Hutchinson drives back home

By STEVE BRAWNER

The words that stood out in former Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s announcement Tuesday were the ones that followed “I am suspending my campaign for President,” which were, “and driving back to Arkansas.”

I’m not sure where he was on caucus day, but the previous night he had gone bowling in Waukee, Iowa, with volunteers and his wife, Susan. Daughter Sarah won with a 165 score. 

He had billed his latest effort in Iowa as a “Return to Normal Tour.” After his election loss, he himself was returning to a normal life, starting with the drive back. Waukee is six hours from his home in Rogers.

The most notable part of Hutchinson’s campaign was his dogged persistence. He stayed in the race long after better-known candidates had dropped out, his campaign manager had departed, and the media focused attention elsewhere. 

He pledged to stay in the fight because he was the candidate most willing to repudiate former President Trump, though in typical Hutchinson style he did it in a restrained manner. In contrast to Trump, he is a Reagan Republican, which would have been quite normal 10 years ago. He argued that Trump’s legal problems could force him from the race, or at least they should give Republican voters pause before they put him on the November ballot.

Unfortunately, Iowa Republicans were not buying what Hutchinson was selling, as he acknowledged in his announcement. He received only 191 votes out of 110,298 cast. That amount placed him sixth and far behind Trump, who collected half the votes and delegates. 

Hutchinson’s journey as a political candidate ended the way it started – by him swimming against the political currents. When he first got into politics, he was a rare Republican in a state dominated by Democrats. Instead of just joining that party as most others had done, he chose to invite others to join him in the GOP. Over time, for a lot of reasons, many did.

There are two differences between then and now. One is, then, he was asking Arkansans to change parties, while in this election he was asking his own party to change. The other difference is that time is no longer on the 73-year-old Hutchinson’s side.

In other words, sometimes the currents just are too strong. The Republican Party is no longer the party of Ronald Reagan or of Reagan conservatives. Trump has remade it. Hutchinson also lacks an increasingly important quality in today’s politics: He’s not a celebrity, and he can’t turn himself into one.

It seems likely that Hutchinson won’t run for any more offices. It also seems likely he will not be retiring. If the right Republican other than Trump is elected, he might could be a high-level official again.

I don’t know how a politician who has reached his heights – governor, member of Congress, Drug Enforcement Administration Agency director, undersecretary for homeland security – deals emotionally with getting .2% of the vote, especially after all of that effort.

If he doesn’t take it personally, perhaps it would be because he believed he was doing the right thing. In his announcement, he said, “I stand by the campaign I ran.” There must be a lot of comfort in that.

When he was leaving the governor’s office in December 2022, I asked him how he juggled the competing moral priorities during the COVID pandemic. After all, there would be life-and-death consequences no matter what he did.

His response was, “I had confidence in my decision-making ability. I’ve been in crisis situations before. But then secondly, I got asked the same question when I was at Homeland Security: How do you sleep at night when you know that if there’s a terrorist attack, you could be held responsible? And the answer is, I believe in a sovereign God, and I pray about decisions. I make it based upon the best information I have, and I have confidence in that decision and the future, and Who directs the paths of nations.”

There’s a lot of comfort in having that outlook, too.

The election will continue, and Hutchinson will have more to say about it. He’ll endorse somebody, if he can. 

For now, I hope he takes some time to relax, drive around our pretty state with Susan, and maybe work on his bowling game, at least until he can beat his daughter. 

You know, normal stuff. 

Steve Brawner is a syndicated columnist published in 15 outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com. Follow him on Twitter at @stevebrawner.