AR: Multi-Party Contest for US Senate, Independent Launches Petition Drive

Given that duopolized polls show Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln trailing her likely Republican opponents by significant margins, and given the relatively weak GOP apparatus in the state, not to mention its high percentage of independent voters, we may well see a competitive multi-party contest develop in the Natural State over the course of this year's election season. In the state's 2008 Senate election, the Republican Party did not even field a candidate against incumbent Democrat Mark Pryor, and Green Party candidate Rebekah Kennedy received 20% of the vote in the two-way contest. This year's Senate race will feature two independents, Trevor Drown and Ed Frizzell, as well as Green Party candidate John Gray. The Drown campaign has now launched its petition drive, writing in part:

Despite incredible pressure from the Arkansas Republican Party, who only make up 3% of the voters in Arkansas I still remain committed to replace Senator Blanche Lincoln as an Independent candidate . . . In Arkansas we have the right to put someone on the ballot using the petition process. This has never happened before for a US Senate Seat. It takes 10,000 signatures from Arkansas registered voters and we have 90 days to do this . . . On February 2, 2010, hundreds of Arkansans will hit the street with a petition in their hand seeking signatures all over the state of Arkansas. Their purpose, secure 10, 20 or in some cases more than 100 signatures from registered voters who are seeking to make history. Their goal, for the first time put an Independent Candidate for US Senate on the ballot for the general election in November 2010. Arkansas's largest group of registered voters choose to be independents. They make up 92 percent of all registered voters. For too long the two party political system has let them down. They are looking for a new breed of elected leader, one which will put them first above political party and special interest groups.

Cross-posted from Poli-Tea.