Blanche Lincoln has said on the radio that the reason she is behind in the polls

[LiberalArkie]

is the primary advertising was so rough. I say she is behind in polls because she lost her liberal supporters. I will be holding my nose when I vote for her, but a lot of people just are not going to vote at all. She is just too conservative for a lot of Democrats, and conservative people will always vote for real conservative(R) and not a conservative(D).

[mmonk]

1. Blaming liberals is standard operating procedure.

[hobbit709]

2. Harry Truman said it.

She's behind because she can't outconservative the real conservative withot losing what base she has left and she won't take a real Democrat stand to give the voters a REAL choice.

[napi21]

3. I would agree she's behind becaue she's too Pubbie, BUT WHY wasn't Halter

the nomiee then? I have a feeling that there just aren't that many real Dems in La.

[Bluzmann57]

5. Maybe not

And there may not be too many real Dems in Arkansas either. That is where Lincoln lives.

[still_one]

6. what does that have to do with Arkansas? Though I don't believe there are that many progressives in

Arkansas either

[mmonk]

7. Because there are a lot of people out there in both parties

that don't know the difference. In other words, they think there is more difference between a conservadem and republican on the issues than there really is, so those particular people vote brand name and familiarity. The informed will be less enthusiastic on the Democratic side.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

8. Halter was gaining till they closed polling places , but Clinton & Obama gave their support to her.

and let's not forget one of Halter's counties wasn't even counted... you now, the one that would have gave it to him.

Arkansas' Halter-Lincoln Runoff: Voter Irregularities Brewing

A voting drama looms in Arkansas' Democratic senate race between incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Lt. Gov. Bill Halter.
The battleground? Garland County, a populous county that sits 55 miles from Little Rock.
It was the most heavily populated county that Halter won in the May 18 primary. On that day, the county had 41 polling places open, but for Tuesday's runoff, there will only open two in order to save money.
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/06/08/arkansas-halter-lincoln-runoff-voter-irregularities-brewing/

After this stunt Blanche Lincoln pulled, she showed her true colour... she left her Bluedog cape at the door that night.


And don't forget, Clinton & Obama gave their support to her.

[LiberalArkie]

9. And they did not let the voters know that they had closed the polling places

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

32. Do they ever?

[Hawkeye-X]

25. Hot Springs, Halter's stronghold, had only 2 out of 73 poll centers open

that day when there was a massive turnout, and the guy who ran the election district, a Lincoln supporter, screwed Halter big time..

[deaniac21]

33. The math ain't there...

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Lt. Gov. Bill Halter won Garland County in the primary election by 474 votes. The runoff winner, incumbent Blanche Lincoln, bested Halter by 46 votes in the county in the runoff.

The county reported that 4,872 fewer votes were cast there in the runoff than in the primary. Lincoln won the statewide runoff vote by more than 10,000 votes, so the decline in Garland County’s voter participation was not enough to affect the outcome of the election.

Hooten says he will work with lawmakers during next year’s legislative session to more clearly define procedures for closing polling sites between elections.

[Kalyke]

26. There are progressives teeming all throughout Louisiana...

and Arkansas (where Lincoln is running) and Tennessee and Georgia and Alabama.

The problem is that they don't know it.

They are only given heaping servings of faux right-wing "populism" and are never exposed to true liberal populism. If they were, the only Republicans who would get elected in the South would be in very small rural and wealthy districts where anti-choice politics is more important that pocketbooks.

[countrydad58]

38. Because They restricted Voting Machines.

During the runoff in heavy Halter areas. Plus endoresement by the Dem. political machine including Obama,who should of been neutral,like he is in RI. Dov. race.

[Teaser]

4. Her liberal supporters would not

have been of sufficient number to get her elected,

[socialist_n_TN]

17. But what you're not considering is that Halter..........

IS a Blue Dog, just not as bad as Lincoln. He would have been conservative enough to hold on to the "triangulators", but liberal enough to bring out the AR libs, ESPECIALLY against Boozman.

He was just the better candidate. Yet Obama and Clinton supported Lincoln and Clinton campaigned HARD for her. I think that the topper though was the election shennigans that closed all those polling place in Halter's big county.

It gets to the point that you won't vote for somebody when they not only DO NOT represent your views, but also ACTIVELY pull shady shit to get elected, no matter who the opponent is. ESPECIALLY when it's going to be an uphill battle anyway. IOW, the "lesser of two evils" argument loses appeal when BOTH are pretty darn evil.

[Hestia]

10. I went ahead and voted for her and straight Dem ticket - it's better than

the alternative which is Boozman. No way would I have voted for her, nor the Greens who are getting their financial support from the Repubs. It was vote for her or not vote, and no way am I not doing that. Hi LiberalArkie - Pine Bluff here.:hi:

[LiberalArkie]

20. I wish the Dems in Garland county let Halter people Vote, But you know they are smarter

than us peons, I guess... I think Halter would have cleaned house... I will be interested in how the Greens fair this election. I will bet a lot of D people will either not vote for Senator or vote for a Green. Out close to Perryville, here..

[Stinky The Clown]

11. You'll know she's serious when she goes after Teh Gays

[ThomWV]

12. Blanche Lincoln can go fuck herself.

[Tatiana]

13. I still believe Halter would have been the stronger candidate in the general election.

He offered the most positive change over the Republican opponent.

What will Arkansas voters get with Lincoln? More of the same, which frees them to vote for the real conservative (R).

[socialist_n_TN]

16. Oh yeah. All the polls showed that Halter was the...........

better general election candidate. He was behind, but was not as FAR behind as Lincoln was. Halter would have been considered by most on here as a Blue Dog, but he WAS less of a Blue Dog than Lincoln.

[Arkana]

30. I don't think he'd have won, but he'd have given Boozman a race.

Lincoln didn't even do that.

[Coyote_Bandit]

14. Funny Thing

The Dems I know in Arkansas are pissed off that they will most likely find themselves represented by John Boozman. They blame the frickin carpetbaggers of both the Dem and Puke variety who funded months of seemingly unending tv ads imploring Arkansans to call Senator Lincoln regarding healthcare reform. That started before the primary ads funded by Dollar Bill and his supporters.

Blanche is far from an ideal candidate. I get that. But if she goes down in defeat then Dems share responsibility for that IMHO. Before the primaries and before the healthcare reform debate Blanche had a job approval rating of over 50%.

She's far better than John Boozman. I suspect the Dems that have helped take her out either don't get that (i.e., want to underemine any candidate they deem too conservative regardless of party affiliation) or do not have a direct stake in who wins the election and represents them (i.e., they don't live in the state of Arkansas).

[krispos42]

15. Given a chance to do something historic and progressive, she dug in

She resisted and fought hard to keep the country from moving in any direction at all.

:shrug:

[OHdem10]

18. The year has come for Centists to reap what they sow. Long ago

Harry Truman told us. Give the people a choice between
a real Republican and a fake Republican, they will choose
the real thing every time.

More and more people are looking for people with authenticity.
Authenticity means you believe in something and you are willing
to stand and fight for it even when dirt is being thrown in your
face. Putting your finger to wind to determine which way the
wind is blowing on an issue is viewed as having no core of moral
principles.

Until the Democrats understand the people will vote for you
even if on some issues they disagree, they will often lose.
Look to wishy washy. There is a reason "wimps" can stick.

[meow mix]

19. blue dogs hurt the party, not helping

they claim they have to "act republican" to win and are a poison within.

[SOS]

21. No card check

No public option
No estate tax

No Lincoln

Bye!

:hi:

[kctim]

22. IF conservative people

will ALWAYS vote for a real conservative(R) and not a conservative(D), then why has she been in office since 1998? And IF she is behind because she lost her liberal supporters, then why wasn't a liberal chosen to replace her?

Answer: Because while she may be too conservative for a lot of Democrats, she was not conservative enough for a lot more Democrats.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

23. In what fashion was she "not conservative enough for a lot more Democrats"?

I'm curious.

[kctim]

28. On any issue

where she voted for larger government or more government involvement in our personal lives. I am in Missouri and I know many conservative type Democrats. I guarantee you that Ike Skelton is not in such a close race because he did NOT bring in more government. The same may be true for Lincoln.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

31. "larger government or more government involvement in our personal lives"

Such as?

[kctim]

34. Such as

ANY issue where more government or more government money is tauted as the answer. There's a reason conservative Dems will vote for a moderate Republican over a liberal/progressive candidate.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

35. That isn't an answer. Specifics, please. -nt

[kctim]

37. Fishing eh?

The 2nd Amendment and an attempt at HCR pushed many conservative Dems away in 96. It also drove many conservative type Dems who do not usually vote, to the polls.
We were smart enough to leave the 2nd Amendment alone this time, but HCR and the energy policy, what Republicans call 'cap and trade,' are two very big issues with conservative Dems this cycle.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

41. Ah, I get it.

Those people want to pollute willy-nilly and leave healthcare to the wonders of the Invisible Hand. And, surely, lots of other right-wing things. And the likes of Blanche Lincoln are just too lefty for their tastes.

Some Democrats.

[kctim]

42. It doesn't matter if they qualify as Dems to you

they voted for a Democrat and that contributes to the Democratic Party having a majority. Maybe not a mindless, blind and follow in lockstep majority some prefer, but a majority none the less.

[countrydad58]

40. Skelton

Sure loves Big Govt. Military spending though!

[Hawkeye-X]

24. No, Blanche, it's because you aren't wanted.

I think Arkansas would have been far better off with Bill Halter instead of Lincoln.

[meow mix]

27. what a waste of money, on a slime-bag republican in disguise.

this is why im unable to contribute now.

[Arkana]

29. Maybe if you were an actual Democrat, Blanche, actual Democrats

would give a shit about turning out to vote for you!

[yurbud]

36. Blue Dogs and DLCers will always bash real Democrats instead of Republicans

[B Calm]

39. Well if she was really a democrat the primary wouldn't have been so rough!