Mark Pryor, the Democratic incumbent Senator, defeated the previous incumbent, Tim Hutchinson, by nearly 6 points in 2002, a heavily Republican year. The lone major challenger in this state, is Former Governor Mike Huckabee but he is pursuing a presidential race and while not in the top tier of candidates, is making a good run at the head of the second tier. Thus far, Pryor faces has no announced Republianc challengers and the only 2 names mentioned are former U.S. Attorney and 2006 Lieutenant Governor candidate Charles Banks, and Bank CEO French Hill. It is also possible the ambitious Lieutenant Governor William Halter would conduct a primary challenge but that is unlikely at this point.
In the congressional races, only Congressman John Boozeman (district 3) has an announced challenger. Attorney John Burnett is running for the Democrats but he does not seem to have a good campaign running as of yet. Congressmen Marion Berry (District 1), Vic Snyder (District 2) and Mike Ross (District 3) have beaten back serious challengers in the past and if a strong opponenent doesn't get into the race against them soon, it will make the uphill battle the challenger would face all the steeper. Mike Huckabee would be the serious challenger in any district he ran in but it is hard to nearly impossible to imagine him foregoing a Senate Challenge to run for the House assuming he gives up his Presidential bid. After the series of defeats on the state level in recent years, Republicans just don't have the manpower to give the incumbents a challenge this year. Of Course, despite the surge in candidates, the Democrats apparently don't have one for district 3 either. Though anything is possible if a Clinton is at the top of the ticket in this state.
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