The number of candidates “considering” a run for the Democratic Party nomination to replace retiring Rep. Vic Snyder grows by the hour.
State Sen. Joyce Elliott announced at a Pulaski Co. Democrats meeting that she was certain to run for the seat. Today, at a march/parade for Dr. Martin Luther King she was seen handing out campaign materials.
Roby Brock of Talk Business reports that Gen. Wesley Clark is considering a bid for the seat. I heard this rumor over the weekend, but didn’t give it much thought. Would Mr. Clark really want to be one of four hundred and thirty five? Maybe so. He’d be a strong candidate.
Lt. Gov. Bill Halter issued a statement indicating that he was considering all of his options. I take that to mean this race, too.
House speaker Robbie Wills of Conway and Paul Suskie of North Little Rock are two names that have been batted about. There has been no official word from either of them regarding their intentions.
Sources tell me that two other viable contenders, state Sen. Shane Broadway and Little Rock mayor Mark Stodola, will forgo the race. In Mr. Broadway’s case, it seems that a bid for lieutenant governor is likely if that seat were to open up.
UPDATE: I’m now hearing that former Carolyn Staley, an associate minister at Pulaski Heights Baptist Church and a childhood friend of President Bill Clinton, is making exploratory calls about the race.
David Boiling, Mr. Snyder’s chief of staff and a former attorney at Mitchell Williams in Little Rock, is also exploring the race.
UPDATE II: Former state Rep. Will Bond of Jacksonville indicated that he would decide in 10 days whether to enter the race.
UPDATE III: Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola tells the Arkansas Times that he’s considering it as a result of a lot of people urging him to run, though he thinks he has one of the best jobs in Arkansas currently.
Wes Clark also considered running for this seat as a Republican a while back…even spoke at Lincoln Days as he was considering it. The video exists.
[...] Wills is the second Democrat to announce for the seat—state Sen. Joyce Elliott said last week that she’s running for the Second District seat as well. Three Republicans — Tim Griffin, David Meeks and Scott Wallace — are slugging it out in a primary on the GOP side, and by all accounts the Democratic field is only expected to grow. [...]