On the last day of the fiscal session, the House and Senate today honored term-limited members who likely served in their last legislative session in the chamber.

“You are just wonderful and it’s been a great privilege to be with you,” said Sen. Bobby Glover, D-Carlisle, one of 11 senators prevented by term limits from seeking re-election this year.

An emotional Sen. President Pro Tem Bob Johnson, D-Bigelow, said he really understood the old saying, “parting with sweet sorrow.”

“The sorrow is you’re leaving what you love and you’ve got to leave people you love, and that means you guys,” he said.

Johnson, who served in the House and was House Speaker before being elected to the Senate, also said that any “heated battles … only made us better.”

Along with Johnson and Glover, the other term-limited senators are Terry Smith, D-Hot Springs; Denny Altes, R-Fort Smith; Shane Broadway, D-Bryant; Steve Bryles, D-Blytheville; Steve Faris, D-Malvern; Barbara Horn, D-Foreman; Paul Miller, D-Melbourne; Tracy Steele, D-North Little Rick; and Hank Wilkins, D-Pine Bluff.

In the House, Rep. David “Bubba” Powers, D-Hope, gave a personal farewell to each term-limited member, sometimes jokingly.

“Frank, I just enjoy you,” Powers said to Rep. Frank Glidewell, R-Fort Smith. “I enjoy your wife more, but you’re kind of a package.”

Addressing Rep. Steve Harrelson, D-Texarkana, who maintained an active blog while serving as House Majority Leader and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Powers complimented his multi-tasking ability and said, “I wish I’d known you before Ritalin.”

One state senator found humor in the budget squabbles of Arkansas’ first ever fiscal session.

Term-limited state Sen. Terry Smith of Hot Springs took a jovial jab at Gov. Mike Beebe in a poem he read to Senate colleagues today on what likely was the final day of the three-week session.

Patterned after “The Night Before Christmas,” Smith’s poem recalled when Beebe was in the state Senate in 1997 and supported taking away the governor’s authority to distribute all General Improvement Fund money.

“That is until now, the historic fiscal session, when Beebe the king tried to corner the action,” Smith’ poem read. “He says he’ll give presents to good girls and boys but in order to do so, he needs all the toys.”

The senator was referring to Beebe’s recommendation to use $9 million of surplus money set aside to fund projects in legislators’ districts to plug holes in the state budget through the rest of the fiscal year.

“So shovel your coal, throw your luggage on board and tell folks back home that their ox was gored,” Smith read. “It was sacrificed for Beebe — the best gov in the nation and forget local projects, that train’s left the station.”

Beebe later visited the Senate floor and asked Smith for a signed copy of the poem.

“That was clever, and cute,” Beebe told reporters later, although he did not withdraw his threat to veto the Legislature’s use of money from other state funds to cover some of the state needs Beebe wants to pay for out of lawmakers’ local projects fund.

Longtime state House Parliamentarian Tim Massanelli remains in a Little Rock hospital today undergoing treatment for respiratory problems.

House spokeswoman Amanda Manatt says Massanelli has been at St. Vincent’s Infirmary Medical Center since falling ill Friday night. A hospital spokeswoman says Massanelli is in guarded condition today.

Manatt says people who have spoken to the parliamentarian report he is in good spirits.

Massanelli, a Pine Bluff resident, has served as House parliamentarian for more than 30 years.

University of Oklahoma President David Boren, former governor and U.S. senator for the Sooner State, signs a copy of his book “A Letter to America” for state Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville, at the Arkansas Capitol today. Boren’s visit was arranged by state Sen. Randy Laverty, D-Jasper, and included a talk by Boren and introductions by Gov. Mike Beebe and former Gov. David Pryor. (Photo by John Lyon/Arkansas News Bureau)

The daughter of former Arkansas governor and president candidate Mike Huckabee has signed on to run Republican 3rd District Congressman John Boozman’s campaign for the U.S. Senate.

Sarah Huckabee has been named Boozman’s campaign manager after serving as executive director of her father’s political action committee, HuckPAC. She also was national political director for her father’s 2008 presidential campaign.

Also today, Boozman Patrick Creamer as his campaign’s communications director. From 2001-2006, Creamer was press secretary and communications director of Boozman’s congressional office.

Democratic state Rep. David Cook of Williford has scheduled a Wednesday news conference to throw his hat into the ring for the 1st District congressional seat.

The retired school administrator and term-limited legislator will announce his plans at noon on the Capitol steps.

Cook will join a growing list of candidates who have announced for the seat now held by retiring Democratic U.S. Rep. Marion Berry of Gillett.

The field so far includes Republican Scott Crawford of Jonesboro, who operates a radio station; Democrat Chad Causey of Jonesboro, Berry’s former chief of staff, and former state Sen. Tim Wooldridge of Paragould, also a Democrat.

Republican Princella Smith, a protege of former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, has formed an exploratory committee, as has Democratic state Sen. Steve Bryles of Blytheville.

Kenton Adler of the Green Party also has announced for the seat.

Two potential Democratic challengers to U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s re-election bid are playing it close to the vest as the March political filing period approaches.

A campaign spokesman for Lt. Gov. Bill Halter says today nothing has changed as Halter eyes a political shift.

“The lieutenant governor continues to focus on his re-election while also considering the available options to best serve Arkansans,” says Halter campaign pitchman Bud Jackson.

Meanwhile, state Senate President Pro Tem Bob Johnson, who previously made noises about a possible U.S. Senate run, says today he is focusing on the current legislative fiscal session and intends to “lay low” for now.

“We’re talking about two subject matters: budget and lottery,” Johnson says.

The one-week filing period for political office starts March 1. The fiscal session is scheduled to recess March 2 and adjourn March 9.

State Sen. Randy Laverty, D-Jasper, is so impressed with the book “A Letter to America,” by David Boren, that he, along with several others, has purchased one for every member of the Legislature.

The lawmaker has also arranged for Boren, president of the University of Oklahoma, to fly to Arkansas on Feb. 16 and to speak to lawmakers at the state Capitol and sign books.

Before being named president of OU, Boren was governor of Oklahoma and a U.S. senator.

Assisting Laverty in purchasing the books and covering Boren’s transportation costs are Joe Bell, AT&T, Mullineaux and Associates, Phillips Managment, D.B. Hawkins Consulting and Paul Berry.

Newt Gingrich protege Princella Smith has formed an exploratory committee to look at a possible Republican race for the 1st District seat being vacated by Democratic incumbent Rep. Marion Berry.

Smith was raised in Wynne and is a graduate of Ouachita Baptist University.

In addition former U.S. House Speaker Gingrich, Smith was communications director for Republican Louisiana Congressman Joseph Cao, the late Arkansas Lt. Gov. Win Rockefeller, former Gov. and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele’s U.S. Senate campaign, and U.S. Congressman John Boozman, R-Rogers.

A political advocate and activist, Smith was a featured speaker at the 2004 Republican  National Convention.

Chad Causey, Berry’s former chief of staff, also is considering running for the seat, as is former state Sen. Tim Wooldridge, a Democrat from Paragould.

Amanda Manatt, director of the state House Communications Office, advises that House proceedings during the upcoming legislative session will be broadcast live on the following channels:

• Little Rock, North Little Rock, Jacksonville, Sherwood and Bryant: Comcast Channel 18, and KETS, Channel 202
• Conway: Conway Corp., Channel 115
• Berryville, Eureka Springs, Green Forest, Fort Smith, Cedarville, Greenwood, Mountainburg, Van Buren, Harrison, Valley Springs, Bella Vista, Bentonville, Farmington, Fayetteville, Rogers, Springdale, Colcord, Decatur, Gentry, Siloam Springs: Cox Communications, KAFT, Channel 702
• Brinkley: East Arkansas Video, KETS, Channel 152
• Camden: Cam-Tel Cable, KETG, Channel 251
• Forrest City, Marianna, Wynne, Haynes, Vanndale: East Arkansas Video, KETJ, Channel 251
• Pine Bluff: Pine Bluff Cable, KETS, Channel 252
• Hot Springs: Resort TV Cable, KETG, Channel 252
• Bald Knob, Judsonia, Kensett, Searcy: White County Video, KETS, 251
• Hope, Prescott: Hope Community TV, KETG, Channel 252

AETN will provide the gavel-to-gavel coverage through its new AETN-2 channel. AETN has been providing live broadcasts from the House floor to Comcast Cable in Pulaski County on Channel 18 for more than a decade.

Live streaming video will be available on the House’s Web site starting with the opening of the session at noon Monday, Manattt says. Archived sessions also will be available on the site.