Labor, Netroots Turn Arkansas Election into Referendum on Corporatist Democrats

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6063/labor_netroots_turn_arkansas_election_into_referendum_on_corporatist_democr/

Monday June 7 11:51 am

By Lindsay Beyerstein


Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)


Voters in Arkansas will decide Tuesday whether Blanche Lincoln will keep her Senate seat. Lincoln is facing progressive Democrat Lt. Gov. Bill Halter in a runoff election. The latest poll shows Halter in the lead, at 49 percent to Lincoln's 45 percent. The spread falls within the poll's margin of error, but it's still bad news for an incumbent who placed first in the initial primary vote.

As the Washington Post's Chris Cilizza wrote today:

Ostensibly, Lincoln's opponent is Lt. Gov. Bill Halter. But the practical reality is that she is running against a handful of major labor unions -- the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, to name two.

The unions, MoveOn.org, and liberal blogs like Daily Kos have turned the Lincoln/Halter race into a referendum on corporatist Democrats. Lincoln, a prominent "Blue Dog" Democrat, angered organized labor during the healthcare reform fight when she turned her back on a public health insurance option.

On the eve of the runoff, unions have knocked on over 170,000 doors, made 700,000 phone calls, sent 2.7 million pieces of mail, and shelled out $6 million on television and radio ads.

Unions and the liberal netroots group MoveOn have joined forces under the banner of Arkansans For Change (AFC), which is spending heavily on ads excoriating Lincoln for siding with corporations over workers. The United Food and Commercial Workers, American Rights at Work, and MoveOn have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars for AFC ad buys, according to the lastest FEC filings. The AFL-CIO approved $3 million for independent expenditures on Halter's behalf in May.

FULL story at link.

[saracat]

1. Go Labor! I wish the Admin cared about Labor more.

[Canuckistanian]

2. Excellent

Let's hope this "referendum" goes nationwide.

Let's let Rahm & co. know that progressives win elections and corporate suckups get voted out.