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Arkansas’ Democratic Lt. Governor Bill Halter announced his primary challenge against senator Blanche Lincoln yesterday. In the past 24 hours, Halter has managed to raise significant funds from several progressive grassroots organizations (full disclosure: some organizations linked to this site have endorsed Halter). Halter has already received over $640,000 through Moveon.org and over $133,000 through several organizations using ActBlue. In addition, Halter managed to secure the important endorsement and financial backing of the AFL-CIO. Via TPM:
A labor source confirmed to TPMDC tonight that the AFL-CIO voted to back new Senate candidate Lt. Gov Bill Halter over Sen. Blanche Lincoln in the May 18 Democratic primary in Arkansas. Three unions within the umbrella group have committed to a $3 million independent expenditure on Halter’s behalf.
Halter enters the race with strong financial backing, but without a lot of time to campaign. The primary election is scheduled for May 18th, giving Halter just 11 weeks to run against Lincoln. With many political observers believing that Blanche Lincoln is the incumbent senator most likely to lose in the general election, the Arkansas Democratic primary will probably be one of the most closely watched primary elections this season.
1 Comment
It is nice to see the netroots and organized Democratic constituencies coming together to punish a very bad Democratic Senator. What are the chances that we might see more of this?
I would love to see this same sort of alliance working on open seats like supporting Jennifer Brunner in the Ohio Senate race, or Joe Hoeffel in the PA governors race.
Taking out Lincoln is an excellent step, but without more it will not shift the balance of power within the Democratic Party.