Democratic Nominee in Arkansas's 2nd District Arrested

By Scott Bland  //  August 10, 2012 | 10:51 a.m.

The Democratic nominee in Arkansas's 2nd District, Herb Rule, was arrested Thursday for DWI, according to a report in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

According to a police report, Rule was driving a white Lexus stopped about 10 p.m. after police spotted it drifting into the wrong lane, turning without using a signal and operating below the speed limit.

The report from the Fayetteville Police Department says the vehicle was stopped at 4007 N. Shiloh. There, Rule was "verbally unwilling to cooperate with my instructions," the officer wrote, adding Rule and the vehicle smelled of "intoxicating beverages."

Police say Rule failed a series of field sobriety tests and was then transported to jail, where he "refused to sign any paperwork and refused to submit to a BAC test."

This is not the first time this cycle a Democratic nominee in Arkansas has gotten in the news for the wrong reasons; last month, the 3rd District nominee dropped out after he was found to have embellished his military background. Until last year, Arkansas had two Democratic senators and three Democratic House members in a four-person delegation. The House delegation will almost certainly turn all-Republican after the November elections for the first time since Reconstruction. Yet the Democrats' inability to field somewhat competent challengers, even in districts where they weren't expected to win, is arguably a greater indictment of the party's struggles in Arkansas.

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