Hutchinson names campaign manager

LITTLE ROCK (AP) - Republican Asa Hutchinson announced Wednesday he has named longtime aide Chris Battle as his campaign manager in his bid for the governor's post.

Hutchinson, a former undersecretary for the Homeland Security Department, is putting together his campaign team in preparation for the 2006 race.

His recent decision to run for governor put him and Lt. Gov. Win Rockeller in a primary contest for the Republican Party nomination. No other Republicans nor Democrats have announced their intentions as of yet. Rockefeller has said he won't campaign in earnest until after the legislative session.

Battle is a former journalist with the Northwest Arkansas Times and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He went to work for Hutchinson when Hutchinson was elected to Congress in 1996.

Battle later served as a Hutchinson adviser when Hutchinson became head of the Drug Enforcement Administration and then at the Homeland Security Department. Battle was most recently chief of staff for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.