From Fayetteville, Arkansas -
While both Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Rep. Tom Cotton (R-AR) are soft spoken politicians, their words this week in a pair of debates were anything but that, as the two men appealed for support in a race that will certainly help determine whether Republicans can take control of the U.S. Senate.
The game plans for both men were plain as day - Cotton repeatedly tied Pryor to President Obama, while Pryor said Cotton was beholden to big money interests who didn't share the same goals as Arkansans.
"Your vote for Mark Pryor will be a vote for Barack Obama," Cotton said in a refrain that was put to use in just about every debate answer by the GOP lawmaker.
"I listen to you, and he listens to the billionaires," Pryor retorted, returning again and again to his assertion that Cotton will only listen to his big donors.
The veteran Democratic Senator though also tried a different tactic, appealing to voters to send him back to Washington again, invoking his past work for the people of Arkansas.
"Arkansas is written on my heart," said Pryor, whose father also served as Senator and Governor of the Natural State.
"You know I love this state," Pryor added.
At one point in Tuesday's debate, Pryor needled Cotton over going to college at Harvard, clearly trying to say the Arkansas Republican was out of touch.
"I know he probably couldn't get in to the University of Arkansas," Pryor said tongue-in-cheek to giggles from the audience.
Pryor though may have given Cotton one angle for attack; asked what he would consider to be "middle class," Pryor said anyone who makes "up to $200,000" per year.
Cotton immediately attacked over that, saying his version of middle class is more like someone who makes up to $40,000 a year.
"Sen. Pryor must be the one who's hanging out with out of state billionaires if he thinks $200,000 in Arkansas is the middle class," Cotton said.
A blizzard of partisan messages
Whether it was on the radio, up on an electronic highway billboard, or on the television, the people of the Natural State are being swamped with ads for both the U.S. Senate race and the battle for Governor in Arkansas.
And they certainly mirrored the message that Pryor and Cotton were trying to send in this week's twin debates.
Other than the $200,000 remark by Pryor, there were no real gaffes or mistakes by either candidate, leaving the outcome fairly predictable - if you liked one of the candidates, you still liked him a lot after it was over.
If you didn't guess it, both of those messages came from supporters of the candidates.
Before the debate began, I dropped by the offices of the Democratic and Republican parties in Washington County, which is where Fayetteville is located; both had their signs up, but the GOP storefront seemed more active and hummed with more people.
Compared to my travels this week in Kansas, there was not as much interest on the ground in the Arkansas Senate race; I drove for almost two hours around northwest Arkansas on Wednesday and only saw one yard sign.
Something to remember about Pryor is that when he last ran for Senate in 2008, the Republicans didn't even field a candidate against him - that's how strong he was that year.
It's certainly a different environment this year for the veteran Democrat. We'll know in 20 days whether he'll back for another six years in the U.S. Senate.
When I dropped my car off at the airport to fly home, the odometer showed that I had traveled 450 miles in search of campaign answers. It was well worth visiting Arkansas and Kansas (as well as Missouri and Oklahoma along the way.)
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