Coming up short.

FIRST TENNESSEE GOV. PHIL Bredesen told The Wall Street Journal that his state was on the "short list" to land a Toyota assembly plant.

That was quickly followed by our own Gov. Mike Huckabee saying that his economic development trip to Taiwan, South Korea and Japan indicates Arkansas is also on the short list for Toyota Motor Corp.'s next assembly plant.

Huckabee says he'll be attending a reception this week with Toyota and Hino Corp. officials, which shows that the state is still in the running for an assembly plant.

Although a Japanese newspaper reported last month that Toyota had chosen to put a new plant in Texas, Huckabee said at the time that no official decision had been made on a new plant.

While Huckabee has remained relatively quiet about the matter, only speaking out after Bredesen went public, the Tennessee governor has been putting on what looks like an organized campaign for the plant.

Tennessee is boosting two sites--one near Chattanooga and the other near Jackson. Our neighbor to the east recently landed the U.S. headquarters of Nissan Motor Corp., which is making the move from Los Angeles to Nashville. Of course, Nissan also has had a plant at Smyrna outside Nashville for some 25 years.

Although not automotive related, International Paper Co. is moving its headquarters to Memphis. There again, Memphis has had a large number of IP workers, well over 3,000. Still, Tennessee must be doing something right.

It's obvious that Tennessee is very competitive. Arkansans have given their approval to economic development efforts to attract large businesses, and it's been clear all along that the state has several sites that could accommodate a super project.

So far, Arkansas has been on the short fist for some time--only to always come up short.

We do wish the governor the best in his trade mission to the Far East and hope it will result in more business for Arkansas.