Pryor may have to shed nice image

LITTLE ROCK The nicest guy in Arkansas politics may need an attitude adjustment.

For the past dozen years, David Pryor has taken on the role as the elder statesman of Arkansas politics and championed relatively benign issues that most people can get behind preserving history, promoting public service and helping foster future leaders.

The former U.S. senator and governor is temporarily taking over as the state's Democratic Party chairman, replacing slain chairman Bill Gwatney and shepherding the party through the election season. He'll also take up a role few have seen him in, at least in recent years the party's chief attack dog and slinger of political red meat.

It's a role that others have played with glee. Ron Oliver once said former Gov. Mike Huckabee acted like a spoiled child when he joked about running for the Senate because of frustrations with the Democratic-controlled Legislature. Jason Willett as chairman regularly slammed Asa Hutchinson during the governor's race, bringing up the former congressman's role as manager of Bill Clinton's impeachment trial.

Gwatney took his trademark bluntness for a ride as well, questioning whether Democrats who held fundraisers for Republican legislators really wanted fellow Democrat Mike Beebe to win that election.

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Pryor said he agreed to become interim chairman because of all the good things the party had done for him in his 40-year political career.

But is he willing to sacrifice some of the goodwill he's earned during that career to shed his nice-guy image for the party?

Don't expect Pryor to start giving any red-faced fiery speeches as he stumps for legislative candidates and tries to win over the state for presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

But don't expect him to be all smiles, either.

"Don't underestimate his toughness," said Skip Rutherford, a former Senate staffer for Pryor and dean of the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service. "He's probably one of the nicest guys to be in politics. But he can be tough if he has to be."

Rutherford cited several events in Pryor's career that show he can stand up in a tough political fight. They include his 1984 re-election campaign against Republican Ed Bethune, in which then-President Reagan, Vice President George Bush, members of Congress and the Reagan cabinet paraded through the state for Bethune.

When asked about a "Walk Across Arkansas" Bethune held as a candidate, Pryor responded then: "It's fine, if you're looking for the armadillo vote."

Another example comes with Pryor's staunch defense of Betty Bumpers, Dale Bumpers' wife, on the Senate floor when Alabama Sen. Jeremiah Denton criticized the Peace Links organization she helped found as "Communist-inspired."

"I raced to the Capitol on the subway, ran up to the Senate floor, and launched into a debate with Denton, questioning his facts and assertions," Pryor wrote in his autobiography, released last week.

Accepting the chairmanship at the party's state committee meeting, Pryor offered Democrats a hint of his new tone as he criticized Republican nominee John McCain on economic issues and accused Republicans of trying to distract voters.

"They are so good at getting our attention off of what is really important. Don't go out there and talk about lipstick on a pig because that's not what this election's about," Pryor said.

Democratic leaders say they don't know if they really need Pryor to be a partisan mouthpiece. Just having the Pryor name at the head of the party would be enough to help boost Democrats during the election season.

"I think David Pryor is going to be a great fit because a lot of the partisan rhetoric anyway really comes out of the party staff rather than the chairman," House Majority Leader Steve Harrelson of Texarkana said. "This is the kind of person we need at least on the interim basis. He's the type of person who can really help in some of these swing legislative districts."

Pryor, however, can be a powerful weapon for the party as it fights a seemingly uphill battle to win votes for Obama in a state that overwhelmingly went to Hillary Rodham Clinton in the presidential election. Republicans are confident the state is a lock for McCain, and Obama's so far been a no-show in the state.

As a veteran lawmaker who served with McCain, Pryor has plenty of personal stories to offer about the Republican presidential nominee.

They probably won't be nice ones.

He could share his stories about his tenure on the Ethics Committee as the panel investigated the so-called Keating Five, a group that included McCain and four Democratic senators accused of trying to intimidate federal banking regulators on behalf of Arizona real estate developer Charles Keating.

The committee rebuked McCain in 1991 for "poor judgment," but found his actions were "not improper nor attended with gross negligence." McCain refused to speak to Pryor for five years after that. Pryor says McCain apologized on his last day in the Senate and asked for a hug.

Pryor said he doesn't plan on getting personal, but said he hopes to "set the record straight" when talking about his former colleague. He said he may draft another fellow former senator, Bumpers, to travel the state and campaign for Obama.

"I am somewhat familiar with McCain's record, especially as it relates to Wall Street," Pryor said. "I know by nature that he is someone who has never supported regulating all of this."

Though Pryor's only in the job temporarily, his role could pose problems for the Republican Party as they try to figure out how to campaign against a party headed by a beloved political figure. Republican Party Chairman Dennis Milligan said he respects Pryor and his service, but said he doesn't think it will change their approach.

"There certainly won't be any punches pulled, and I wouldn't expect that from him either," Milligan said.

DeMillo covers Arkansas government and politics for The Associated Press.