Playing With Arkansas Job Growth Numbers

John Brummett is making the same mistake as other Democrats are at the national level; the current occupant is no longer running for office. I know he is trying to say that since Mike Huckabee, a Republican, isn't so good at job growth as other Democrat governors, another Republican governor would do the same.

every Arkansas governor from Ben Laney in 1946 onward held office during periods in which the state's job growth outpaced national job growth on an annualized percentage basis -

Since 1946, Arkansas has had 14 governors of which 3 were Republican. It's not much to make a comparison with.

The late Frank White, another Republican, actually lost jobs in his two years as governor, but not by as big a percentage as the recession-laden nation lost them at the same time.

A time when it would be difficult for any governor to create job growth. I remember trying to get a jobs in California at that time, it really sucked.

Annualized job growth under Winthrop Rockefeller, the other Republican, was 2.8 percent, better than the national rate of 2.1 percent, but barely half of Bumpers' and Pryor's rates

Maybe Rockefeller set the pattern so Bumpers and Pryor had to do better and of course the economic climate may have been better.
Brummett just went too far on this. Yeah, Huckabee should have concentrated more on job growth and it will not look well for his bid for the Presidency. Asa Hutchinson, other the other hand, has recognized the importance of job growth saying that

bringing more and better-paying jobs to Arkansas will be the number one issue for his campaign and the guiding focus of his administration as Arkansas Governor.GROW ARKANSAS

I've never heard Asa say that he'd run the state of Arkansas just like Mike Huckabee did. Democrats, just remember, President Bush and Governor Huckabee aren't running for office this year.