Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln has turned me into a "single issue" voter.
I’m usually the last guy to support primary challenges to incumbent democrats. And that includes some of the most conservative members of the party. After all, I’ll argue, the alternative to a conservative democrat is often an ultra-conservative republican. Isn’t it better to have someone with you 50 percent of the time than someone who’s always against you?
My next point, of course, would be how critical one district or one state can be in a congressional election in which the majority is up for grabs.
No, I’m not dumping Lincoln because she’s a lousy democrat, or even because she may be a weak candidate in the 2010 general election, or even because her primary opponent is more liberal.
No, I’m not dumping Lincoln because she’s a lousy democrat, or even because she may be a weak candidate in the 2010 general election, or even because her primary opponent is more liberal.
I’m throwing Blanche overboard because the two-term democrat joined the senate filibuster threat which derailed the Employee Free Choice Act [EFCA], a moderate labor law reform which restricts union-busters and makes organizing a little easier.
The June 8 primary runoff between Lincoln and Lt. Gov. Bill Halter (neither got the required voter majority) is prime time for American unions and the right time to punish a democratic heretic. The labor movement has already pumped lots of dough into this race and is planning a massive phone, mail and door-knocking campaign for the next round.
To really resonate, labor must demonstrate to congressional democrats that it can not only take out an anti-union incumbent (Lincoln also opposed a union-supported Obama appointment to the National Labor Relations Board) but can propel that insurgent candidate to a general election victory – in this case against the well-funded John Boozman, a member of the U.S. House since 2000.
Big stakes for big labor in little Arkansas