When I first sent O’Brien a questionaire back when I started this thing on the blogspot version of the site (he was the FIRST candidate for any office to take questions from Blue Arkansas, I had thought he would end up being one of our first candidates we endorsed.  However, there were a few things that drew the decision out, namely that we worried he might have a tin ear for politics and a fear that he may proove to be less progressive minded than what we thought.  We also wanted to hear some from Mark Wilcox and especially Doris Tate, but both candidates were terrible with new media and ran awful, lazy campaigns.  O’Brien outworked both of them, and nearly won the primary without a runoff.  What’s more, a close examination of his record as Pulaski clerk does reveal that he fought some tough fights and brought needed reform to the office, and we badly need someone to do the same in the Secretary of State’s office.  Pat O’Brien, like LJ Bryant, is a young reformer with vision for an office that badly needs it.  So we’re jumping on board, and giving him our endorsement.

This endorsement can also be viewed on the Blue Arkansas website:http://bluearkansasblog.com/?p=2723