Pryor paying ‘ close attention’ to 2012 elections
U. S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D- Ark., said Friday he is paying close attention to the 2012 elections in anticipation of his own re- election campaign in 2014.
“Absolutely, always, elections have consequences,” Pryor told The Sentinel- Record before briefly addressing the Arkansas Bar Association’s 114th annual meeting at the Hot Springs Convention Center.
“We have a lot of folks in Washington who are very good at campaigning but they’re not very serious about governing,” Pryor said.
“To govern and do it the right way, you’ve got to be willing to make hard choices and make good decisions for the good of
everybody and for long- term. That’s hard to come by in Washington right now. But these are the people that have been sent to Washington right now.”
Pryor said, “I’m hoping that this next couple of years are going to be better than the last couple years in terms of the politics. We have way too much gridlock, way too much blamegame up there, but that’s just the way it is right now.”
Pryor said he’s “honestly looking forward” to 2014 when he stands for re- election.
“I think we have a lot of good things to talk about, some things that we’ve done right here in Arkansas,” Pryor said.
“My approach is very bipartisan. I don’t do the whole Left, Right, Democrat, Republican thing, that’s not the way I like to operate. I look forward to 2014 and we’ll let the people decide what they want to do then.”
Pryor said Republican Mitt Romney is “probably in pretty good shape” in Arkansas over President Barack Obama as the 2012 presidential election hits full stride this summer.
“I don’t know if President Obama’s really going to have much of a campaign here, I just haven’t heard,” Pryor said of his former U. S. Senate colleague.
“I’ll just kind of sit back and watch it like the rest of the people and see where it takes us.”
Pryor predicted that the 2012 presidential race “will be a fairly tight race nationally.”
“I think President Obama has the advantage right now, but that’s always subject to change. There’s a lot of time between now and November. We’ll just see where we end up,” Pryor said
Pryor said he has “no idea” how Tuesday’s 4th Congressional District Democratic runoff between Hot Springs attorney Q. Byrum Hurst and State Sen. Gene Jeffress, of Louann, will turn out.
Pryor’s father, former U. S. Sen. David Pryor, also a Democrat, once represented the 4th District in Congress.
The winner of Tuesday’s runoff will face Republican Tom Cotton, of Dardanelle, in the Nov. 6 general election to succeed U. S. Rep. Mike Ross, a Democrat, who chose not to seek election.
“We’ll just see what the people want to do with that,” Pryor said.
“My view is, whether it’s the presidential race or the 4th District, I’m there to work with everybody. So whoever Arkansas sends up, whoever the nation sends to the White House or puts in the White House over the next four years, I’m there to work with them and I look forward to doing that.”