Posted on 11/14/2003 12:29:12 PM PST by JohnnyZ
WASHINGTON -- Little Rock businessman Tom Formicola is exploring a bid to challenge Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., in next year's election.
Formicola, 44, a health care executive and former Maumelle alderman, said Thursday he has met with prominent Republicans in Washington to gauge his chances of ousting Lincoln.
"I'm still testing the waters," Formicola said. "I'm in the process of drumming up support from state and national Republicans."
Formicola said he has filed exploratory paperwork with the Secretary of the Senate and would announce his candidacy in early December, if he chooses to run.
Formicola joins former Benton County sheriff Andy Lee and state Sen. Jim Holt of Springdale as Republicans considering a campaign against Lincoln, a first-term senator who so far is running unopposed with $2.4 million in her campaign coffers.
"I think the state of Arkansas needs a Republican representative in the Senate," Formicola said. "I would offer a more conservative voting record on the Senate floor."
Formicola said he hoped that national Republicans would help him raise enough money to mount a credible campaign.
Lincoln said Thursday she would consider any challenger as formidable.
"The landscape will be unpredictable this go-around and I know the Republican National Committee will have a lot of money," she said.
Formicola said he had met with Gunner DeLay, acting chairman of the Republican Party of Arkansas, who encouraged him to run. He also met with former chairman Marty Ryall and other state Republican leaders.
"I think he would be a great candidate," DeLay said. "He has a lot of good business connections. He's very articulate and intelligent. He would do well on the stump."
Formicola met in Washington in late September with Sens. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., and George Allen, R-Va., chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee that funds and advises GOP candidates.
"They gave me a lot of insight into the senatorial process," he said.
Formicola said he inquired about the impact of Senate life on a lawmaker's family. Formicola is married and has three sons between the ages of 10 to 16.
Formicola is a sales and operations manager for the cardiac rhythm management division in the Little Rock office of Medtronic, Inc., a Minneapolis-based medical equipment company. He served in the Maumelle City Council in 2001 and 2002.
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