Arkansas Senate Runoff: Obama Disengages From Race As Blanche Lincoln Slips In Polls

[LynneSin]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/07/arkansas-senate-runoff-ob_n_602824.html

Arkansas Senate Runoff: Obama Disengages From Race As Blanche Lincoln Slips In Polls

The White House is still formally supporting Sen. Blanche Lincoln's re-election bid as the Arkansas Democratic primary approaches its runoff vote on Tuesday. But over the past few weeks, as the incumbent senator's prospects for holding onto the seat have became more unsettled, the president and his team have been noticeably silent about the race.

The president's political shop can read both polls and tea leaves. And while the official policy is to back incumbents, there is clear shoulder-shrugging resignation that Lt. Gov. Bill Halter will emerge Tuesday as the party's candidate in the fall.

Aides won't go there on record, or even on background. But they don't correct the assertion that they've stepped back from the race. The evidence is obvious. Save a perfunctory, donate-to-Blanche-email signed on June 2 by Vice President Joseph Biden, the type of formal campaigning that team Obama rolled out prior to the first vote (with radio ads and robocalls) has been completely non-existent.

"I haven't seen or heard of anything," said a source working on the ground in Arkansas. "She's using him in ads, etc., but we haven't seen anything from the White House itself."

__________________________________

Dear Blanche - you sold your soul ages ago. Even Emily's list abandoned you back in 1998 and their only goal is to elect democratic pro-choice women (you dicked us over by supporting Santorum's partial birth abortion).

You deserve to lose this election. You clearly are way out of touch with your voters in Arkansas and moved so far to the right you're in foul territory. My only disappointment is that if you lose your senate job you'll still keep your benefits including healthcare, something that millions of Americans do NOT have the benefit of receiving.

And edit note PS: If Lincoln happens to win I would never EVER think of suggesting voting for third party, not voting or voting republican. But I'm hoping that would NOT be the case!

[Radical Activist]

1. Damn I hope Halter can pull this off.

Arkansas will be better off with a Senator that isn't owned by corporate special interests.

[GodlessBiker]

2. What is with this crap WH policy on supporting incumbents? It's thoughtless and stupid.

[Forkboy]

3. And if she loses we'll hear how this proves Obama really didn't want her to win anyways.

And that it was what he really planned all along.

[Radical Activist]

5. He shouldn't want her to win.

Whatever Obama thinks, his agenda is more likely to pass the Senate if everyone sees the defeat of a conservative obstructionists like Blanche Lincoln.

[Kingofalldems]

4. Why would a union hater like her have any standing

in the party? And if she wins the GE--she is a candidate for defection to the repubs.

[LynneSin]

7. Which is why Lincoln is claiming the unions are trying to 'steal' the election

From the original Link:

All of which has led Lincoln's campaign to argue that the union community was essentially stealing the election from Arkansan's hands. Usually the sought-after vote in Democratic primaries -- Lincoln actually filled out a questionnaire asking for the AFL-CIO's support in this election -- labor has been cast as the enemy. (Arkansas, it should be noted, has one of the smallest unionized work forces in the country).

[laughingliberal]

10. When she bragged about obstructing the Democratic agenda in her ads, that was clear. nt

[joeybee12]

6. Blanche is now getting the Arlen Specter treatment in the last days of the race...

...never wanna associate yourself with a proven loser.

[sinkingfeeling]

8. While I voted for Halter and have his signs up in my yard, I'm not at all

confident that Halter can win in November.

[laughingliberal]

9. He and Lincoln got more votes, individually, than the Repig who won their nomination.

There is no reason to believe Lincoln has a better shot in November than Halter. If Democrats turn out, the Democrat will win.

[joeybee12]

12. Yeah, but I'm 100% confident Blanche can't win...she's toast...

...might as well nominate someone who has a slim chance.

[LynneSin]

13. Look at it this way - can you tell the difference between Lincoln and a republican?

I realize that the ONLY benefit with Lincoln is we keep a "D" in the Democrat column and hopefully the majority. But if Obama is disengaging she may be ripe for a republican defection.

Even Emily's List won't spend a dime to get her re-elected and they were the ones that probably helped get her elected 12 years ago. I can't think of any other pro-choice democrat woman that has been totally rejected by Emily's List.

[Bryn]

11. Looks like they're fixing the voting system so that Blanche wins tomorrow

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/6/6/873529/-Halter-v...

Halter voters being denied their vote

by Forrest Brown

<snip>

The newest Daily Kos-Research 2000 poll shows Bill Halter up 49-45 on Blanche Lincoln. But, as Dkos user jsamuel explained, a major local election official is making it harder for Halter supporters to vote.

Garland County is the most populous county Bill Halter won 3 weeks ago, and could be key to his run-off victory this Tuesday. But election commissioner Charles Tapp reduced the number of polling places from 42 to 2.

Can you help fight back? We're working with Halter's campaign to call thousands of Garland County voters to tell them when/where they can vote -- and we're pumping up turnout in other parts of the state to make up for any lost votes.

<snip>

Progressive blog Blue Arkansas writes:

Make no mistake, this is by design.

Remember how rural voters broke so heavily for Halter in the primary? Well now those same rural voters have to travel miles across a mountain range to get to town on a weekday to cast their vote, and Tapp ran away when he was asked about what this would do to disenfranchise minorities. How painfully obvious can this get?

<snip>

One of comments below:

Either we fix this corruption or democracy dies

If Blanche Lincoln is allowed to essentially rig a Senate primary in her favor, then forget about the "better" part of electing more Democrats.

Don't kid yourself, this is a watershed moment. If Lincoln wins this, every other corrupt incumbent politician facing a primary will simply turn on the party machine and bribe everyone they need to survive.

It should be ILLEGAL for a political party chairman to also control the electoral voting process. If this is allowed to stand, if the law isn't changed as soon as possible, across all states and counties, then democracy in this nation is on life support, and the corrupt will entrench their power.

How long do you think corporations like BP will be held accountable if they can simply buy a unacountable Senator?"

by Norm in Chicago on Sun Jun 06, 2010 at 07:46:09 PM PDT

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is about Garland County located in Hot Springs, Arkansas where they have cut down from 42 voting places to 2. It's a big place here. (Hot Springs is boyhood home of Bill Clinton and where Bill Halter is very popular.)