RACE OF THE DAY: Ark.-01

Bill Clinton went home to Arkansas this week to help Democrats keep hold of retiring Rep. Marion Berry’s (D-Ark.) seat.

“I love you; claim your future; don’t give it away to someone who is playing you,” the former president said at a rally with Democrat Chad Causey in Jonesboro on Wednesday.

{mosads}Causey, a former chief of staff for Berry, is running against Republican Rick Crawford and Green Party nominee Ken Adler. His resume hasn’t been an asset.

“Remember, you can’t spell Chad Causey without D.C.,” the announcer says in a recent ad for the National Republican Congressional Committee that’s airing in the district. 

The NRCC has spent around $337,000 in the 1st district, while its Democratic counterpart has spent about $304,000.

Meanwhile, Crawford been helped by his experience as a professional rodeo announcer and former Army bomb-disposal technician.

Democrats have held this seat for over a century, but Berry’s popularity in the district hasn’t rubbed off on Causey and the party is now in danger of losing it.

The Hill’s 2010 Midterm Election Poll found Crawford leading by 12 points, 46 percent to 34.

Seventeen percent of likely voters are undecided.

Causey faces his widest gap among independent voters, who support Crawford 51 percent to 24.

Crawford, who now owns a farm-news network, leads among male and female voters and with voters across all age groups.

This seat has been trending Republican: John McCain won it with 59 percent in 2008. And President Obama gets low marks from voters — 62 percent disapprove of the job he’s doing. Congressional disapproval is even higher — 76 percent think it is doing a bad job.

And 70 percent of voters said the president would be a factor in their 2010 decision. That statistic may have been what prompted Causey to reach out to Clinton — instead of the current president — for help.