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Cohee had resigned a $27,000 per year position as deputy director of the Arkansas Housing Development Agency in the capital cty of [[Little Rock]] to serve as the full-time unpaid chairman during the election campaign. After the election, Governor White and [[U.S. Representative]]s Edwin R. Bethune, then of Arkansas's 2nd congressional district and [[John Paul Hammerschmidt]] of the 3rd congressional district announced that they preferred Morris S. "Buzz" Arnold, then a law professor at the [[University of Arkansas]] campus in Little Rock, as the new state chairman, rather than the more [[conservative]] Cohee. The exact vote of the 119 delegates to the state convention held in Little Rock was not released. Cohee later said that he would not have sought a full term as chairman had he known in advance of the opposition from White, Bethune, and Hammerschmidt, the party's then "Big Three".

Cohee had resigned a $27,000 per year position as deputy director of the Arkansas Housing Development Agency in the capital cty of [[Little Rock]] to serve as the full-time unpaid chairman during the election campaign. After the election, Governor White and [[U.S. Representative]]s Edwin R. Bethune, then of Arkansas's 2nd congressional district and [[John Paul Hammerschmidt]] of the 3rd congressional district announced that they preferred Morris S. "Buzz" Arnold, then a law professor at the [[University of Arkansas]] campus in Little Rock, as the new state chairman, rather than the more [[conservative]] Cohee. The exact vote of the 119 delegates to the state convention held in Little Rock was not released. Cohee later said that he would not have sought a full term as chairman had he known in advance of the opposition from White, Bethune, and Hammerschmidt, the party's then "Big Three".

The nomination of Arnold was made by state Representative Carolyn Joan Pollan of [[Fort Smith, Arkansas|Fort Smith]], a backer of the late Governor [[Winthrop Rockefeller]], who called Arnold "a bringer-together, a unifier" who would offer "stroan eadership." In accepting the chairmanship, Arnold said he would "call Bill Clinton out if he fails to keep his promises." A native of [[Texarkana, Texas|Texarkana]], [[Texas]]. Arnold said that he would keep his law professorship at the William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and serve as a part-time chairman. He vowed to seek [[African-American]] support but said the task would be difficult because of Clinton's black voter base.<ref>''Arkansas Gazette'', November 14, 1982, December 5, 1982; ''Arkansas Democrat'', December 5, 1982.</ref>Arnold resigned as chairman after only a year in the position. He was subsequently appointed by President [[George Herbert Walker Bush]] as a judge of the United States Court of Appeal for the Eighth Circuit.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=7485|title=Morris Sheppard "Buzz" Arnold|publisher=''Encyclopedia of Arkansas''|accessdate=May 26, 2014}}</ref>   ​

The nomination of Arnold was made by state Representative Carolyn Joan Pollan of [[Fort Smith, Arkansas|Fort Smith]], a backer of the late Governor [[Winthrop Rockefeller]], who called Arnold "a bringer-together, a unifier" who would offer "stroan eadership." In accepting the chairmanship, Arnold said he would "call Bill Clinton out if he fails to keep his promises." A native of [[Texarkana, Texas|Texarkana]], [[Texas]]. Arnold said that he would keep his law professorship at the William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and serve as a part-time chairman. He vowed to seek [[African-American]] support but said the task would be difficult because of Clinton's black voter base.<ref>''Arkansas Gazette'', November 14, 1982, December 5, 1982; ''Arkansas Democrat'', December 5, 1982.</ref>Arnold resigned as chairman after only a year in the position. He was subsequently appointed by President [[George Herbert Walker Bush]] as a judge of the United States Court of Appeal for the Eighth Circuit.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=7485|title=Morris Sheppard "Buzz" Arnold|publisher=''Encyclopedia of Arkansas''|accessdate=May 26, 2014}}</ref>

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As Cohee left the chairmanship without fanfare, the party named William Thomas "Tom" Kelly, Jr. (1942-2011) of Little Rock as its treasurer. Kelly had been an unsuccessful [[Moderate Republican]] nominee for the [[U.S. Senate]] in 1978 against the Democrat David Hampton Pryor. In that race, Kelly had lost all seventy-five counties.<ref>Arkansas Secretary of State, Election results, November 7, 1978.</ref> His father, William "Bill" Kelly, Sr., would later become another in a string of short-term Arkansas state party chairmen during a time when the GOP continued to lose most elections. He stepped down in favor of another party regular, Len Everette Blaylock, Sr. (1918-2012), the 1972 [[governor|gubernatorial]] nominee from Perry County, who had been badly defeated by [[Dale Bumpers]].​

As Cohee left the chairmanship without fanfare, the party named William Thomas "Tom" Kelly, Jr. (1942-2011) of Little Rock as its treasurer. Kelly had been an unsuccessful [[Moderate Republican]] nominee for the [[U.S. Senate]] in 1978 against the Democrat David Hampton Pryor. In that race, Kelly had lost all seventy-five counties.<ref>Arkansas Secretary of State, Election results, November 7, 1978.</ref> His father, William "Bill" Kelly, Sr., would later become another in a string of short-term Arkansas state party chairmen during a time when the GOP continued to lose most elections. He stepped down in favor of another party regular, Len Everette Blaylock, Sr. (1918-2012), the 1972 [[governor|gubernatorial]] nominee from Perry County, who had been badly defeated by [[Dale Bumpers]].​