Blanche Lincoln Could Face Primary Opponent Due to Health Care Opposition

[liberalpragmatist]

I think this is excellent news. I know Arkansas is a pretty conservative state, and I know it's a state where Obama's approval ratings are very low. Still, the state has shown it has a populist, even liberal streak, and at the very least, a credible primary challenge from the left could force Lincoln to vote "yea" on health care, even with a public option.

As Blanche Lincoln keeps the nation -- and Senate Democratic leadership -- waiting to find out whether she'll vote to allow the health care debate to go forward on the floor, her potential primary opponent is organizing a free health care clinic in Little Rock for the uninsured.

The clinic will open on Saturday, the same day that the wavering Democrat from Arkansas will at last have to make known her opinion on a crucial health care vote.

The National Association for Free Clinics was having difficulty finding a venue for the Arkansas clinic when Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter stepped in.

<snip>

Halter, given an opportunity to dampen that speculation, stoked it instead. "I certainly appreciate the hopes that a lot of people have expressed for me, but I want to focus on what we're doing on Saturday. This is not about politics," he said when asked whether he'd primary Lincoln. "We have a group, as I said, of over 25 organizations of all political stripes that are participating in this event. And out of respect for them, I'm going to keep politics out of this."

Politics, of course, couldn't be any more in it. "The fact that he didn't say it was very eloquent by its absence," said Max Brantley, editor of the Arkansas Times, a widely read alternative weekly. "He has been very bold in getting behind this free health clinic."

Halter, after spearheading what has become an intensely popular statewide lottery, is riding a wave of popularity in the state, despite being an outspoken supporter of gay rights. Halter was a fierce opponent of an anti-gay-marriage amendment that passed in a landslide.

The lottery, though, has been a winning issue for him. "He will never be more popular in Arkansas than he is at this moment," said Brantley. "He's kind of a classic populist, progressive Democrat."

Link.

He sounds like a dream come true - young, telegenic, already elected to statewide office, and fairly progressive. He's Text a former Clinton White House staffer, and appointee (headed Social Security), as well as a graduate of Stanford and a Truman Scholar and Rhodes Scholar.

Of course, the irony is that if Lincoln votes "YES" on health care reform with a public option and allows it to pass, she probably won't get a primary challenge, and we'll still have her milquetoast representation in the Senate.

The other wild card is that Lincoln also may be facing a primary challenge from the RIGHT, from a more conservative Democrat, State Sen. President Bob Johnson.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

1. I hope EVERY Blue Dog is replaced with a real Democrat

If anyone wants a Republican, they can vote for a Republican!

[BR_Parkway]

2. She SHOULD be primaried - and defeated - I'm sick of these non-Democrats

being elected and called Dems, it taints us all

[tomm2thumbs]

3. just tell us where to send the money - Democrats need to fund someone new here

she's gonna be swept out as an incumbent anyway, so may as well have a fighting chance by putting up a new contender to level the playing field against the anti-establishment GOP'ers... and hopefully Bill Clinton can work some magic in that area as well.