Profile of Candidates Appearing on Ashley County Ballots

Following below is a profile of the still active candidates who will appear on the ballots in Ashley County on Tuesday, February 5, for the presidential preferential primary. The former candidates who have withdrawn are not included, and the listing is according to party affiliation and the order in which the candidates will appear on the local ballots. The information in most instances comes from the candidates' official web sites.

Among those who have withdrawn are Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson on the Republican ballot. Democrats who have withdrawn are Joe Biden, Bill Richardson, Dennis J. Kucinich, Christopher J. Dodd and John Edwards. On the Green ticket, Jared Ball has withdrawn.

Note that these names remain on the Ashley County ballots, even though the candidates are not longer active.

Democratic Party

Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska

Mike Gravel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, to French Canadian immigrants. He attended French-speaking Catholic schools and as a teenager, when he wasn't working with his father and brothers in the house painting and construction business, volunteered in local Springfield politics, developing an avid interest in government.

Senator Gravel enlisted in the U.S. Army (1951-54) and served as special adjutant in the Communication Intelligence Services and as a special agent in the Counter Intelligence Corps. He received a B.S. in economics from Columbia University, New York City, and holds four honorary degrees in law and public affairs.

Gravel served in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1963-66, and as speaker from 1965-66. He then represented Alaska in the U.S. Senate from 1969-81. He served on the Finance, Interior, and Environmental and Public Works committees, chairing the Energy, Water Resources, Buildings and Grounds, and Environmental Pollution subcommittees.

In 1971, he waged a successful one-man filibuster for five months that forced the Nixon administration to cut a deal, effectively ending the draft in the United States. He is most prominently known for his release of the Pentagon Papers, the secret official study that revealed the lies and manipulations of successive U.S. administrations that misled the country into the Vietnam War. After the New York Times published portions of the leaked study, the Nixon administration moved to block any further publication of information and to punish any newspaper publisher who revealed the contents.

From the floor of the senate, Gravel (a junior senator at the time) insisted that his constituents had a right to know the truth behind the war and proceeded to read 4,100 pages of the 7,000 page document into the senate record. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled that Senator Gravel did not have the right and responsibility to share official documents with his constituents.

He then published The Senator Gravel Edition, The Pentagon Papers, Beacon Press (1971). This publication resulted in litigation, Gravel v. U.S., resulting in a landmark Supreme Court decision relative to the Speech and Debate Clause (Article 1, Section 6) of the United States Constitution.

He has worked as a cab driver in New York City, a clerk on Wall Street and as a brakeman on the Alaska Railroad. He founded and served as president of The Democracy Foundation, Philadelphia II, and Direct Democracy, nonprofit corporations dedicated to the establishment of direct democracy in the United States through the enactment of the National Initiative for Democracy by American voters.

Books authored by Senator Gravel are Jobs and More Jobs, and Citizen Power. He lectures and writes about governance, foreign affairs, economics, Social Security, tax reform, energy, environmental issues and democracy.

Senator Gravel is married to Whitney Stewart Gravel and has two grown children: Martin Gravel living in Colorado and Lynne Gravel Mosier, living in California. The Gravels have four grandchildren: Renee, Alex, Madison and Mackenzie.

Senator Barack Obama of Illinois

Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961. His father, Barack Obama, Sr., was born and raised in a small village in Kenya, where he grew up herding goats with his own father, who was a domestic servant to the British.

Barack's mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in small-town Kansas. Her father worked on oil rigs during the Depression, and then signed up for World War II after Pearl Harbor, where he marched across Europe in Patton's army. Her mother went to work on a bomber assembly line, and after the war, they studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through the federal housing program, and moved west to Hawaii.

At the University of Hawaii, Barack's parents met. His mother was a student there, and his father had won a scholarship that allowed him to leave Kenya and pursue his dreams in America.

Barack's father eventually returned to Kenya, and Barack grew up with his mother in Hawaii, and for a few years in Indonesia. Later, he moved to New York, where he graduated from Columbia University in 1983.

Barack put law school and corporate life on hold after college and moved to Chicago in 1985, where he became a community organizer with a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment. The group had some success, but Barack had come to realize that in order to truly improve the lives of people in that community and other communities, it would take not just a change at the local level, but a change in our laws and in our politics.

He went on to earn his law degree from Harvard in 1991, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Soon after, he returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer and teach constitutional law. His advocacy work led him to run for the Illinois State Senate, where he served for eight years. In 2004, he became the third African American since Reconstruction to be elected to the U.S. Senate.

Amid the partisanship and bickering of today's public debate, he still believes in the ability to unite people around a politics of purpose - a politics that puts solving the challenges of everyday Americans ahead of partisan calculation and political gain.

In the Illinois State Senate, this meant working with both Democrats and Republicans to help working families get ahead by creating programs like the state Earned Income Tax Credit, which in three years provided over $100 million in tax cuts to families across the state. He also pushed through an expansion of early childhood education, and after a number of inmates on death row were found innocent, Senator Obama worked with law enforcement officials to require the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases.

In the U.S. Senate, he has focused on tackling the challenges of a globalized, 21st century world with fresh thinking and a politics that no longer settles for the lowest common denominator. His first law was passed with Republican Tom Coburn, a measure to rebuild trust in government by allowing every American to go online and see how and where every dime of their tax dollars is spent. He has also been the lead voice in championing ethics reform that would root out Jack Abramoff-style corruption in Congress.

As a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Senator Obama has fought to help Illinois veterans get the disability pay they were promised, while working to prepare the VA for the return of the thousands of veterans who will need care after Iraq and Afghanistan. Recognizing the terrorist threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, he traveled to Russia with Republican Dick Lugar to begin a new generation of non-proliferation efforts designed to find and secure deadly weapons around the world. And knowing the threat the nation faces to the economy and security from America's addiction to oil, he's working to bring auto companies, unions, farmers, businesses and politicians of both parties together to promote the greater use of alternative fuels and higher fuel standards in cars.

His wife, Michelle, and his two daughters, Malia, 9, and Sasha, 6, live on Chicago's South Side where they attend Trinity United Church of Christ.

Senator Hillary Clinton of New York

Hillary Rodham was raised in a middle-class family in the middle of America. From that classic suburban childhood in Park Ridge, Illinois, she went on to become one of America's foremost advocates for children and families; an attorney twice voted one of the most influential in America; a First Lady of Arkansas who helped transform the schools; a bestselling author; a First Lady for America who helped transform that role, becoming a champion for health care and families at home and a champion of women's rights and human rights around the world.

Since her election to the United States Senate, she has been a steadfast advocate for middle-class families, working to help create jobs, expand children's health care and protect Social Security from privatization. As the senator representing New York after 9/11, Hillary has fought to strengthen the approach to homeland security and to improve communications and intelligence operations. As the first New Yorker ever named to the Senate Armed Services Committee, she

has been a tough critic of the administration's bungling of Iraq and a fierce advocate for proper equipment, health benefits, and treatment for military families.

Hillary's father, Hugh Rodham, was the son of a factory worker from Scranton, Pennsylvania. He trained sailors in the Navy during World War II and then returned to Illinois to start a small business selling draperies. Hillary's mother, Dorothy, the daughter of a firefighter, had a tough childhood. Her parents were young and felt unable to care for their children. So when Dorothy was just eight, she and her three-year-old sister traveled alone on a four-day train ride to Los Angeles. There they were raised by a strict grandmother.

Hillary was a Brownie and then a Girl Scout. She started her political life as a Republican, like her father. She even volunteered as a Goldwater girl!

Her mother taught Sunday school, and Hillary was a regular in her church youth group. She was deeply influenced by her youth minister who taught her about "faith in action." There were trips to the inner city, babysitting for the children of migrant farm workers, and an extraordinary night when Hillary was fourteen and her youth group went to hear a speech by Martin Luther King Jr.

Hillary went to Wellesley College, where she was chosen by her classmates to be the first-ever student commencement speaker. She talked about the tumultuous times that her generation was living through and said, "The challenge now is to practice politics as the art of making what appears to be impossible, possible."

Next came Yale Law School, where Hillary focused on questions about how the law affected children and began her decades of work as an advocate for children and families. As a law student, Hillary represented foster children and parents in family court and worked on some of the earliest studies creating legal standards for identifying and protecting abused children. Following graduation, she became a staff attorney for the Children's Defense Fund.

After serving as only one of two women lawyers on the staff of the House Judiciary Committee considering the impeachment of Richard Nixon, Hillary chose not to pursue offers from major law firms. Instead she followed her heart and a man named Bill Clinton to Arkansas. They married in 1975 and their daughter Chelsea was born in 1980.

Hillary ran a legal aid clinic for the poor when she first got to Arkansas and handled cases of foster care and child abuse. Years later, she organized a group called Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. When she was just 30, President Carter appointed her to the board of the United States Legal Services Corporation, a federal nonprofit program that funds legal assistance for the poor.

When Bill was elected governor of Arkansas, Hillary continued to advocate for children, leading a task force to improve education in Arkansas through higher standards for schools and serving on the board of the Arkansas Children's Hospital, helping them expand and improve their services. She also served on national boards for the Children's Defense Fund, the Child Care Action Campaign, and the Children's Television Workshop.

She also continued her legal career as a partner in a law firm. She led the American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession, which played a pioneering role in raising awareness of issues like sexual harassment and equal pay. Hillary was twice named one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America.

When her husband was elected president in 1992, Hillary's work as a champion for women was recognized and admired around the world. She traveled the globe speaking out against the degradation and abuse of women and standing up for the powerful idea that women's rights are human rights. She led efforts to make adoption easier, to expand early learning and child care, to increase funding for breast cancer research, and to help veterans suffering from Gulf War syndrome who had too often been ignored in the past. She helped launch a national campaign to prevent teen pregnancy and helped create the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, which moved children from foster care to adoption more quickly. Thanks in part to her efforts, the number of children who have moved out of foster care into adoption has increased dramatically.

She was instrumental in designing and championing the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which has provided millions of children with health insurance. She battled the big drug companies to force them to test their drugs for children and to make sure all kids get the immunizations they need through the Vaccines for Children Program. Immunization rates dramatically improved after the program launched.

Hillary's 1995 book It Takes A Village became an international best seller. Hillary has donated the proceeds -- more than a million dollars -- to children's causes across the country. Hillary's autobiography, Living History, was also a best seller. It has been translated into 12 languages and sold over 1.3 million copies.

In 2000, Hillary was elected to the United States Senate from New York. As Senator, Hillary has continued her advocacy for children and families and has been a national leader on homeland security and national security issues. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Hillary worked with her colleagues to secure the funds New York needed to recover and rebuild. She fought to provide compensation to the families of the victims, grants for hard-hit small businesses, and health care for front line workers at Ground Zero. And she continues to work for resources that enable New York to grow, to improve homeland security for New York and other communities, and to protect all Americans from future attacks.

She is the first New Yorker ever to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee, working to see that America's military has the necessary resources to protect our national security. She has visited troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and at Fort Drum in New York, home of the 10th Mountain Division and other New York bases, as well as at Walter Reed Military Hospital. She has learned first-hand the challenges facing American combat forces. Hillary passed legislation to track the health status of our troops so that conditions like Gulf War Syndrome would no longer be misdiagnosed. She is an original sponsor of legislation that expanded health benefits to members of the National Guard and Reserves and has been a strong critic of the Administration's handling of Iraq.

She has supported a variety of middle-class tax cuts, including marriage penalty relief, property tax relief, and reduction in the Alternative Minimum Tax, and supports fiscally responsible pay-as-you-go budget rules. She helped pass legislation that encouraged investment to create jobs in struggling communities through the Renewal Communities program. She has championed legislation to bring broadband Internet access, which is so important in today's information economy, to rural America.

She worked to strengthen the Children's Health Insurance Program, which increased coverage for children in low income and working families. She authored legislation that has been enacted to improve quality and lower the cost of prescription drugs and to protect our food supply from bioterrorism. She sponsored legislation to increase America's commitment to fighting the global HIV/AIDS crisis, and is now leading the fight for expanded use of information technology in the health care system to decrease administrative costs, lower premiums, and reduce medical errors.

Hillary has been a powerful advocate for women in the Senate. Her commitment to supporting the rights guaranteed in Roe v. Wade and to reducing the number of abortions by reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies was hailed by the New York Times as "frank talk...(and) a promising path." She is strongly committed to making sure that every American has the right to vote in fair, accessible, and credible elections. She introduced the Count Every Vote Act of 2005 to ensure better protection of votes and to ensure that every vote is counted.

In 2006, New Yorkers reelected Hillary to the Senate with 67 percent of the vote.

Republican Candidates

Mike Huckabee of Arkansas

The former Arkansas governor formed a 2008 presidential exploratory committee because he feels the country needs a reawakening and a leadership to address an array of issues, including how to improve the nation's infrastructure, education system, environmental policy and failing health care system.

From 1996-2007, Huckabee served as the governor of Arkansas. When he left office on January 9, 2007, he set out on a nationwide tour to promote his fifth book, "From Hope to Higher Ground: 12 Steps to Restoring America's Greatness." The book reveals his optimistic vision for what America can become with the right kind of leadership and a clear direction.

Huckabee is recognized as a national leader, having been honored by several renowned publications and organizations for his numerous accomplishments. Governing Magazine named him as one of its ‘Public Officials of the Year' for 2005, Time Magazine honored him as one of the five best governors in America, and later in the same year, Huckabee received the American Association of Retired Person's Impact Award. In 2007, he was presented with the Music for Life Award by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) for his commitment to music education.

Huckabee is past chairman of the National Governors' Association (NGA) and chairman of the Education Commission of the States. During his tenure as governor, he served in other leadership positions including president of the Council of State Governments, state co-chairman of the Delta Regional Authority, and chairman of the Southern Governors Association, the Southern Regional Education Board, the Southern Growth Policies Board, the Southern Technology Council, the Southern International Trade Council and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission.

As former chairman of the Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission, Huckabee worked with the 37-state coalition to develop energy policy and lobby Congress on energy matters, such as the regulation of oil and gas production. He created an automobile license renewal system that's become a model for states across the country. Huckabee directed the creation of other advancements that have made Arkansas a technology leader among the states.

Huckabee became governor in July, 1996, and was one of the youngest governors in the country at the time. Huckabee in 1998 attracted the largest percentage of the vote ever received by a Republican gubernatorial nominee in Arkansas and was re-elected to another four-year term in 2002. Huckabee first was elected lieutenant governor in a 1993 special election and was elected to a full four-year term in 1994. He was only the fourth Republican to be elected to statewide office since Reconstruction.

A significant part of his adult life was spent as a pastor and denominational leader. He became the youngest president ever of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. Huckabee led rapidly growing congregations in Pine Bluff and Texarkana. He said those experiences gave him a deep sense of the problems faced by individuals and families.

Under Huckabee's direction, Arkansas has been recognized as having created one of the nation's best school accountability programs. Huckabee pushed through reforms in Arkansas that have significantly increased the number of charter schools and established new approaches to workforce education.

One of his proudest achievements as governor was signing legislation creating ARKids First. The program provides health insurance coverage for more than 70,000 Arkansas children who otherwise might have gone without. Before leaving office, Huckabee supported the ARHealthNet program which gives small business owners and their employees better access to health care coverage.

Huckabee pushed through the Arkansas Legislature the first major, broad-based tax cuts in state history, a $90 million tax relief package for Arkansas families. He led efforts to establish a Property Taxpayers' Bill of Rights and created a welfare reform program that reduced the welfare rolls in the state by almost 50 percent. He also doubled the standard deduction to $2,000 for single taxpayers and $4,000 for those who are married. He proposed The Property Taxpayers' Bill of Rights which established a uniform notice and due process procedure to guarantee that all Arkansans will be treated fairly in property tax assessment. In total, Huckabee cut taxes and fees over 90 times during his years as governor, saving the people of Arkansas almost $380 million.

As NGA chairman, Huckabee promoted his Healthy America Initiative, based on his successful Healthy Arkansas model. In 2004, Huckabee created the Healthy Arkansas initiative, an effort to encourage Arkansans to stop smoking, exercise more and eat healthier.

Huckabee's efforts to improve his own health have received national attention. Diagnosed with Type II diabetes in 2003, he lost 110 pounds. Barely two years later, he completed four marathons. As a result of his accomplishments, The Road Runners Club of America named him its ‘Southern Region Runner of the Year' and USA Track & Field has named him their ‘Athlete of the Week' for the country. Huckabee completed his fourth book, "Quit Digging Your Grave With A Knife and Fork." This 12-stop program is a no-nonsense approach to managing one's health through lifestyle change rather than a simple diet and exercise plan.

Huckabee, 51, enjoys playing bass guitar in his rock-n-roll band, Capitol Offense, which has opened for artists such as Willie Nelson and the Charlie Daniels Band, and has played the House of Blues in New Orleans, the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Denver, CO, and for two presidential inauguration balls.

The former governor and his wife, Janet, live in North Little Rock. They have three grown children, John Mark, David and Sarah.

Rep. Ron Paul of Texas

Congressman Ron Paul is the leading advocate for freedom in our nation's capital. As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Dr. Paul tirelessly works for limited constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, and a return to sound monetary policies. He is known among his congressional colleagues and his constituents for his consistent voting record. Dr. Paul never votes for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution. In the words of former Treasury Secretary William Simon, Dr. Paul is the "one exception to the Gang of 535" on Capitol Hill.

Ron Paul was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Gettysburg College and the Duke University School of Medicine, before proudly serving as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force during the 1960s. He and his wife Carol moved to Texas in 1968, where he began his medical practice in Brazoria County. As a specialist in obstetrics/gynecology, Dr. Paul has delivered more than 4,000 babies. He and Carol, who reside in Lake Jackson, Texas, are the proud parents of five children and have 17 grandchildren.

While serving in Congress during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Dr. Paul's limited-government ideals were not popular in Washington. In 1976, he was one of only four Republican congressmen to endorse Ronald Reagan for president.

During that time, Congressman Paul served on the House Banking committee, where he was a strong advocate for sound monetary policy and an outspoken critic of the Federal Reserve's inflationary measures. He was an unwavering advocate of pro-life and pro-family values. Dr. Paul consistently voted to lower or abolish federal taxes, spending and regulation, and used his House seat to actively promote the return of government to its proper constitutional levels. In 1984, he voluntarily relinquished his House seat and returned to his medical practice.

Dr. Paul returned to Congress in 1997 to represent the 14th congressional district of Texas. He presently serves on the House Committee on Financial Services and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He continues to advocate a dramatic reduction in the size of the federal government and a return to constitutional principles.

Congressman Paul's consistent voting record prompted one of his congressional colleagues to say, "Ron Paul personifies the Founding Fathers' ideal of the citizen-statesman. He makes it clear that his principles will never be compromised, and they never are." Another colleague observed, "There are few people in public life who, through thick and thin, rain or shine, stick to their principles. Ron Paul is one of those few."

Brief Overview of Congressman Paul's Record:

He has never voted to raise taxes.

He has never voted for an unbalanced budget.

He has never voted for a federal restriction on gun ownership.

He has never voted to raise congressional pay.

He has never taken a government-paid junket.

He has never voted to increase the power of the executive branch.

He voted against the Patriot Act.

He voted against regulating the Internet.

He voted against the Iraq war.

He does not participate in the lucrative congressional pension program.

He returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S. treasury every year.

Congressman Paul introduces numerous pieces of substantive legislation each year, probably more than any single member of Congress.

Mitt Romney of Massachusetts

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has been widely recognized for his leadership and accomplishments as a public servant and in private enterprise.

Elected in 2002, Governor Romney presided over a dramatic reversal of state fortunes and a period of sustained economic expansion. Without raising taxes or increasing debt, Governor Romney balanced the budget every year of his administration, closing a nearly $3 billion budget gap inherited when he took office. By eliminating waste, streamlining the government, and enacting comprehensive economic reforms to stimulate growth in Massachusetts, Romney got the economy moving again and transformed deficits into surpluses.

At the beginning of Governor Romney's term, Massachusetts was losing thousands of jobs every month. By the time he left office, the unemployment rate was lower, hundreds of companies had expanded or moved to Massachusetts and the state had added approximately 60,000 jobs from the low point of the recession.

One of Governor Romney's top priorities was reforming the education system so that young people could compete for good paying jobs in the global economy of the future. In 2004, Governor Romney established the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship Program to reward the top 25 percent of Massachusetts high school students with a four-year, tuition-free scholarship to any Massachusetts public university or college. He has also championed a package of education reforms, including merit pay, an emphasis on math and science instruction, important new intervention programs for failing schools and English immersion for foreign-speaking students.

In 2006, Governor Romney proposed and signed into law a private, market-based reform that ensures every Massachusetts citizen will have health insurance, without a government takeover and without raising taxes.

Governor Romney was elected to the Chairmanship of the Republican Governors Association by his fellow Governors for the 2006 election cycle, and raised a record $27 million for candidates running in State House contests around the country.

Romney first gained national recognition for his role in turning around the 2002 Winter Olympics. With the 2002 Games mired in controversy and facing a financial crisis, Romney left behind a successful career as an entrepreneur to take over as President and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.

Governor Romney has said he felt compelled to assume the seemingly impossible task of rescuing the games by both the urgings of his wife, Ann, and by the memory of his father, George Romney, who had been a successful businessman, three-term governor of Michigan, and a tireless advocate of volunteerism in America.

In his three years at the helm in Salt Lake, Romney erased a $379 million operating deficit, organized 23,000 volunteers, galvanized community spirit and oversaw an unprecedented security mobilization just months after the September 11 attacks, leading to one of the most successful Olympics in our country's history.

Prior to his Olympic service, Mitt Romney enjoyed a successful career helping businesses grow and improve their operations. From 1978 to 1984, Mr. Romney was a vice president at Bain & Company, Inc., a leading management consulting firm. In 1984, Romney founded Bain Capital, one of the nation's most successful venture capital and investment companies. Bain Capital helped guide hundreds of companies on a successful course, including Staples, Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Domino's Pizza, Sealy, Brookstone, and The Sports Authority. He was asked to return to Bain & Company as CEO several years later in order to lead a financial restructuring of the organization. Today, Bain & Company employs more than 2,000 people in 25 offices worldwide.

Governor Romney has been deeply involved in community and civic affairs, serving extensively in his church and numerous charities including City Year, the Boy Scouts, and the Points of Light Foundation. He was also the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in 1994.

Governor Romney received a B.A. with Highest Honors, from Brigham Young University in 1971. In 1975, he was awarded an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was named a Baker Scholar, and a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School.

Senator John McCain of Arizona

John McCain has a remarkable record of leadership and experience that embodies his unwavering lifetime commitment to service. First elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona in 1982, John has led the fight for reforming Washington, eliminating wasteful government spending, and strengthening our nation's armed forces.

McCain's reform agenda to reduce federal spending and lower taxes quickly elevated him to statewide office and he was elected to the United States Senate in 1986, after serving two terms in the U.S. House.

In the Senate, John continued to demand that Congress put an end to loopholes for special interests and fix the broken system in Washington that too often allows lobbyists to write legislation and members of Congress to waste taxpayer money. In November, 2004, Senator McCain was overwhelmingly reelected with nearly 77 percent of the vote.

As the son and grandson of distinguished Navy admirals, John McCain deeply values duty, honor and service of country. John attended college at the United States Naval Academy, and launched a 22-year career as a naval aviator upon his graduation. He continued the McCain tradition of service to country passed down to him from his father and grandfather when he asked to serve in the Vietnam War.

On July 29 1967, he narrowly survived the first of many near-death experiences during his lifetime while preparing to take off on a bombing mission over North Vietnam from his ship, the USS Forrestal. A missile accidentally fired from a nearby plane struck the fuel tanks on John's plane and created a deadly inferno aboard the ship. John barely escaped the fiery disaster that killed 134 men, injured hundreds more and destroyed 20 planes.

Instead of taking the option to return home after the Forrestal disaster, Senator McCain volunteered for more combat duty - a fateful decision that stopped the clock on his life and separated him from his family, and country, for five and a half years.

During his twenty-third bombing mission on October 26, 1967, a missile struck John's plane and forced him to eject, knocking him unconscious and breaking both his arms and his leg. John was then taken as a prisoner of war into the now infamous "Hanoi Hilton," where he was denied necessary medical treatment and often beaten by the North Vietnamese.

John spent much of his time as a prisoner of war in solitary confinement, aided by his faith and the friendships of his fellow POWs. When he was finally released and able to return home years later, John continued his service by regaining his naval flight status.

Senator McCain's last Navy duty assignment was to serve as the naval liaison to the United States Senate. John retired from the Navy in 1981. His naval honors include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Senator McCain has seven children and four grandchildren, and currently lives in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife Cindy.

McCain is a common sense conservative who believes in a strong national defense, a smaller, more accountable government, economic growth and opportunity, the dignity of life and traditional values.

Green Party

Kat Swift of Texas

Kat Swift was born June 6, 1973, in Shreveport, LA. She has lived in Bossier City, LA; Rochester, NY; Houma, LA; Phoenix, AZ; North Shore, CA; San Antonio, TX; South Hadley, MA; Seattle, WA; and took long sabbaticals in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between 1994-1999.

Her parents were both public school teachers. Her mother teaches computer and business skills and her father taught shop, woodworking, electrician, plumbing, etc. and works with special education populations.

She had a public education in Louisiana, Arizona, California and Texas and attended Mount Holyoke College. Her studies have been in anatomy, biology, computer science, aromatherapy, herbalism, spirituality, comparative religion, nonviolent communication, peer counseling, energy & body therapy techniques

Paying jobs she has held include food service from dishwasher to waiter; business administration from receptionist to bookkeeper with some human resources, substitute teacher, security dispatcher & guard and tech support. Unpaid jobs have included organizing, graphic design, web development, healer, specialty chef, caretaker, meeting facilitation, and dispute resolution.

Her hobbies are all forms of dancing, climbing trees, costume creation, creating concoctions, healing people, communicating, watching human interaction, wilderness camping; photography and roller skating.

She was a facilitator for consensus based meetings of various Green Parties(GP) - state of Texas conventions 2002-2007, National Campus Greens Convention in Austin, local Bexar County Green Party(BCGP) meetings and precinct & county conventions 2000-2007, co-designed and -facilitated GPTX Statewide Green Leadership Retreat in 2005. She also facilitated for several other organizations, groups, and coalitions, including Clean Money San Antonio and SA Democracy Now. She has been an active Green since 1999.

Her elected positions include various posts in the Green Party and serving as a presidential elector for the party.

She co-coordinated campaign to help elect five of seven candidates to city council who were willing to change campaign finance codes in SA. Tied for top petition gatherer in her county in 2000 for Green party ballot access in Texas; first green party member to run for city council in San Antonio 2007 and received 30% of the vote against a well-known, well-connected and well-funded wife of an ex-city mayor & ex-HUD director under President Clinton.

Her best animal noise is that of a monkey. "You and I will likely disagree on something, conflict is inevitable. What matters is how we attain unity and harmony within the conflict," she said.

Cynthia McKinney

Cynthia McKinney of Georgia has six terms of experience in the U.S. Congress, as well as the courage and backbone to have survived that service with her conscience and integrity intact.

She was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the daughter of Billy McKinney, one of Atlanta's first black law enforcement officers, and a former Georgia state representative, and of Leola McKinney, a retired nurse. She lives in the Atlanta suburb of Stone Mountain. She is a Roman Catholic.

McKinney earned a B.A. in international relations from the University of Southern California and a Masters of Art in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. She is a Ph.D. student at University of California, Berkeley.

Her political career began in 1986 when her father submitted her name as a write-in candidate for the Georgia state house. She got about 40 percent of the popular vote, despite the fact that she lived in Jamaica at the time with then-husband Coy Grandison (with whom she had a son, Coy McKinney, now age 20). In 1988, McKinney ran for the same seat and won, making the McKinneys the first father and daughter to simultaneously serve in the Georgia state house.

McKinney immediately challenged House rules requiring women to wear dresses by wearing slacks. In 1991, she spoke against the Persian Gulf War, causing many legislators to walk out in protest of her remarks. In the 1992 election, McKinney was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as the member of Congress from the newly-created 11th District, a 64 percent black district stretching from Atlanta to Savannah. She was the first African-American woman to represent Georgia in the House. She was re-elected in 1994.

McKinney lost her seat in 2002 after losing the primary election. She regained her seat in 2004, when it was open due to Denise Majette's run for U.S. Senate. In 2006, she lost the primary election runoff 59 percent to 41.

Throughout 2003 and 2004, McKinney toured America and much of Europe speaking of her defeat, her opposition to the Iraq War, and the Bush administration. In a January, 2004, issue of Jet magazine, McKinney said that the "white, rich Democratic boys club wanted [her] to stay in the back of the bus."

McKinney has submitted to Congress two different versions of the same bill, the "MLK Records Act," which, if signed into law, would release all currently sealed files concerning the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. These records were sealed in 1978 and are not due to be declassified until 2028.

McKinney has been an advocate for victims of Hurricane Katrina and a critic of the government's response. Over 100,000 evacuees from New Orleans and Mississippi relocated to the Atlanta area, and many settled there.

Until 2000, McKinney served on the House International Relations Committee, where she was the highest-ranking Democrat on the Human Rights Subcommittee. McKinney worked on legislation to stop conventional weapons transfers to governments that are undemocratic or fail to respect human rights.

On November 18, 2005, McKinney was one of only three House members (out of 406) to vote for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces in Iraq.

At the end of the 2006 legislative session, McKinney introduced articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush charging Bush with manipulating intelligence and lying to justify the war in Iraq, failing to uphold accountability and violating privacy laws with his domestic spying program.

The second article also makes charges against Vice President Dick Cheney for helping to "fix" the intelligence in order to justify the Iraq War, and against Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for making false statements concerning Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction program.

Because McKinney waited until the final day of voting before her term ended to introduce the resolution, the resolution was symbolic.

On December 11, 2007, McKinney announced her candidacy for the Green Party nomination for president of the United States in the 2008 presidential election. Green Party members attempted to recruit McKinney both in 2000 and 2004. In 2000, she was widely mentioned as a possible running mate (in the VP slot) for Ralph Nader; in 2004, attempts were made to convince McKinney to run on the Green Party ballot line for president.

McKinney attended the California Green Party strategy retreat in Sonoma, California, where she was the keynote speaker, and she later decided to seek the Green nomination for president.

Kent Mesplay of California

I run to improve our political system, to help define, popularize and support the Green Party, to be an advocate for changes to our culture that will help us survive adversity and to improve our basic physical security, especially in terms of the basic categories of water, food and energy. I am optimistic that we can reform government and that we will begin building our communities with a sense of long-range planning as though we-the-people intend to be around for a long time to come. I value decentralization, diversity and sustainability as a good way of life. I believe that international commerce should be cognizant of the importance of people being able to meet their own basic needs of water and food, rather than the current method of seeking to exploit developing nations at their most basic level. Our party is pro-peace and we vigorously question the need for war, especially wars of choice that ultimately misuse and abuse our troops, damage our reputation and weaken our security by inciting enemies. The war in Iraq was a gross mistake. I support Iraq Veterans Against the War. We must rebuild our international reputation and rely more upon diplomacy than on force and technology.

Third parties perform the function of introducing new ideas and applying new pressures to the powers that be so that we now have child labor laws, a 40-hour work week and some other programs that are designed to counter-balance the extreme economic power of the elite and help the common person. In a Democratic society even non-moneyed voices deserve to be heard. We must get the money out of politics and require our elected officials to not be obligated to earmarking bills. We ought to require more from our candidates than essentially seeing who can raise the most cash. When funds are contributed it is best that they are anonymous to the recipient and are pooled.

I will help advance the debate on Global Climate Change and I will point out that green solutions are good for our homes and our health, good for our cities and our security, good for commerce and peace-building and good for future generations. Even without oil being depleted it makes good sense on many levels to enact green solutions.

When you vote for me you will be casting a vote for a change to our political system. The national organizations of the Democratic and Republican parties are not deserving of support. These parties are increasingly alike on major issues and are part of the problem, especially when it comes to freedom of speech. Campaigns have become essentially advertising campaigns, modified regularly by polling and focus groups plying their ware on the usual taxing parties. I want to live in a country where candidates are selected by the population based upon more than the person's ability to purchase yard signs and buy television coverage. I don't want to become a politician; I just want to make things better. Only about a third of adults who could register and vote bother to do so. Bad government is elected by non-voters.

I stand for independence, decentralization, local security through sustainable planning and the usual green issues of a sane energy policy, the need to protect ecosystems and species, our dire need for an improved social safety net at the local level and a foreign policy cognizant of respect for other cultures.

I believed George Bush could be defeated for being fiscally irresponsible, for being focused on federal power to an extent that would have made George Orwell cringe, and for being unconcerned with how unprepared we are to meet the challenges of Global Climate Change.

I will work with elected Democrats and Republicans to ensure that our nation achieves international prominence as a provider of green goods and services, with leadership in wind turbine technology, photovoltaics, fuel cell development, diversification and flexibility of fuel for transportation and the highest building standards (such as L.E.E.D.). We hear a lot about energy supply these days, but very little about how we can greatly reduce the demand through a systems approach cutting waste and inefficiency and combining cycles. By voting for me you will have an elected official who is schooled in science and engineering and who has a grasp of technical matters and bioethics. I already work in government as an environmental regulator, so I understand through my field inspections how businesses are affected by abrupt changes in regulation.

Given current methods of electronic communication it is possible to move toward direct democracy (in which every citizen participates) by working first to advance representation of under-represented constituents and ideas. Our contemporary political process is in need of reformation. The system is in need of systemic repair at the local, state and federal level.

A long-time goal is to help create a structure of publicly-funded debates to which all qualified candidates are invited and supported to attend. The money currently spent on politics is mushrooming and it is used primarily to purchase media coverage. Our government should not be for sale. Our issues affect all citizens regardless of political affiliation or level of disgust with the political process. In short, we Greens believe in the equality of all people.

State and national energy independence based upon renewable energy (wind and solar) will create jobs, help clean up the environment by reducing carbon accumulation in the atmosphere and will improve our basic physical security by promoting decentralization of power. The issue also affects foreign policy: when we meet our needs in a sustainable manner at home we are less likely to concern ourselves with oil supplies elsewhere and we will exhibit less desperate behavior, refusing to drill in ecologically sensitive protected areas.

 Farmers Bank Gets Over $4.3 Million from USDA

After five years of legal action and disputes, Farmers Bank in Hamburg received a final settlement from the United States Department of Agriculture on Friday, February 1. The settlement, for $4,353,474.67, is in payment of the USDA guarantee of loans the bank made to the Hermitage Tomato Cooperative, which failed after the loans were made.

 No More Busy Signals and Much Faster Downloads Available Immediately!

Profile of Candidates Appearing on Ashley County Ballots

Following below is a profile of the still active candidates who will appear on the ballots in Ashley County on Tuesday, February 5, for the presidential preferential primary. The former candidates who have withdrawn are not included, and the listing is according to party affiliation and the order in which the candidates will appear on the local ballots. The information in most instances comes from the candidates' official web sites.

Presidential Preferential Primary Polling Planned for Next Tuesday

Local voters can support their favorite candidates in the Arkansas presidential preferential primary next Tuesday, but before they can vote, they must select the primary in which they wish to participate.

Hamburg Board Approves Bids, Gives Superintendent One More Year

The Hamburg School Board, meeting on Monday night, January 28, approved bids for two construction projects, added two more projects to the district's long term facilities plan, and added one year to the contract of Superintendent of Schools Keith Alexander.

Hamburg Council Approves Budget and Revisions, Postpones Zoning Proposal

The Hamburg City Council, in its regular meeting on Monday night, January 28, approved a budget ordinance for 2008 and approved changes to finalize the 2007 budget. The council, however, delayed a decision on a proposal to change the city's zoning ordinance to allow day care centers in areas zoned R-3.

Crossett Council Seeks Input on Dog, Cat Law

Proposed changes to the city's animal control ordinance were the focus of Crossett's city council meeting on Thursday, January 24, with all aldermen except Wilburn Austin present.

 Ashley County Deputy Pulls Man from Burning Vehicle Friday

An Ashley County Deputy Sheriff, Cpl. Roy White, pulled a man from a burning vehicle on Friday morning, January 25. The incident happened just west of the Ouachita River bridge on Highway 82.

FDA Announces Recall of Canned Beans Distributed to Institutions

LITTLE ROCK n The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that New Era Canning Company, New Era, Mich., is expanding its product recall because of potential Clostridium botulinum (C. botulinum) contamination to all canned green beans and garbanzo beans distributed by the company nationwide over the last five years. C. botulinum can cause botulism, a serious and sometimes life-threatening condition. The affected cans are large institutional-sized containers, weighing approximately six and a half pounds.

Osburn Gets Life, Life without Parole in Casey Crowder Kidnaping and Murder

An Ashley County jury convicted a McGehee man on capital murder and kidnaping charges involving the August 27, 2006, disappearance and death of Casey Crowder, a 17-year-old Watson Chapel senior, following several days of testimony last week in Ashley County Circuit Court. Tenth Judicial District Circuit Judge Sam Pope imposed a sentence of life without parole on Kenneth Osburn for the murder conviction and an additional life sentence in the kidnaping conviction Friday, January 18.

Hamburg Chamber Members To Hear Coach, Head of AAFL Team

When the members of the Hamburg Area Chamber of Commerce gather for their annual banquet on Thursday, February 7, the guest speakers will be the coach and the president of the All American Football League's Team Arkansas.

Tickets for Crossett Chamber Banquet Still Available

The Crossett Area Chamber of Commerce announced plans for its annual banquet. The event will be held Thursday, January 31, at 6:30 p.m. in the Norman Junior High cafeteria. Tickets will be $15 each.

County Gets Turnback Funds

Ashley County received $92,231.04 in turnback funds during 2007 according to Commissioner of State Lands Mark Wilcox. The turnback funds, totaling over $10 million statewide, represent monies collected from the redemption and sale of tax delinquent property during the preceding year. They were released to the counties over a twelve-month period. "Once again," said Wilcox, "county schools, libraries and local government services will be enhanced through these turnback funds.

Crossett Board Retreats, Rescinds Motion to Change High School Name

Crossett High School got a new name and then returned to the traditional name, all in a matter of four days. In a special meeting late Monday afternoon, January 14, all five members of the board approved a motion to rescind its decision to rename the school this past week and to keep the names as they have traditionally been.

SouthArk To Expand into Chicot County, Eudora

A planned expansion into Chicot County will not affect the SouthARK EMS ambulance service in Hamburg and Ashley County, owner Shannon Shaver said on Monday, January 14.

 Eagles Get New Football Coach, Athletic Director

Following a lengthy executive session, with all members except Robert Cornelius present, Thursday, January 10, Crossett School Board members hired a head football coach, athletic director and dean of students. The new mentor for the Eagles and high school dean of students will be Todd Ledford, the current head coach and athletic director at Ashdown High School. Board member Doug Thurman cast the lone dissenting vote on the motion to hire Ledford.

Body of Wilmot Man Missing for Six Days Located in Peanut Field

The body of a Wilmot man who had been missing since Monday evening, December 31, was found in a field between Parkdale and Wilmot on Sunday morning, January 6. Ashley County Sheriff David Johnson and Emergency Services Coordinator Jim Skender identified the man as Sylvester Kitchen, 55, of 111 Earl Street, Wilmot.

Electronic Ledger Attracts Almost Million Visitors, Over 3 Million Page Views

The electronic edition of the Ashley County Ledger, ashleycounrtyledger.com, had almost one million visitors during 2007, and those visitors looked at over three million pages.

Crop Prices Higher, But Fertilizer and Fuel Also Reaching Record Levels

FAYETTEVILLE-- Arkansas rice, soybeans, corn and wheat producers are seeing record and near-record high crop prices and agricultural economists foresee the trend holding in 2008.

 Crossett Trucking Firm Gets Insurance Co. Safety Award

Dedicated Logistics, LLC, of Crossett was recently presented a Platinum Safety Award"by National American Insurance Company as part of the 2006/2007 National Fleet Safety Awards program.

Sunday Morning Fire Fatal to Hamburg Woman

A Hamburg woman, identified by police as Margaret Chappel, 81, of 521 South Gardner, died in a fire at her residence on Sunday morning, December 30, Hamburg Police Chief Breedlove said. The fire was reported at 6:55 a.m.

Hambuirg Man Charged with Rape

Hamburg Police Officer David Oliver arrested a Hamburg man last week on two counts of rape involving two minor girls.

Looking Back at the Top News Stories from 2007

The new year of 2007 began with local officials taking the oaths of office for their various positions. Circuit Judge Sam Pope administered the oaths to all county officials as well as several mayors and other city officials. In Crossett, District Judge Billy Hubbell administered the oaths to city officials there.

Crossett Seeking Suspects In Friday Shooting of Two

A Friday night shooting ended with two Crossett residents seeking medical treatment at Ashley County Medical Center and Crossett Police Officers conducting an active investigation into the identity of the shooter.

Montrose Officer's Patrol Car and Personal Vehicle Shot

Ashley County Sheriff’s Deputies are conducting an investigation into the identity of the person or persons that shot a Montrose part-time police officer's patrol car while patrolling the city and later shot his personal vehicle multiple times while parked outside city hall on Oak Street, Montrose.

FDA Warns About Potential for Botulism in Canned Green Beans

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers about a potential Clostridium botulinum (C. botulinum) contamination of canned cut green beans manufactured by New Era Canning Company, New Era, Mich., and labeled as "GFS Fancy Blue Lake Cut Green Beans." C. botulinum is the bacterium that causes botulism.

Crossett Voters to Decide Fate of Development Tax on March 11

The Crossett Economic Development Foundation, a nonprofit organization, is seeking the support of voters to continue the levy of a one-fourth of one percent sales and use tax in a special election on March 11, 2008.

Hamburg Council Approves Budget

In a short meeting on Tuesday night, December 18, the Hamburg City Council approved the budget for the coming year. However, the formal reading of the budget ordinance will not be until the January meeting.

Crossett Council Adopts Election, Tax Ordinances; Debates Vicious Dogs

Additions to the city's animal ordinance, proposed garbage rates, and the approval of two city ordinances were the focus of Crossett City Council's meeting on Monday, December 17.

Hospital Loses $538,198 In Last Fiscal Year, But Better than Previous Year

The Ashley County Medical Center operated with a loss of $537,198 for its 2007 fiscal year, which ended September 30, according to the monthly report to the Ashley County Quorum Court on Tuesday, January 8. The report was almost the only business in the meeting, which lasted less than 15 minutes.