The Arkansas Republican Party has put its finger to the wind. First Asa Hutchinson reversed course yesterday and declared he’d vote for the minimum wage increase. Then, this morning, in the friendly confines of Alice Stewart’s pro-Republican radio show, Senatorial candidate Tom Cotton said he, too, would vote for the minimum wage increase.

Nothing has changed over months of temporizing by Cotton except that the measure has now qualified for the ballot. And polls show the majority of Arkansans favor it. It’s not exactly leadership to join the parade months after people like Mark Pryor and Mike Ross willingly volunteered to lead it.

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Make no mistake: Cotton still opposes a federal minimum wage increase and was specifically critical of President Obama’s proposal to raise the federal minimum to $10 an hour. But on Arkansas:

“I’m going to vote for that initiated act as a citizen.”

He said “as a senator” he’d work for a better economy but not through “higher taxes and regulation.” Except this one time when he doesn’t want to give his Democratic opponent a campaign issue.

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Oh, yeah, Cotton says it’s too bad we can’t be more like South Dakota and North Dakota. Maybe somebody could ship those oil deposits down here.

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