The only Democratic victory over a Republican incumbent in 2002's U.S. Senate races was accompanied by a level of campaign spending that dwarfed previous Arkansas records. The explanation for the spending frenzy in the contest between Republican Tim Hutchinson and Democrat Mark Pryor lies in the confluence of a set of circumstances inclusive of national, state, and individual-level factors. Nationally, of course, the one-seat margin between Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Senate raised the stakes of any one contest. In Arkansas, the situation was further compounded by an increasingly-competitive partisan environment, a vulnerable incumbent, and a high-profile challenger. The outcome—an eight point margin for the challenger—was primarily a product of the state's peculiar blend of provincialism and personalism in politics, but the multi-million dollar air and ground wars were crucial in activating these factors.