Arkansans have had the "fortune" to have been represented for years by Senator Blanche Lincoln. She has long been a moderate senator, but over the last few years has become more and more conservative over time. The problem though, isn't simply about her being more conservative. It is also about secrecy and duplicity in her thought process for her decisions.
One example:
Open Left
"On November 21st, Blanche Lincoln declared on the floor of the Senate that she would filibuster any bill with a public option... At the exact same time that she said this, her website declared that she would be just fine with the public option."
So, what can we do about this obstructionism pledged by Blanche Lincoln against the Public Option that a majority of all Arkansans support? Draft Bill Halter to unseat her in the Democratic Primary.
How you can help:
- Join the Draft Bill Halter group on Facebook:
This will allow us to grow our numbers to show support for Bill Halter and a primary challenge to Blanche Lincoln. This is extremely important since Bill Halter needs to see that we have his back to risk the backlash from the establishment Democrats in the state.
- Donate to the Bill Halter for Senate 2010 Draft Fund on ActBlue:
This will show that we not only support the idea of a primary, but that we are actually willing to put some skin in the game ourselves. We have set up an ActBlue page specifically for this goal.
- Contact Bill Halter's office directly:
Let him and his staff know you want him to run and you are willing to do what you can to support him. His office phone number is 501-682-2144.
- Tell your fiends to join the Draft Bill Halter movement too!
Send out an email linking to the Facebook group and/or the ActBlue page. Create a status update on Facebook linking to the group's homepage. Call friends or family and ask them to join, especially if they live in Arkansas.
Please act quickly because the deadline for filing is rapidly approaching (just before Christmas). Lt. Governor Bill Halter needs to see we will be there for him so that he can be there for us.
Why you should help Draft Bill Halter::
- He is a strong leader showing that a Lt. Governor is a job that can be used to get things done, including passing a constitutional amendment essentially providing free tuition to any Arkansan student. He is the Southern Region Chair of the National Lieutenant Governors Association (NLGA).
- Tell me more about free college tuition for all thing:
Any legal resident of Arkansas with a 2.5 High School GPA (between a B and C average) or who scores a 19 on the ACT will get a full scholarship to a 4 year University or 2 year College (public or private). Returning students also qualify. An adult also qualifies for the scholarship if they attended an Arkansas High School and got a GPA of at least 2.5 or they can get a 19 or above on the ACT. Adults also qualify if they have attended a college or university for 12 credit hours and got a GPA of 2.5 or higher. This is an amazingly progressive policy as it essentially allows any Arkansan to attend college with no tuition costs given they meet relatively low merit benchmarks. Compare this to other states like Florida, where a full scholarship requires a 3.5 GPA and a 1270 SAT score among a slew of other requirements (and that was in 2000 when I was entering college). Florida fell victim to a Republican state legislature which creatively financed other programs using the lottery funds, decreasing the amount available for scholarships and increasing the requirements for qualification to receive a scholarship.
The Arkansas scholarships are funded through a state lottery which has already been made law. Scholarships will begin in Fall 2010. Almost 2/3 of the population voted to pass the constitutional amendment adding the state lottery. The state legislature made sure (with Bill Halter's constant pushing) to limit the money to only be used for these scholarships and the cost of running the lottery itself. By law, money currently allocated for other scholarships could not be decreased. This was in the language to prevent the creative financing other states have fallen victim to where the lottery money ends up actually decreasing the funds in other areas not tied to the lottery. When the legislature added the law, it won unanimous support. For more on the lottery and the scholarships, visit Hope for Arkansas.
- Some Accomplishments:
He attended Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. Bill Halter brings extensive experience in both the public and private sectors to his office. He has served as an economic adviser to the President of the United States and to the U.S. Senate, led the Social Security Administration, advised Fortune 500 companies, and served on the Boards of Directors of information technology and life sciences companies.
Bill Halter first joined the Clinton administration in 1993, working to help trim bureaucratic waste with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the Executive Office of the President. During his six years at OMB, the government’s $290 billion budget deficit was transformed into a $125 billion surplus. The United States enjoyed its first balanced budget in 40 years.
- Lt. Governor Bill Halter helped organize the Free Health Clinics held in Little Rock, Arkansas. These are the same clinics Keith Olbermann advocated for on Countdown. He also volunteered his time to register patients on the day of the event.
Firedoglake interviewed Bill Halter at the Free Clinic in Little Rock last month. If you want to get to see him answer a few questions about Arkansas, the tragedy of the state of health care in the country, fair trade, and saving elderly women from house fires, watch the video below.
Bill Halter interview with Firedoglake (the video is a little shaky only at the beginning):
Afterward, he went on Countdown to talk about the Free Clinics:
- Sounds like a great progressive, but can he win in Arkansas in a general election?
Simple answer: Yes
Arkansas voters elected Bill Halter to a four-year term as Lieutenant Governor on November 7, 2006, with 57 percent of the vote.
- Blanche Lincoln's favorability ratings show her well below 50% and often losing to most Republicans with little chance for improvement. Bill Halter does nearly as well as Lincoln with huge room for improvement in name recognition and favorability numbers.
AR-Sen: Primary bound? by Markos
If Halter runs, we'll have a barn burner of a primary, and a real opportunity for progressives to strike back against one of the biggest obstructionists in the Senate, not just on health care, but on practically every issue we care about. And given Lincoln's poor general election numbers (well below the 50 percent danger marker for incumbents), we'd likely have a better chance of holding the seat with Halter, who would be more likely to consolidate Democratic support and get them to the polls, while remaining competitive among incumbent-adverse independents.
Also, unlike Lincoln, he would not be hurt by a possible Green Party candidate, which has not been included in any polling. Progressives, liberals, and Democrats in general would be energized to vote in the general for a strong candidate rather than for a moderate incumbent with very low approval ratings.
Markos also states that the "ball is in Halter's court," but I think the ball is in our court first. Will we support and urge him to run so that he knows we will be there when he decides to? It is up to us.
On a side note, my personal experience with Blanche Lincoln and the Public Option:
I personally called her office when she voted (by proxy of course) to kill the Schumer Public Option in the Senate Finance Committee. She was the only Democrat to vote against it in the committee and not say a single word as to why. Even Max Baucus at least gave a reason for his vote. Her office told me (an adviser, not just a low level staffer) that she voted against it because she didn't think it could get 60 votes, not because she was against a Public Option. Now I know this was an attempt to stay silent on the issue and fool people who investigated into thinking she wasn't actually against it. When the time came to cast a vote on cloture for the bill, she finally confessed to opposing the Public Option so strongly that she would filibuster the bill. All the while, her website said she supported a Public Option.
Disclosure: I don't work for any politicians and am not currently volunteering with any campaign, although I did some volunteering for the 2008 presidential elections.