Why Sen. Mark Pryor Calls His Opponent ‘Superior Tom’
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US Senate(CONWAY, Ark.) — Sen. Mark Pryor’s campaign has a name for its Republican rival, Rep. Tom Cotton, that at first may sound sort of like a compliment, but it’s definitely not.
They’re calling him Superior Tom.
On Pryor’s website, an entire page is devoted to describing Cotton as Harvard-educated and out-of-touch, claiming Cotton believes he is superior to Arkansans.
But when reporters caught up with Pryor on Monday, after former President Bill Clinton rallied supporters for Pryor and his fellow Democrats in Conway, a Pryor campaign aide tried to abruptly cut off questions.
Byron York, a conservative writer at the Washington Examiner, asked Pryor simply: “Your campaign has called Tom Cotton ‘Superior Tom.’ What do you mean by that?”
Pryor hesitated as he said, “Well, I just mean that ummm sometimes uhhh. I would say sometimes he sort of gives the …”
Then, Erik Dorey, a deputy campaign manager for Pryor, interjected: “We’re going to cut if off, thanks guys.”
But Pryor tried to continue, saying, “Yeah he just — I think he’s out of touch with Arkansas. He’s out of touch with Arkansas.”
As he seeks a third term, Pryor is in the most difficult political battle of his career. Six years ago, Republicans didn’t field a candidate against him.
Now is a different story, and Cotton’s campaign has been attacking Pryor by tying him to the nation’s top elected Democrat — President Obama.
“The person who clearly thinks he knows better than Arkansans is Mark Pryor, since he votes with Barack Obama 93 percent of the time,” said David Ray, a spokesman for Cotton’s campaign. “He didn’t listen to Arkansans when they overwhelmingly told him to vote against Obamacare. There aren’t many Arkansans who agree with Barack Obama 93 percent of the time, but Mark Pryor still thinks he knows better than the people of Arkansas.”
Asked whether Obama is a drag on the ticket this year, Pryor demurred.
“To me, it doesn’t matter who’s in the White House,” Pryor said. “You know, I worked with President Bush on some things. And I’ve opposed President Obama on some things. We all know that.”
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