Rep. Tom Cotton, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Arkansas, wants you to know that, despite being described as sort of stiff by critics, he’s actually pretty approachable.
“I’m warm, dammit,” Cotton joked to Politico in response to a question about his efforts to charm voters in Arkansas.
Cotton has taken pains to rebuff criticism by Democrats that he’s emotionless and heartless. As Politico reported, the Arkansas congressman and GOP darling has aired multiple upbeat and lighthearted ads and hosted a music concert with Jo Dee Messina.
But, Cotton said, it’s not all about warmth.
“My entire campaign is not just an effort to show warmth, it’s an effort for people to get a sense of me and know who I am — not just know how I vote,” Cotton said. “They can look at the House roll call and figure that out.”
Of course, Cotton’s opponent, Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) has also been described as a tad dry. A Washington Post story of the Arkansas Senate race in May portrayed him as almost too low-key and averse to any kind of big changes.
So that’s the Arkansas Senate race for you.
The RealClearPolitics polling average of the race has Pryor with a slight lead over Cotton.