From the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:

Other filings Friday: Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Ross of Prescott filed for re-election in the 4th District, state House Speaker Robbie Wills of Conway became the fifth Democrat to file for the 2nd Congressional District, and Ben Ponder of Mountain Home became the fifth Democrat to file for the 1st Congressional District.

Ponder, an educator and executive, joins former state Sen. Tim Wooldridge of Paragould, state Rep. David Cook of Williford, Terry G. Green of Mountain Home, and Chad Causey of Jonesboro, former chief of staff for departing Democratic U.S. Rep. Marion Berry of Gillett, in the race for the Democratic nomination in the 1st District.

To see the full text of the article go here: Ponder Files for Congressional Race

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
February 24, 2010
EX-EXEC, ACADEMIC RUNNING FOR HOUSE
4th Democrat seeking Berry's seat
By Charlie Frago

A 34-year-old Mountain Home Democrat announced his bid Tuesday for the
1st Congressional District seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Marion
Berry.

Democrat Ben Ponder told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette after his
announcement that - with a doctorate in communication studies from
Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. - he had plenty of options,
but decided to make a "strategically unstrategic" decision to return
to his home state.

"I achieved a degree of success in the academic world, and there was
some expectation that I would go on to take an Ivy League professor's
job," Ponder said in a phone interview after his announcement in
Mountain Home. But he said he had another passion.

"I want to see my home state flourish ... to see the principles of our
founding generation translated into today's political culture."
Ponder's dissertation at Northwestern examined early American
political discourse. His expertise extends beyond academia, Ponder
said. His experience as a former executive in a pharmacy company owned
by State Sen. Percy Malone, D-Arkadelphia and as a consultant prepared
him to offer new solutions for a health-care overhaul.

In the bitter cold December of 1776, when it seemed the Americans had all but lost the Revolutionary War, Thomas Paine wrote a famous pamphlet called the American Crisis.

You may have heard its memorable opening lines:

“These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”

Ben Ponder, a businessman and educator from Mountain Home, will formally announce his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, February 23, at noon on the front steps of the historic Old College Hall in Mountain Home. Ponder is running as a Democrat for the First Congressional District seat now occupied by Rep. Marion Berry (D-Gillett), who is retiring at the end of this term. Ponder plans to bring a fresh voice of reason, vision, creativity, and action to a Congress now mired in party line standoffs and petty bickering. The primary elections in Arkansas are scheduled for May 18.