They’re taking no chances in Arkansas

They should own this state’s primary on Tuesday, but Hillary Rodham Clinton and Mike Huckabee have turned up to campaign among old friends in Arkansas in recent days, returning out of political caution and a recognition that even local favorites have enemies.

Arkansas’ prizes -- 35 Democratic delegates and 31 Republican delegates are at stake this week -- hardly compare with the riches of New York or California or other Super Tuesday states. But for Clinton and Huckabee, the state offers real and symbolic lucre.

Both presidential candidates made only rare appearances in Arkansas in recent months, and their sudden reemergence here last week showed how keenly they would like to rack up a seeming sure thing -- and avoid an embarrassing loss in a place so connected to their political pasts.

For Clinton, whose ties to Arkansas stretch from her days as a Rose Law Firm attorney through her stint as Gov. Bill Clinton’s first lady, a win would show that she can muster Southern support after her devastating loss last month to Barack Obama in South Carolina.

“Hillary’s seen as a candidate of the coasts,” said Jay Barth, an associate professor of politics at Hendrix College in Conway, Ark. “She needs another part of the country to show legitimate ties to. Arkansas fits that bill.”

For Huckabee, whose state GOP career here climaxed with 10 1/2 years as a popular governor, a victory might prolong his fading national effort. “If he wants to play a broker’s role at the convention, he needs Arkansas to come through for him,” said Rex Nelson, a former Huckabee aide.

Tuesday’s winners will take the majority of delegates in each party, but a strong second-place finish by challengers could also reap delegates because of a potential for proportional allotments in the state’s congressional districts.

Huckabee, who lives in North Little Rock, bases his campaign headquarters across the Arkansas River in Little Rock, giving him a logistics nerve center in the state that no other rival’s staff can match.

Both candidates have strong state and county organizations at their disposal, and when they returned for brief campaign stops last week, both showed how easily they could mobilize adoring crowds at a moment’s notice.

Huckabee detoured for a brief stop at a Benton County airport hangar Friday, but his hurried appearance still drew 200 raucous supporters. And when Clinton arrived for a Wednesday morning rally in North Little Rock, she was greeted by old friends willing to drive long distances for a chance to snap her picture and wave banners proclaiming “Arkansas Loves Hillary!”

“It’s a real point of pride for Arkansas to have her as our candidate,” said Rita Farris, who rode over from the small town of Biscoe to attend a Clinton rally at North Little Rock High School.

Farris was one of 2,000 Clinton partisans who braved gusting winds to stand in line for hours before trooping into a gymnasium and chanting “Hill-a-ree” until their favorite arrived. Among those close to the stage were members of the Arkansas Travelers, a group of Clinton fans who trudged through snow-caked streets in Iowa and New Hampshire this year on behalf of the New York senator.

“We just like talking up our friend Hillary,” said Patrick Henry Hays, a veteran Traveler who also is the mayor of North Little Rock. “Look, I like Mike Huckabee too. He and his wife, Janet, are my constituents. That’s the great thing about Arkansas. We’ve got two national candidates, and, to us, they’re just folks.”

But even for just folks, familiarity can breed a measure of contempt.

Although Clinton is backed by most of the state’s top Democratic officials, from Gov. Mike Beebe on down, Obama’s organizers are hoping to draw support from disaffected African American voters and college students.

Just days before Clinton’s appearance in North Little Rock, scores of Obama volunteers dispatched from Texas fanned out through Little Rock to canvass for their candidate. The fact that the Obama organization had to depend on outsiders showed how frail his organizers’ effort inside the state has been.

But the move may have played a role in Clinton’s sudden diversion to Arkansas, where she had not campaigned since August. Concern about Obama’s popularity among college students also propelled a campaign visit last week by Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea, to Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. Even former President Clinton, got into the act, making stops Friday in Pine Bluff and Texarkana on behalf of his wife.

“It’s an important state where people know her well,” said Jay Carson, Clinton’s traveling press secretary.

“She doesn’t want voters to feel that she’s taken them for granted.”

Huckabee’s brief stop Friday in Bentonville, the Wal-Mart company town in northwest Arkansas, appeared to be an effort to contend with a hotbed of libertarian and anti-immigrant sentiment that has stoked resentment against him among some GOP conservatives.

The mood stems from Huckabee’s populist tilt and his work with state Democrats on immigration and education issues when he was governor. Some conservative Republican voters now talk of straying to rivals John McCain and Mitt Romney -- or even Ron Paul.

Last week, an informal GOP straw poll conducted among GOP party regulars in Bentonville ended with a win for Paul. Huckabee finished a disquieting third.

“I carried signs for him once, but I won’t vote for him again,” said Jim Holt, a northwest Arkansas conservative who was defeated in a 2004 attempt to unseat incumbent U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln.

There’s little evidence, though, that either Huckabee’s or Clinton’s rivals have gained much of a following. The most recent political survey, conducted in mid-December by the Global Strategy Group of New York, found Clinton at 57% support compared with 17% for Obama, and Huckabee with 59%, against McCain’s 9% and Romney’s 7%.

That solid popularity, political observers say, reflects voters’ comfort level with Clinton and Huckabee.

“There’s a strong strain of populism that drives Arkansas voters, and Hillary and Huckabee know how to tap into it,” said Roy Reed, a retired University of Arkansas journalism professor and veteran journalist who covered the state’s political figures for the Arkansas Gazette and the New York Times.

“All over the state, you go into any county courthouse and you’ll find Democrats who remember Hillary fondly as Bill’s first lady,” Reed said. “And Huckabee was a consensus governor who played to the Wal-Mart crowd and the business community. They both play well here.”

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stephen.braun@latimes.com