It’s the Hurry-Up Offense part of the 2026 midterms

It’s the Hurry-Up Offense part of the 2026 midterms: we voters and candidates don’t pay much attention to details. But here’s a few. 

Sen. Tom Cotton didn’t debate Hallie Shoffner, but here’s something he said to Alex Thomas in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: “Cotton recognized high prices are an issue, but argued the economic environment was worse during Joe Biden’s presidency. He noted inflation has declined from a record 9.1% in June 2022 to 3.4% this August. ‘It’s still not good enough,’ the senator said. ‘There’s more work to be done.’”

This interview was done before the September 2026 increased rate of 3.7% rate was announced. But here’s the overlooked detail. The month Donald Trump returned to office, January 2025, the inflation rate was 3.0% because it decreased steadily during the second half of the Biden presidency following the economic rebound from the pandemic. 

When Trump took over, the inflation rate was going in the right direction. It is not anymore.

The Iran War is a significant challenge and also an issue in the midterms. One of the frequent Republican talking points: Iran has had an authoritarian government and been attacking Americans for 47 years since 1979. 

Accurate, but here’s an important detail. Mohammad Mosaddegh was the Prime Minister of Iran from 1951-1953. He was overthrown by a coup in 1953 orchestrated by British intelligence and our CIA. The issue was primarily oil. In 2013, our government acknowledged its role. Following the 1953 coup the Shah of Iran became increasingly authoritarian, and democratic processes were significantly weakened. Mosaddegh was kept under house arrest until his death in 1967. For some Iranians, the antagonism towards America began in 1953, not 1979. 

Rep French Hill’s newsletter recently had the following:

This bill doesn’t “make sure” of anything. If it had become law (it didn’t), it would have required states to “consider” requiring utilities to cover the full energy costs for data centers, merely consider, not require. In no way does it protect ratepayers. The language of the bill does no harm EXCEPT the intent was to convince voters in a difficult election year that Congress did something important about data centers and the energy requirements. It did not.

And finally, we have some robust Little Rock city director races. Here’s the detail: twice I have sent emails and missives to the board and received almost no response. Four of the directors have the same email address: board@littlerock.gov. My ward director, Kathy Webb, is always responsive, but one time did not get the email even after doing a search for it. Is there a technical problem? In a city the size of Little Rock, are our directors flooded with emails from worldwide about everything? I think in some ways Little Rock and Central Arkansas are at a crossroads. If there is a problem with receiving or responding to letters or email, I hope it gets fixed. 

OK, I know: maybe it’s me.

Places to fish from River Mountain Park: