Arkansas Politician Dies

Tom McRae, great-grandson of a former governor, aide to another and himself a candidate for the state`s highest office himself in 1990, has died at the age of 65. McRae died today at his home in Arkadelphia. McRae ran second to then-Governor Bill Clinton in the Democratic Party primary in 1990, when Clinton was seeking his fifth term. McRae also ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 1993, after Clinton had taken office as president, and then-Lieutenant Governor Jim Guy Tucker took over as governor. McRae had suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or A-L-S, also known as Lou Gehrig`s disease after the baseball player who died from A-L-S. McRae was a great-grandson of Thomas C- McRae, who served as governor from 1921 until 1925. He was a top aide to Governor Dale Bumpers during Bumpers` first term as governor, from 1971 to 1973. McRae later served as president of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, established by the man beaten by Bumpers in the 1970 general election. Funeral arrangements are incomplete. McRae later moved to Mississippi to head up a community development group called Local Initiative Support Corporation. The group worked to improve the lot of people living in the impoverished Mississippi River Delta region. McRae and his wife returned to Arkansas last year, to live at Arkadelphia. Posted by Mike Hellgren