A smart lawyer from Arkansas, looks at congressional race

Kenneth Tomlison:

Why did Arkansas Democrat Mike Ross suddenly announce last week he is not running for reelection for the Fourth Congressional District seat he has held with ease for six terms?

Many linked his decision to his desire to run for governor in 2014, but insiders also recognize that next fall Ross was about to be confronted with the strongest challenger of his congressional career, in the person of Republican Tom Cotton of Yell County near Dardanelle.

That’s the same place that was made a household name in True Grit, as in “My name is Mattie Ross of near Dardanelle in Yell County.” But the story of Tom Cotton which is about to unfold in his congressional campaign is strictly nonfiction.

A rural Arkansas farm boy, Cotton made his way to Harvard and Harvard Law, where he graduated with distinction, with a stop to study at the Claremont Graduate University in between.

Cotton was walking out of a law school class when he learned terrorists had struck the World Trade Center. A world of legal wealth and prestige lay before him, but inside he sensed he soon would be going to war.

Those who know Cotton well are struck by his systematic demeanor, which leads him to lay plans before acting. He had obligations to fulfill before he could volunteer for Army service. He had committed to clerk for a federal appellate judge. Then he went into private practice to pay off his student loans. An Army friend wrote him from Iraq not to worry. “I’m afraid the war will still be on by the time you can get here.”

It was.

The Army recruiter examined his record and began explaining that Cotton, given his credentials, would qualify for a nice job with the rank of captain in the Judge Advocate General Corps.

Cotton politely interrupted. “I don’t think you understand. I’m here to volunteer for the infantry.”

After Ranger school, he arrived in Iraq a second lieutenant in the 101st Airborne, where he led soldiers in combat in southern Baghdad. Then he spent a year leading an Old Guard platoon burying soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. (“There is no greater responsibility than what we did for those families who never again will see their loved ones,” he says.)

Then he volunteered for a tour in Afghanistan in Taliban-infested Laghman Province just north of the Tora Bora mountains.

In late 2009, as he prepared to leave the Army, there was talk of a draft for the Republican nomination for a U.S. Senate seat from Arkansas. The effort was led by an Arkansas legislator named Michael Lamoureux who became a close friend of Cotton competing against him as they played for rival high school basketball teams. (They have remained close since; Lamoureux boasts that he is the only person who ever blocked the lanky Cotton from achieving a goal.)

The draft was reported in a leading Arkansas political blog, which prompted an online comment from Army sergeant Stephen Anthony: “I have had the great pleasure of working for a year [in Iraq] with Thomas Cotton. He is .  .  . one of the rare officers who actually showed a genuine concern for his Soldiers. .  .  . If he were to devote even an ounce of time and energy in a Senate seat as he did as my Platoon Leader, the Republican Party would be a far better place for it.”

Ever the practical planner, Cotton decided against a rush into the Senate campaign, electing instead to become a management consultant with McKinsey & Company.

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The story goes on to explain how he came to focus on the House race. He would certainly add to the IQ averages in Congress. The district has a diverse population but does lean conservative. I hope Cotton runs and wins. It is not too soon for him to start thinking about a Senate race against Mark Pryor in 2014.