Brummett today is on the governor’s repeat statements last week that he believed Win Rockefeller would have succeeded him as governor.
It was a nice thing to say, of course. But, first, it was politically dubious. The conventional wisdom was that Win Paul was decidedly too moderate and progressive to win a modern-day Arkansas Republican primary against an Asa Hutchinson who was further to the right and benefited from a regional base in Northwest Arkansas.
Yes, Rockefeller probably would have beaten Beebe in a general election, whereas Asa likely won’t. But Rockefeller probably couldn’t have gotten that far.
Second, Huckabee’s remark was a slight, even if unintended, to Hutchinson.
That was what Beebe couldn’t resist. Asked about Huckabee’s comment, Beebe issued a statement — one he actually thought about, presumably — in which he said he didn’t want to “politicize the legacy or the loss of a good friend and fine Arkansas public servant.” That was right after he had politicized it by saying, “Gov. Huckabee has his own reasons for feeling that way towards Asa Hutchinson.”