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In 1988, for example, Clinton said in a speech: "You know, Bill was lucky because he was born in Arkansas. I'm just an accident that happened to land here, and I am forever grateful." Statements like that one have made some of Arkansas' more naive types cling to the idea that if Clinton is elected in New York, Arkansas will have a "third senator" on Capitol Hill to look out for their interests.

Wrong. A New York senator will focus on the urban and suburban issues at play in the northeast -- not the rural, agricultural issues that dominate Arkansas, say political experts. And to many Arkansans who are watching her campaign in New York, Hillary Clinton suddenly seems a little too "citified" to care anymore about some two-bit Southern state that grows watermelons, raises chickens and built her husband's political career for more than 20 years.

An editorial in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette recently pointed out that "Miss Hillary" had already lost the adopted Southern accent in which she told "60 Minutes" (in a 1992 interview) that she was standing by her man. And in an editorial cartoon, the newspaper warned New Yorkers about the "Hillary Witch Project: Terror in Upstate New York."

A local coffeehouse may have a brew named in her honor, but that'll more than likely be the last thing Hillary Clinton has named after her in Arkansas. No one wants to go on record saying it, but the word you hear is: snob. And, well, a few other choice words.

Jay Barth, a political science professor at Hendrix College in Conway, explains, "There are some out there that may be a little resentful of the first lady's ability to go to a different state when [Arkansans] have paid a cost here in terms of grand jury appearances, legal fees and so forth."

While Little Rock's movers and shakers babble excitedly about the future presidential library that's being built here, Hillary Clinton's name is seldom mentioned in conjunction with this shrine. And that's hardly surprising, since she has attempted to distance herself from the project.

In her Talk magazine interview, Lucinda Franks asked Clinton what would happen to the president if she becomes a senator. Hillary coolly replied, "He has a great many interests, [like] his library."

"Carpetbagger" was originally a term used to describe opportunistic Northerners who came south after the Civil War. These days, around Little Rock, the prevailing opinion is that we're watching our own opportunist leave Arkansas in the dust as she seeks her political fortune up among the Yankees.
salon.com | Sept. 20, 1999

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