Election Day Nov. 4th Looms For Columnist

This is always the hardest of all the political columns to write.

It is all up to the voters now.

And in a way, has been since early voting started Oct. 20.

Television still has the often repeated advertisements, if you can call those 30- and 60-second tirades advertisements. I want to call these ads (on both sides) “propaganda” by now.

But let’s skip down past all the charges and counter-charges of who will be the next this or that after Tuesday night’s vote.

Some candidates who will win next Tuesday night will be those that most of us would have simply written off back in the summer. Other candidates were clearly in the lead at certain times, only to have fallen, oh so far behind as not to be victorious next Tuesday.

There will be some upset races. And more than a few nail-biters.

Plus, I predict, one or two of these political battles will go into the wee hours of the next morning.

Election commissioners around Arkansas will be bone tired, frazzled and worn-out by the time the late night votes are counted.

Many a politician will have the rumpled white shirttail hanging out of the back of his slacks. The women candidates will have kicked off those high heeled shoes, worn for the press conference, and be backstage at their hotel headquarters in a plain set of flats or sans shoes all together.

Cell phones will ring, and ring, and ring. Incoming text messages will be pinging like the slot machines in Las Vegas.

But all in all the grand American experiment — the ballot box — will again provide us with elected officials from the people. It is as simple as that. Sometimes voters make a good decision.

And sometimes the decision by voters isn’t such a crystal clear message or the wisest choice, we find out later.

But there is always another election.

Should this mid-term election of 2014 set a standard for Arkansas? Well, that is possible.

Will the Congressional Delegation go all Republican? It could.

Or could the GOP push of 2010-2012 be pushed backwards by the Democrats?

On his fourth try for a state-wide office, will Asa Hutchinson win? Or will Mike Ross continue his unbeaten string of political victories?

So stay tuned.