A remarkable thing is that an aloof, bookish fellow like Tom Cotton is running for the U.S. Senate anywhere, much less in darkest Arkansas.It's a place Cotton left behind ASAP -- first for Harvard, then ultimately for Washington right-wing "think tanks" -- a place of small cities, country towns, and friendly, talkative people given to down-home retail politics. Although Cotton's campaign skills have reportedly improved, he's often struck observers as an outsider at his own campaign events -- standing on the sidelines, making scant eye contact and smiling infrequently. By ordinary Arkansas standards, Cotton would appear to have committed several fatal political blunders: He questioned the religious faith of his Democratic opponent, Sen. Mark Pryor, in a broadcast interview.