The Arkansas Gubernatorial race is already shaping up to be one of the best contests across the nation in 2006 as a number of stellar candidates line up to do battle. The Hill's Betsy Rothstein pens an interesting article on one such candidate.

Undersecretary of Homeland Security Asa Hutchinson plans to resign and run for governor of Arkansas in 2006 after being passed over by President Bush for secretary of the Department of Homeland Security last week, The Hill has learned.

Because of term limits, Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) is not eligible to run for office again. Republican Lt. Gov. Win Rockefeller, son of the late Winthrop Rockefeller, who served as governor from 1967 to 1971, and the grandson of the late John D. Rockefeller Jr., also is expected to announce his candidacy.

Attorney General Mike Beebe and Rep. Mike Ross have been named as potential Democratic gubernatorial candidates.

The one looming name that Rothstein leaves out: General Wesley Clark. Clark has a strong national following, a proven record of big fundraising and a relatively high name recognition in the state and the country. Should he choose to run for the Democratic nomination, I would assume he would be the presumptive favorite, though a win is by no means a shoo-in. If he indeed decides not to make another run for the Presidency in 2008, look for him to run in Arkansas in 2006.