying that. I answered a question.

There are some that need to go....some that need to stay.....some that are a drag on the system and some that don't get enough credit for what they do.

In any ' group' you have those who work and don't cause a ruckus....then there are those that think their opinon is the ONLY one worth anything...whether it's right or wrong. But, of course, you'd understand that.
 

redrobin

Well-known member
We're fixing to retire senator blanch lincoln as well I hope.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in Arkansas shows Lincoln’s support for reelection at 38% or 39% no matter which of four potential Republican challengers she is matched against. In surveys last September and December, her support was between 39% and 41% in these match-ups.

State Senator Gilbert Baker leads Lincoln by 12, and State Senate Minority Leader Kim Hendren holds an eight-point edge over the incumbent. Curtis Coleman, a private businessman, and Tom Cox, head of the Arkansas T.E.A. Party, both lead her by 10 points. In reality, however, the numbers reflect very little about the challengers and are best viewed as a referendum on the incumbent.

The two-term senator, who was reelected with 54% of the vote in 2004, appears more vulnerable because of her visible and pivotal role in the Senate debate over health care. Lincoln was the last Democrat to vote for allowing the debate to formally begin, but she took a lower profile in the vote for final passage.

Just 35% of Arkansas voters favor the health care plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. Sixty percent (60%) are opposed. Those figures include 17% who Strongly Favor the plan and 51% who are Strongly Opposed. Bleak as those numbers are for advocates of the legislation, they are actually a few points better than the numbers from a month ago.

Nationally, opposition to the health care legislation is a bit lower than it is in Arkansas.



You'd think that us stupid Arkansawyers would be the last to catch on but I hear there's a few other liberals that are of lesser intellect still holding their obama signs high and shouting long live the king of change. One perspective is that if you're more liberal than Mass and more liberal than half of Arkansas (the southern half) then you can no longer consider yourself an open minded independent. Some here might even claim they are purple. The only thing purple about them is their nose. The rest of them is a liberal blue to the bone. :lol:
 

Tam

Well-known member
Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden will not run for his father's former Senate seat, he announced via email to supporters this morning.

"I have a duty to fulfill as Attorney General -- and the immediate need to focus on a case of great consequence," Biden wrote. "And that is what I must do. Therefore I cannot and will not run for the United States Senate in 2010. I will run for reelection as Attorney General."

The decision is a huge blow for Senate Democrats who had long insisted Biden was a certain candidate. Republican Rep. Mike Castle is now a strong favorite for the open seat.

Teddy's seat now Joe's seat :lol: :lol:
 

Tam

Well-known member
They just said Joe Biden was out on the weekend telling people that the news of his son not running were not true but then Beau announced today he wasn't. OOPS :oops: Joe messed up AGAIN. :wink: :lol: :lol: :lol:
 

hopalong

Well-known member
jingo2 said:
Pig Farmer said:
jingo2 said:
Yep 14 Rep's are retiring.....only 12 Dems

jingo would you say there should be a cleansing on both sides of the isle of about 95 percent of all of Washington? Starting with the potus?


No I would not say that and I'm not saying that. I answered a question.

There are some that need to go....some that need to stay.....some that are a drag on the system and some that don't get enough credit for what they do.

In any ' group' you have those who work and don't cause a ruckus....then there are those that think their opinon is the ONLY one worth anything...whether it's right or wrong. But, of course, you'd understand that.

Skip skip to my lou skip skip skip to my lou. I wont answer i don't have too skip to the lou my KOLO.
:wink: :wink: :wink:everyone sees the same old similarities in the posts
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
Berry recounted meetings with White House officials, reminiscent of some during the Clinton days, where he and others urged them not to force Blue Dogs "off into that swamp" of supporting bills that would be unpopular with voters back home.

"I've been doing that with this White House, and they just don't seem to give it any credibility at all," Berry said. "They just kept telling us how good it was going to be. The president himself, when that was brought up in one group, said, 'Well, the big difference here and in '94 was you've got me.' We're going to see how much difference that makes now."

"You've got me." In fairness, one can see why Obama might have been overly impressed with himself. Here's a guy who became president of the United States just four years out of the Illinois Senate, and along the way developed a cultlike following. It sounds as though Obama became a follower as well as figurehead of his own cult of personality. He overestimated the degree to which he was special as opposed to lucky--a very human failing.

As it turns out, Berry understated the peril in which Obama was placing Democrats--not just in a conservative area like the First District of Arkansas (where John McCain topped Obama, 59% to 38%), but even in Massachusetts (Obama 62%, McCain 36%), where last week the Democrats could not hold Ted Kennedy's former Senate seat. Even observers who have thought for some time that ObamaCare was bad news for Democrats were surprised that it was this bad.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703808904575025050838370466.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion#printMode
 
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