Clinton, Huckabee likely headed for Arkansas victories
Posted on Sunday, February 3, 2008
BENTON COUNTY — Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, a Democrat and former first lady of Arkansas, and Mike Huckabee, a Republican and former governor of the state, are both in strong positions to be the victors in their respective parties’ Tuesday Arkansas primaries, said Janine Parry, director of the Arkansas Poll.
And on that day — socalled Super Tuesday because 21 states will be voting then — both candidates will likely do well in other Southern states, too, Parry said.
The Arkansas Poll periodically samples Arkansans’ opinions on issues of the day.
Parry is also an associate professor of political science at the University of Arkansas.
“ I see an Arkansas victory for both (Clinton and Huckabee ). If Huckabee is to have any shot (at the GOP presidential nomination ), he needs to do well in the South, ” Parry said.
In some previous Republican primaries, including some he won, Huckabee has appealed to self-identified evangelicals, and those voters are a significant component of all GOP voters in the South, Parry said.
But Huckabee’s chances of winning his party’s nomination for president, or even for vice president, depend heavily on his showing on so-called Super Tuesday,
Because of the way delegates are apportioned in the GOP, Arizona Sen. John McCain, the victor in the Republican primary in Florida on Jan. 29, might be able to get a few delegates in the South, too, Parry said.
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