Just ahead of the Tuesday preferential primary election is the newest, well-written examination of the rise of the Arkansas Republican Party in the state.
Dr. John C. Davis, the youthful director of the David and Barbara Pryor Center in Fayetteville, and a former political sciences professor within the University Arkansas system at UA-Monticello, takes his pen and pad in hand to document and examine what he and others think about the rise of the Grand Old Party to its status in Arkansas.
Davis, and those quoted in this book, leave few stones unturned to glance backwards and forward to assess the current mega shift from, as the title proudly proclaims, "From Blue to Red: The Rise of the GOP in Arkansas."
As is my spring-time custom at spring break (and as well right before the Yule season), this space features locally written and local books on history, politics and the state and region.
Davis's book has a commanding presence in all three areas -- history, politics and our state.
It is a 'thin' volume (only 128 pages) and aptly sourced and footnoted as to its content. It is available now at area bookstores or directly from the UA Press in Fayetteville.
The book is an easy, breezy read, not short at all on substance or subject matter -- all thoroughly examined, noted and researched.
The journey, as Davis writes, "is chronicled with such experts in the field of Arkansas politics, history, and political science trends," as one would expect.
Especially to this column writer's delight, Davis calls up Rex Nelson, a senior editor with the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, and a well-known state historian, regional gourmand, and generally nice guy, for sage reflections. Nelson, who is also a well-known Republican, has some very pointed and expert opinions, far below the 10,000 feet ceiling that most of us in the state have come to expect for those charting the past and the future of the state of Arkansas.
Davis calls upon Dr. Jeannie Parry of the Fayetteville campus, and the Director of the Arkansas Poll, for some technical insight and assessment of the trends and numbers of the past two decades in Arkansas politics.
And Davis reached out to both former Governors Mike Beebe, the last Democrat to hold the office, and Asa Hutchinson, the most recently term limited GOP Governor of the state.
Both men, in the context of the questions of this book, had plenty of succinct observations for these political times as we all know them.
The overall purpose of writing this book, Davis acknowledges near the end, was "to provide a record of the dramatic partisan change in Arkansas. In a short period, the state went from arguably one of the most Democratic in the United States to one of the most Republican."
"In our polarized and fast-paced politics, it may be difficult to sit back for a moment and consider such a historical shift. However, by recognizing and exploring this sea change, you better understand the politics of the Natural State and the dynamics at play in several other states that witness partisan shifts."
Davis then evokes the strong and time-homed words from Nelson as the best remarks to close this chapter in the state's recent political history.
"I don't care if you're Democrat, Republican or independent," Nelson begins.
"But if you love Arkansas history, like we do, if you love politics., to consider this fact that ten years ago, right before the election of 2010 – we had a heavy Democratic majority in both the state House and the state Senate, we had seven Democratic Constitutional officers and six in our congressional delegation were Democrats. Here we sit, a decade later, with heavy Republican majorities; seven Constitutional officers and six Republican members of the congressional delegation," Nelson says in the book.
And Nelson is not finished yet.
"The speed with which that took off, from a historical standpoint, is just absolutely breathtaking."
Thanks to the UA Press for quickly and bravely using Davis's expert pen and assessment to provide this well volume that belongs on every historian, politician and civic mover and shakers home bookshelf.
Breathtaking indeed has been almost every political move over the last two decades?
Don't you agree?
Maylon Rice is a former journalist who worked for several Northwest Arkansas publications. He can be reached via email at [email protected].