美联社
文件-在这张2021年7月15日的文件照片中，阿肯色州州长阿萨·哈钦森在一次演讲中说.
阿肯色州小石城。——基于周二初选前铺天盖地的电视广告和邮件选举在阿肯色州，谁是该州最有影响力的共和党人是显而易见的。
汤姆·科顿(Tom Cotton)正在为参议员约翰·博兹曼(John Boozman)辩护，在这位连任两届的参议员抵御右翼挑战的同时，大谈他的保守派诚意。唐纳德·特朗普美国的形象出现在布兹曼和莎拉·桑德斯的广告中，莎拉·桑德斯是前总统的白宫新闻秘书，现在正在竞选州长。桑德斯的支持几乎和特朗普一样受欢迎，他正在一个电视广告中帮助为博兹曼做最后的辩论。
但在广告和竞选活动中明显缺失的是该州最高当选共和党人、州长阿萨·哈钦森(Asa Hutchinson)，他正以强劲的支持率和更高的全国知名度进入任期的最后阶段。哈钦森的顾问说，这是因为他着眼于未来，专注于在全国范围内帮助更多的共和党人——这可能包括入主白宫。
但这也是一个迹象，表明哈钦森花了几十年时间在这里建立的政党已经向右转了多少，该州的政治已经国有化了多少。在竞争激烈的初选中，共和党人试图击败对方，即使是像哈钦森这样在该州长期任职的共和党人也不会带来太大的影响，特别是如果他不是以非常强硬而闻名的话。
阿肯色大学的政治学教授珍妮·帕里说:“还有其他更华丽的马车可以让他们搭上。”
哈钦森——每周日早上在推特上发布圣经经文，在新闻发布会上经常被图表包围——一点也不浮华。
被广泛看好将赢得共和党提名的桑德斯得到了哈钦森的支持，但很少提到州长。当被问及她将如何与哈钦森不同地管理时，桑德斯说她宁愿专注于自己的方法。
“我很有主见。我不喜欢拿自己和任何人比较，”桑德斯说，他的父亲曾担任州长10年。“我经常被问到，‘你会更像你爸爸吗?’或者‘你会像特朗普一样吗?’我要成为莎拉·桑德斯。"
桑德斯一直避免公开批评哈钦森，即使她的前老板将这位即将离任的州长称为“RINO”——只是名义上的共和党人——因为他决定否决一项反变性法律。桑德斯说，她会签署这项法案，禁止对变性青年进行性别确认治疗。在哈钦森多年来倡导的一系列削减措施之后，她承诺逐步取消该州的个人所得税。当哈钦森在11月支持桑德斯时，她称赞了他在减税方面的工作。
桑德斯在初选中面临着多克·沃什伯恩(Doc Washburn)的长期挑战，沃什伯恩是前脱口秀主持人和播客，他指出哈钦森的支持是桑德斯失去资格的因素。五名民主党人正在寻求该党对该职位的提名，核工程师和任命部长克里斯·琼斯领先。
桑德斯帮助说话温和的博兹曼采取更积极的语气，以适应焦土政治气候。
桑德斯在参议员的电视广告中说:“我知道约翰·布兹曼是特朗普总统美国第一议程的支持者。”
一个支持挑战者，前NFL球员杰克·贝奎特的超级政治行动委员会一直在播放广告，质疑博兹曼的保守主义资历。Boozman的其他挑战者包括保守派活动家Jan Morgan和牧师Heath Loftis。三名民主党人——娜塔莉·詹姆斯、杰克·福斯特和丹·怀特菲尔德——正在为博兹曼的席位寻求党内提名。
哈钦森拒绝就本文接受采访，他支持阿肯色州的几名立法候选人，并通过他的政治行动委员会捐款，但顾问们表示，他的重点更多地是在全国舞台上。哈钦森一直在向其他地方的候选人捐款。
“当他展望未来并说，‘我如何帮助全国的候选人?’时，他对政治战线的关注有了一点点转变。””哈钦森公司的首席政治策略师乔恩·吉尔摩说。
哈钦森提高了他作为全国州长协会主席的形象，并成为周日脱口秀节目的常客，经常与特朗普分道扬镳，并警告共和党人向前看，而不是专注于2020年的选举。他说，他对2024年总统竞选的决定不会受到特朗普是否加入竞选的影响。
他说，重要的是共和党候选人“着眼于未来和解决问题，”哈钦森周日在CNN的“国情咨文”中说当被问及特朗普支持的候选人道格·马斯特里亚诺(Doug Mastriano)时，哈钦森说“我希望他确实”获胜，但他也指出，“让我们看看竞选进展如何。”马斯特里亚诺赢得了宾夕法尼亚州州长共和党提名，并传播了2020年选举被盗的选举阴谋论。
“如果你把时间花在处理过去和去年的选举结果上，你就不会处于有利地位，”他说。
哈钦森还与他所在政党的右翼斗争，反击反对堕胎禁令中强奸和乱伦例外的共和党人，以及那些禁止企业要求新冠肺炎疫苗接种的人。
政治观察人士表示，哈钦森与特朗普的距离让他在独立人士和一些民主党人中拥有更广泛的吸引力，这有助于保持他的支持率强劲。桑德斯用一种更极端的方法得出了类似的数字。
“他们建造的房子非常不同，”共和党战略家罗伯特·库恩说。
Arkansas governor is odd man out in his own state's primary
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Based on the barrage of television ads and mailers leading up to Tuesday's primaryelectionin Arkansas, it's obvious who the most influential Republicans in the state are.
Tom Cotton's making the case for fellow Sen. John Boozman, talking up his conservative bona fides while the two-term senator fends off challenges from the right.Donald Trump's image appears in ads for Boozman and for Sarah Sanders, who served as the former president's White House press secretary and is now running for governor. Sanders, whose endorsement is almost as sought after as Trump's, is helping make the closing argument for Boozman in a TV ad.
But conspicuously missing from the ads and the campaign trail is the state's top elected Republican, Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who is entering the final stretch of his term with strong approval ratings and a raised national profile. Hutchinson's advisers say that's because he's concentrating on helping more Republicans nationally as he looks to the future — which might include a White House bid.
But it's also a sign of just how much the party that Hutchinson spent decades building here has shifted farther to the right and how much the state's politics have become nationalized. In competitive primaries where Republicans are trying to out-Trump each other, even a longtime GOP figure in the state like Hutchinson doesn't provide as much of a bump, especially if he's not known for being very hard-edged.
“There are other, flashier wagons for them to hitch their horses to,” Janine Parry, a political science professor at the University of Arkansas, said.
And Hutchinson — who tweets Bible verses every Sunday morning and is often flanked by charts and graphs at news conferences — is anything but flashy.
Sanders, who's widely favored to win the Republican nomination, has been endorsed by Hutchinson but rarely mentions the governor. When asked how she'd govern differently from Hutchinson, Sanders says she'd rather focus on her own approach.
“I'm very much my own person. I don't like to compare myself to anybody," Sanders, whose dad served as governor for 10 years, said. “I constantly get asked, ‘will you be more like your dad?' or ‘will you be like Trump?' I'm going to be Sarah Sanders."
Sanders has avoided publicly criticizing Hutchinson, even when her former boss labeled the outgoing governor a “RINO" — Republican in Name Only — for his decision to veto an anti-transgender law. Sanders said she would have signed the measure, which bans gender confirming treatments for transgender youth. She's running on a promise to phase out the state's personal income tax following a series of cuts Hutchinson has championed over the years. When Hutchinson endorsed Sanders in November, she praised his work on cutting taxes.
Sanders faces a long-shot challenge in the primary from Doc Washburn, a former talk radio host and podcaster who points to Hutchinson's endorsement as a disqualifying factor for Sanders. Five Democrats are seeking the party's nomination for the office, with nuclear engineer and ordained minister Chris Jones the frontrunner.
Sanders has pitched in to help the soft-spoken Boozman adopt a more aggressive tone in tune with the scorched-earth political climate.
'"I know John Boozman as a champion of President Trump's America First agenda," Sanders says in a TV ad for the senator.
A super PAC supporting one challenger, former NFL player Jake Bequette, has been running ads questioning Boozman's conservative credentials. Boozman's other challengers include conservative activist Jan Morgan and pastor Heath Loftis. Three Democrats — Natalie James, Jack Foster and Dan Whitfield — are seeking the party's nomination for Boozman's seat.
Hutchinson, who declined to be interviewed for this story, has endorsed several legislative candidates in Arkansas and given money through his political action committee but advisers say his focus has been more on the national stage. Hutchinson has been donating to candidates elsewhere.
“It’s just a little bit of a shift in focus on the political front as he looks to the future and says, ‘how do I help candidates across the country?’” Jon Gilmore, chief political strategist for Hutchinson, said.
Hutchinson has raised his profile as chairman of the National Governors Association and has become a frequent guest on Sunday talk shows, often splitting with Trump and warning Republicans to look ahead rather than fixating on the 2020 election. He’s said his decision on a 2024 presidential bid won’t be affected by whether Trump joins the race.
What's important, he says, is that Republican candidates “run on the future and problem-solving,” Hutchinson said Sunday on CNN's “State of the Union.” Asked about Trump-backed candidates like Doug Mastriano, who won the Republican nomination for governor in Pennsylvania and has spread election conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was stolen, Hutchinson says “I hope he does” win, but also notes, “let's see how the campaign progresses."
“If you spend your time dealing with the past and election results of the last year, you’re not going to be in good position,” he said.
Hutchinson has also battled with the right flank of his party, pushing back against Republicans opposing rape and incest exceptions in abortion bans and against those who would bar businesses from requiring COVID-19 vaccinations.
Hutchinson's distancing from Trump has given him a broader appeal among independents and some Democrats that's helped keep his approval numbers strong, political observers say. Sanders has arrived at similar numbers with a much more polarizing approach.
“They built their houses very differently," Republican strategist Robert Coon said.
