Politico: “In another era, Asa Hutchinson — whose resume includes stints as a Congressman and U.S. attorney, leading roles at the DEA and Homeland Security, and two terms as a popular red-state governor — would have been a shoo-in for the first debate of a Republican primary, if not an instant contender for the nomination. You might call him the apotheosis of what comedian Bill Maher has dubbed “Republican Classic”: Pro-life, pro-gun, pro-free trade; anti-debt, anti-Putin, anti-coup. But Hutchinson has struggled amid the shifting sands of his party. While policy-wise, he remains mostly in lockstep — as governor, he signed one of the country’s strictest abortion bans — he lacks the fire-breathing, troll-the-libs ethos that animates much of the modern GOP, and has displayed an occasional bipartisan streak (while leading the National Governors Association, he backed President Biden’s infrastructure bill).
More crucially, he broke with Trump after the 2020 election and has emerged as one of the former president’s leading Republican critics. The net result: With less than two weeks until the Aug. 23 parley in Milwaukee, Hutchinson has yet to secure his spot on the debate stage. He’s cleared two of the Republican National Committee’s thresholds — garnering 1 percent in three polls and 200 donors in 20 states — but as of Thursday has just 22,000 of the required 40,000 donors, according to his campaign. Hutchinson has also balked at the RNC’s mandatory loyalty pledge. “I’m not going to vote for [Trump] if he’s a convicted felon,” Hutchinson told POLITICO reporters in June.”