Political Advertisements

Amongst many other items, the James Guy Tucker, Jr. Papers has over thirty-six videos featuring political advertisements for Arkansas elections during the early 1990s. The majority of these ads feature Tucker and his opponents campaigning for Arkansas lieutenant governor and governor positions. Over the course of these political races, campaign strategies change and themes emerge.

Trends in Political Advertising

The Living Room Candidate (livingroomcandidate.org), a website for the study of presidential campaign commercials and created by the Museum of the Moving Image, defines seven types of political commercials: Backfire, Biographical, Children, Commander in Chief, Documentary, Fear, and Real People. Researchers can find many of these types in the political advertisements in the James Guy Tucker, Jr. Papers. Sorting these videos according to political race helps identify themes and changes in campaign strategies.

In the earliest elections, Tucker’s biographic ads were positive and focused on his policies. In later elections, when he was better known and campaigns were more competitive, Tucker and his competitors turned to producing negative political ads.

Early Office

In 1970, just two years after graduating with his law degree from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, and going to work as an associate attorney with a Little Rock law firm, Tucker ran for and was elected prosecuting attorney for the Sixth Judicial District.

Two years later Tucker ran for attorney general of Arkansas, the state’s top law enforcement officer. This race produced the first of the political ads in the Tucker Papers. Radio advertisements for Tucker’s race detail his background, reasons for wanting the position, and goals if elected to the office. The ads have a positive, biographic tone.

In one ad Tucker states, “I believe the attorney general should be the chief lawyer for the public interest. High ethical standards are especially important to me and I want to bring that feeling of responsibility to every corner of the state.”

Tucker won this election and held this seat from 1973 until 1977, when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1978, Tucker ran for Senate, but lost to David Pryor. The collection does not contain any ads representing this campaign for Representative or Senate.

In 1982, Tucker planned a political comeback running for Arkansas Governor and producing several radio ads. These ads noted that Arkansas needed a new direction, away from previous governor Bill Clinton and seated incumbent Frank White. One such ad notes:

"Over the past four years, unemployment, violent crime, and high utility rates have all become a sad reality in Arkansas. Yet both Clinton and White have told us we can’t do anything about it. We need a governor who will show us what we can do on jobs, on fair utility rates, and on violent crime. It will take hard work and the courage to take that first step, but with your vote for Jim Guy Tucker, we can take that first step for Arkansas, now."

Despite Tucker’s campaign, Clinton was re-elected.

Tucker’s Brief Run for Governor in 1990

After eight years out of office after his first defeat by Clinton, Tucker attempted to re-enter political life in Arkansas. The video collection holds four ads seeking to elect Jim Guy Tucker as Arkansas Governor in the 1990s primary race. Three are positive, and one is negative. This negative ad does not mention other candidates by name but it does state the following:

"When you have a governor who has been there so long that he has appointed every member of the commissions that control our utility rates, the commissions that control our penitentiaries, the commissions that oversee our education system, the commissions that control our roads and highways—when you’ve done that, the governor’s really been there too long." The screen reads "Eight Is Enough" and Tucker continues speaking, "I believe eight is enough. I believe that ten is certainly enough, and I think having the same governor for 14 years is clearly too much."

The ad closes with the campaign slogan: “There is a better way. Elect Jim Guy Tucker Governor.”

Others share Tucker’s feelings about Clinton’s tenure. Another candidate for governor, Tom McRae, states, “Bill Clinton may not be able to imagine Arkansas without him as governor, but I certainly can. It’s time we have a full-time governor who is a leader in Little Rock, and not Washington. I’m Tom McRae, and it’s time for a change.”

Other videos from this primary race are positive and biographic in nature. Videos for Sheffield Nelson and Bill Clinton highlight political positions and interests. Not long after Tucker announced his candidacy for the gubernatorial primaries of 1990 and created his ads for the governor race, Tucker withdrew—opting instead to run for lieutenant governor.

Tucker’s Race for Lieutenant Governor in 1990

Once Tucker received nomination as the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, many ads were focused against Hampton Roy, the Republican candidate. These ads illustrate a fierce competition, since Bill Clinton, the Democratic candidate for and incumbent governor, had a good chance of being elected President of the United States. One ad produced in support of Tucker for lieutenant governor states “the lieutenant governor holds Arkansas's second highest office" and "is next in line to be governor."

Tucker’s ads state that he is a proven leader and that, “Candidate Roy is an eye doctor who wants to be a politician.”

Roy’s ads state that Tucker didn’t do his job when he held a seat in Congress. Tucker’s ads retort that “Hamp’s Lying” and ask, "Why does Hamp Roy continue to attack Jim Guy Tucker?" This ad continues, "Is it because Roy has no real record of his own to talk about? No government experience, not one day.” The ads from this election are more negative than positive.

Tucker was elected lieutenant governor, and as hoped, inherited the seat of governor when Clinton was elected President.

Arkansas’s Gubernatorial Race of 1994, Featuring a Toilet

Negative advertising, a subject on which a great deal of scholarly study has been made, was also prevalent in the Arkansas Governor’s race of 1994. The major candidates were Republican candidate Sheffield Nelson and the Democratic candidate Jim Guy Tucker. Many of their ads seem humorous in modern times. They aim to be serious, with deep voiced narrators, yet depict bouncing and spinning clip-art.

The video collection contains a couple revised ads that hint that something in their first editions was too extreme. An example of this is the ad entitled “ARKLA,” which illustrates Arkansas being flushed down a toilet—implying that would be the state’s future if Nelson were elected. Yet, for some reason, this ad was edited in “ARKLA: Revised,” which instead features Arkansas spinning down the drain of a sink.

While there were many issues that might have been constructively discussed and highlighted, most of these political ads simple bashed the other candidate. The ads even note the abundance of negativity in this race of 1994. One example of this shows two men acting out the making of a political ad stating "our job is to beat up Jim Guy Tucker and elect Sheffield Nelson."

Be sure to look for all the different types of campaign strategies in the James Guy Tucker, Jr. Papers’ audiovisual collection when it is processed in 2016.