Cotton plays coy on possible Senate run

Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) is playing coy on whether he'll run against Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.).

Cotton, a fast-rising GOP star and Tea Party favorite, spoke on a panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday morning. He was joined by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), another possible Senate candidate, and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas). Afterward, The Hill asked if the panel had two potential Senate candidates on it.

"Louie's running for Senate?" he asked, eyebrows raised in mock surprise before turning away to take a photo with some young admirers.

Cotton then told The Hill as he walked away that he had to leave, but to reach out to his spokeswoman "so she can give you a 'no comment.' "

Some Republicans believe the freshman congressman, Harvard graduate and Army veteran is their best chance at taking down Pryor. Cotton easily won his 2012 race and is a favorite of a number of Washington-based conservative groups. But Cotton has made no signals about whether or not he'll run for the Senate — or even said whether he's considering it.

The deep-pocketed, fiscally conservative Club for Growth and Tea Party-affiliated FreedomWorks both backed him in his 2012 primary and are already spending against Pryor, making him their first target of the 2014 election cycle.

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