Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Arkansas Republican runs hard uphill Date: Sun, 1 Nov 92 20:06:09 EST Message-ID: \SE A;NATION \HD Arkansas Republican runs hard uphill \BY Hugh Aynesworth \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES \DT HOT SPRINGS, Ark. HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Jay Dickey is fighting an uphill battle against a controversial politician for Arkansas' 4th District congressional seat but thinks he is within striking distance. His opponent, Democrat W.J. "Bill" McCuen, laughs at the prospect. And polls seem to agree with him. A poll commissioned by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette last week has Mr. McCuen ahead 42 percent to 32 percent, with a whopping 26 percent still undecided. Mr. Dickey's last poll is said to show him trailing by only 6 or 7 points. "I'll beat him bad," Mr. McCuen predicts. The Arkansas secretary of state, he was state land commissioner and a county judge and city councilman before that. He has been a colorful pol for two decades. That's the hard grind for Mr. Dickey, 52, a Republican lawyer-businessman from Pine Bluff. They say nobody farther away than the Jefferson County line ever heard of Mr. Dickey until he announced for Congress about eight months ago. While the McCuen name is well known in Arkansas, particularly in this south and southwest district, Mr. Dickey started from virtual scratch. Mr. McCuen upset longtime incumbent Beryl Anthony in a Democratic primary runoff; Mr. Dickey had no opponent. "Name recognition, that's what I badly need," Mr. Dickey said the other day after a speech to more than 100 at a Hot Springs senior citizens facility. "Everybody knows who he is," he added wistfully, "but I'm working on it." Mr. Dickey admits he is a complete novice at this game but considers that an advantage as well as a liability. The Republican candidate mounts an attack similar to that utilized by Mr. McCuen against Mr. Anthony, who had easily won seven straight in the district; he's for throwing all the "entrenched" rascals out." He generally paints Mr. McCuen, 49, as the worst kind of rascal, a mean-spirited "wild man" who has cost taxpayers considerable money by foul-ups in the secretary of state's office, a Lothario who has entertained women in Las Vegas at taxpayers' expense and a liar who has wrongfully besmirched Mr. Dickey's name. He says that Mr. McCuen has been given hundreds of thousands of dollars from political action committees and would be "owned by the lobbyists just like too many others in Washington." Mr. Dickey has accepted no PAC money and says he never will. "If I don't accept it, they can't get to me," he said. Mr. McCuen thinks many newspaper editors are out to get him. "Sometimes I think if a reporter likes me they won't let him cover me," he said after an appearance here a few days ago, adding: "My opponent isn't Dickey; it's the newspapers." As Mr. Dickey bragged about not touching PAC money, Mr. McCuen last week grinned and waved a $5,000 campaign contribution from the Trial Lawyers Association. "He's a lawyer," said Mr. McCuen, "and his own folks don't want any part of him." Mr. McCuen started running television commercials charging Mr. Dickey with unfair labor practices in his businesses, charges that sent the usually taciturn Mr. Dickey up the wall. "This is a new low," snapped the GOP challenger. "He was worried that half-truths wouldn't be strong enough, so he resorted to plain, old-fashioned lying." The main interest here, echoing the nation as a whole, is jobs and the economy. The district is the poorest in a very poor state. Mr. Dickey seems to have made adequate points in his hard-nosed attacks against runaway spending and "business as usual" in Washington, but critics claim he has offered no real ideas on how to create jobs in the district. Abortion is not a major issue here, though Mr. Dickey is pro-life and Mr. McCuen pro-choice. Mr. Dickey for months has challenged Mr. McCuen to debate, but the Democrat has steadfastly refused. "There's nothing to debate," he said. "He doesn't know the issues. I run my campaign, just as I always have, at my leadership and direction, not at my opponent's. They're a bunch of jerks, to put it simply." This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM