Keet campaign, can I take a message?

This blog entry by James Jefferson raises questions about just how serious a candidate Jim Keet actually is. Keet is a Republican running for governor this year.

Jefferson, the news editor for Stephens Media's Arkansas News Bureau, says:

A month into his candidacy, Republican Jim Keet’s campaign is still taking calls at the GOP state headquarters.

The party’s main line is listed on Keet’s news release today...

A call to the number listed under campaign contact Katherine Vasilos’ name on the release was answered by the state Republican Party executive director himself, Chase Duggar.

Duggar says Keet’s campaign is working out of GOP headquarters “until he’s able to get his own office.”

Keet, Rove have trouble with epithet/epitaph confusion

Driving home yesterday afternoon, I tuned in a few minutes of the Dave Elswick show on KARN to see which Republican office seeker he had on as a guest. It was GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Keet, who said something that made me giggle.

Praising the Tea Party movement, Keet said they were mostly great Americans despite the few bad apples who sometimes shouted "epitaphs."

Harking back to the weekend protests by Tea Party members outside the U.S. Capitol, I conjured up a mental image of Congressman John Lewis facing shouts of "Rest in Peace!" and "Here Lies Fred Dorf: Loving Husband and Father!"

Keet was not alone in mixing up the two words. This blogger in Houston noted the confusion, writing that Karl Rove also tried to use the word "epithet" on ABC Sunday morning only to end up saying something that sounded more like "epitat" or maybe even "ipecac."

Here's the clip... you can hear the "epitat" remark at about 2:00 into this video.

Jim Keet says he's "in this to win"

2010 Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Keet says he's no sacrificial lamb.

In this interview I did today with the Little Rock businessman and former state lawmaker, Keet notes that he flew a "Kamikaze mission" when he ran as the GOP nominee against Congressman Ray Thornton in 1990, and he doesn't plan to do so again. That despite the fact that the Democratic incumbent Mike Beebe has a current approval rating north of 80 percent and has several key Republican political operatives donating to his campaign.

Keet tells FM 89 News he'll announce full details of his plan in the next few weeks, but he's advocating a complete revision of the Arkansas tax code. He wants to "throw the tax code out" but Keet says he's NOT endorsing the flat tax idea. Instead, Keet wants to cut capital gains and income taxes to spur additional investment and the creation of new jobs in the state.

Keet says he called Governor Beebe, with whom he once served in the Arkansas Senate, and they've agreed to have a campaign based on a productive discussion of the issues.

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UPDATE: The Republican Party of Arkansas distributed this image by email tonight, identifying it as Keet's "official photo." Earlier today, the image above was the only Keet photo I could find with a Google search.