Bill Halter took the gloves off today after being on the receiving end of some nasty attacks from Blanche Lincoln, calling him childish names such as "Dollar Bill Halter."
Well, he is fighting back.
Email:
We knew it was coming. Blanche Lincoln's campaign is up on the air, spreading words that aren't true. You may have gotten something in the mail, or a shady phone call too.
These tired tactics are the politics of yesterday. They are the sign of a desperate campaign, a campaign that will do anything to please its corporate donors.
More from the email:
We need your help to fight back.
Contribute
Please donate $5, $10 or whatever you can afford before the end of quarter deadline at midnight on Wednesday. Together we can reach out to undecided Arkansan voters and let them know the truth.
Why is her campaign throwing mud? According to a new poll from Daily Kos/Research 2000, my campaign is not only gaining strength, I'm the stronger candidate in the general election.
Lincoln's unfavorable rating is ten points higher than her favorable rating, which is just over 40% - a sign of deep trouble for any incumbent Senator, much less one asking for a third term. Meanwhile, I have a twenty-point advantage in my favorability ratings with voters, higher among every demographic group, including by gender, age, race, and party affiliation.
This means she will continue to launch ever-more desperate attacks in an attempt to bring my campaign down.
We need your help to keep that from happening - and counter the corporate-backed Washington money machine behind Blanche Lincoln.
Contribute
Please give whatever you can afford before the end of quarter deadline at midnight on March 31st -- so together we can fight back.
Sincerely,
Bill Halter
P.S. Your support helps us reach more undecided voters and get our message out. Please contribute today.
Halter cites a poll from Dailykos in this email. Here is my analysis of this poll: Crossposted from BlueArkansasBlog.com
Research 2000/Daily Kos Poll - March 22-24 (December numbers)
Democratic Senate Primary
Blanche Lincoln (D) 44 (42)
Bill Halter (D) 31 (26)
Undecided 25 (32)
Favorable/Unfavorable/No opinion
Lincoln: 42/52/6 (41/50/9)
Halter: 46/27/27 (36/25/39)
Among Democrats
Lincoln: 62/34/4 (62/32/6)
Halter: 68/10/22 (55/11/34)
The biggest movement here is Halter gaining on his favorability rating, a very large +14%, among Democrats while Lincoln has moved -2% since December. He has 22% of Democrats who are undecided to still draw upon. The most significant movement is that 7% of Democrats have gone from undecided to decided for the primary and of those, 5% went to Halter and 2% went to Lincoln. This bodes well for Halter in the Democratic Primary as there are still 25% undecided for Halter to draw upon. Halter is still down 13%, but that is an improvement from the 16% he was down by in December. If undecideds continue to break by that margin, Lincoln would have a 51% to 49% lead. This looks like it will be a close primary, but Halter may be able to gain a higher proportion of support from the remaining undecideds than shown in this poll.
Research 2000/Daily Kos Poll General Election
Blanche Lincoln (D) 42
John Boozman (R) 49
Bill Halter (D) 40
John Boozman (R) 48
Blanche Lincoln (D) 43 (46)
Kim Hendren (R) 48 (30)
Bill Halter (D) 44 (36)
Kim Hendren (R) 45 (31)
Blanche Lincoln (D) 41 (41)
Gilbert Baker (R) 49 (42)
Bill Halter (D) 44 (34)
Gilbert Baker (R) 46 (42)
Blanche Lincoln (D) 44 (44)
Curtis Coleman (R) 47 (39)
Bill Halter (D) 45 (35)
Curtis Coleman (R) 44 (40)
Blanche Lincoln (D) 43 (45)
Tom Cox (R) 47 (31)
Bill Halter (D) 45 (36)
Tom Cox (R) 43 (32)
Halter does better than or equivalent to Lincoln against Republicans, in some cases beating the Republican while Lincoln loses. The Boozman numbers may be the most important due to the factor that Daily Kos highlights:
On the other hand, a Boozman-Halter race would make Boozman the de facto incumbent -- he's been in Washington D.C. for 10 years now. In this environment, you want the outsider hitting the entrenched DC incumbent, and Democrats can do that with Halter as their nominee. And given the large number of people who still don't have an opinion about him, Halter has plenty of room to grow in a way Lincoln no longer can, further eroding Boozman's early advantage.
Simply put, Halter is the best choice for Democrats who wish to win in November as well as those who wish to elect a Democratic Senator who will work for them, not special interests.
Mark your calenders - May 18th
UPDATE: