LITTLE ROCK -- The back-to-back appearances in Arkansas by two of the biggest names in the 2016 presidential race -- Hillary Rodham Clinton and Donald Trump -- illustrated how much the state's politics have shifted in recent years. But they were also a reminder of how, in many ways, how little the state has changed.
Republicans showed how comfortable they are in their newfound status as Arkansas' majority party by inviting Trump, the real estate mogul who has escalated his rhetoric since launching his presidential bid. Democrats, meanwhile, showed they're not ready to give up on the Clinton name as they try to rebuild the party from overwhelming losses in the November election.
What seemed at first as a surprising pick for the state GOP's annual Reagan-Rockefeller dinner appeared to be a stroke of good timing, as Trump addressed the fundraiser following a surge in polls after controversial comments on immigration. The event came the day before Trump faced widespread criticism from the Republican presidential field for questioning the heroism of 2008 nominee and former prisoner of war Sen. John McCain.
Trump's 40-minute riff -- which included references to his book, reality show and multiple potshots at Clinton, Republican rival Jeb Bush and the White House --before a crowd of more than 1,000 people in Hot Springs showed he had no plans to back off his rhetoric.
"I will create jobs like you've never seen," Trump told reporters before his speech. "I will be the greatest job-producing president that God ever created."
The state's top Republicans had already been distancing themselves from Trump, who since starting his campaign has been criticized and lost business partnerships with companies such as Macy's and Univision for calling immigrants arriving illegally from Mexico "criminals" and "rapists." Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he disagreed with those comments days before the speech, but still welcomed Trump to the state and said he hoped Trump's appearance would be the first of many by candidates stumping in Arkansas.
Trump, however, denied that his comments were hurting the party's efforts to win Hispanic voters.
"I've been saying from day one I will win the Hispanics because I'm taking jobs back from China, I'm taking jobs back from everywhere and we're going to create jobs," Trump said. "We're going to make our country great again, we're going to create jobs and the Hispanics love that."
Trump's Arkansas speech was a distant memory by the following morning, when he took aim at McCain's war record at an Iowa forum, saying the 2008 GOP nominee and former prisoner of war "is a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured."
Trump's comments, quickly condemned by other GOP figures, offered an opening for Clinton to criticize the Republican presidential field as she visited Arkansas the night after Trump. Speaking at the state Democratic Party's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, Clinton took a jab at Trump's comments, calling him "a candidate whose hair gets more attention than mine."
"There's nothing funny about the hate he is spewing at immigrants and their families and now the insults he's directed at a genuine war hero, Sen. John McCain," Clinton said at the fundraiser. "It's shameful and so is the fact that it took so long for most of his fellow Republican candidates to start standing up to him."
Though Trump dominated the headlines over the weekend, Clinton's speech offered a bit of nostalgia for Democrats. Clinton, who served 12 years as the state's first lady, peppered her speech with references to her time in Arkansas and pointed to voters' support last year for raising the minimum wage as a hopeful sign that they still support Democratic priorities.
"Arkansas voters know paychecks need to grow, they know the economy is still stacked for those at the top," she told more than 2,000 people gathered for her speech. "We just have to offer a plan for more growth and more fairness they can believe in and vote for."
With the state firmly in Republican control, pep talks like that from Clinton may be a rare occurrence for Democrats as the former secretary of state focuses on more-competitive territory instead of her adopted home turf. Trump's visit, however, could be the first of many from Republican hopefuls eager to stake their claim on the newly red state.
Andrew DeMillo has covered Arkansas government and politics for The Associated Press since 2005.
Editorial on 07/28/2015