Terry's Elections Guide and Predictions: Arkansas
Governor (Open, Republican-held)
Mike Beebe (D) 56 - Asa Hutchinson (R) 42
I find the Republican side of this race a lot more interesting than the Democratic side. Outgoing Governor Mike Huckabee has an interesting resume. He's one of America's longest-serving governors, ascending in 1996 when Bill Clinton's successor went down on corruption charges, he's from the town of Hope just like the greatest president of the last half of the 20th century, he lost 100 pounds and wrote Quit Digging Your Grave with a Knife and Fork, and next year he's got a serious shot at becoming the preeminent socially conservative candidate in the Republican presidential primary field. Since he's not running for governor, the Republicans have put up former congressman Asa Hutchinson, whose brother Tim lost his Senate seat in 2002 for leaving his wife for one of his staffers. Asa was also the first under-secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and he's a proud graduate of ... Bob Jones! (These Wikipedia entries are like gold.) In any event, Beebe is the state attorney general, and he's opened up a pretty wide lead. This isn't a guaranteed pickup, but it's close.