By Aron Goetzl
Congressional Quarterly

Electoral votes: 6

Delegates: 24

Chairman: Gov. Mike Huckabee

Hotel: Adam's Mark (215) 581-5000

1996 Election:
Clinton – 54%
Dole – 37%
Perot – 8%

Arkansas Republicans have had to endure two landslide presidential victories by someone who might be called their unfavorite son, President Clinton.

But with the former five-term governor not on the ballot this year, Arkansas Republican delegates are energized by the belief that their state is "in play" this fall for their party's presidential candidate, Texas neighbor George W. Bush.

Clinton's two landslide victories were not indicative of Arkansas' real partisan leanings in presidential elections, contended Chris Carnahan, executive director of the Arkansas Republican Party. "If Clinton hadn't been from Arkansas, he wouldn't have carried this state," Carnahan said. "It was home cookin'."

Indeed, a recent poll gave Bush a significant lead in conservative-leaning Arkansas, even though the Democrats' candidate, Vice President Al Gore, is from neighboring state, Tennessee.

Arkansas Republicans demonstrated their strong support for the Texas governor by giving him more than 80 percent of the vote in the state's May 23 primary, well after Bush had clinched the nomination.

Despite his strong showing, not all 24 Arkansas delegates are technically Bush backers. With delegate slots doled out proportionate to the primary vote, 19 are committed to Bush and the remaining five to Alan Keyes, the radio talk show host and social conservative activist.

But the Arkansas GOP faced an uncommon dilemma at its state convention in early July when only one Keyes supporter, Anne Britton of Fayetteville, sought any of the five delegate and five alternate slots allotted to her candidate. So nine of the 10 delegation members technically committed to Keyes will actually be Bush supporters.

"I guess I am the lone true believer," joked Britton, Keyes' state campaign manager.

The convention will be something of a family affair. Gov. Mike Huckabee, as chairman of the delegation, will lead a group that includes his wife Janet and his 23-year-old son John Mark.

Both U.S. Sen. Tim Hutchinson and his brother, 3rd District U.S. Rep. Asa Hutchinson, will attend the convention, but not as delegates so as to leave open more delegate slots. However, Tim Hutchinson's son Jeremy, a state representative from Little Rock, and Asa Hutchinson's wife Susan are delegates. John Mark Huckabee and Jeremy Hutchinson - Bush supporters like their fathers - were elected to two of the vacant Keyes slots.

Rachel Dickey is another child of a prominent elected Republican official who will be in Philadelphia as an Arkansas delegate. She is the daughter of 4th District Rep. Jay Dickey, who faces a difficult re-election challenge this fall from Democratic state Sen. Mike Ross. The elder Dickey will not attend the national convention.

State Republican Party Chairman Lloyd Stone, the Republican national committeeman from Arkansas, will attend the convention, but not as a delegate.

ARKANSAS NOTABLES: Gov. Mike Huckabee, the delegation chairman, his wife Janet, and son John Mark; Susan Hutchinson, wife of 3rd District Rep. Asa Hutchinson; state House Minority Leader Jim Hendren; state Rep. Jeremy Hutchinson, son of Sen. Tim Hutchinson; Rachel Dickey, daughter of U.S. Rep. Jay Dickey.