Kos peeps getting excited that the President made an ad for Blanche Lincoln.

[TheBigotBasher]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/5/5/863748/-President-Obama-Makes-Ad-For-Blanche-Lincoln-Against-Halter

It won't be long before we see some similar poutrage on DU P but my take is pretty simple. What else is he going to do? He is the Leader of the Democratic Party and he needs her vote in the Senate. She is a Democratic Party Senator. He has to publicly support her. He also has to be seen to support her. She is the incumbent and therefore the official candidate.

Whether he actually supports her or not is a different matter.

[grantcart]

1. I am guessing that it was a condition for her voting for the health bill

Pretty good trade off IMO.

Also I don't think it will make any difference. If an incumbent Senator needs the President to make an ad to win in a primary it is likely that she won't win the primary anyway.

[quiet.american]

2. Exactly - from what I can see, the party always officially supports the incumbent.

My problem with the Arkansas race is that I'm not crazy about Lincoln's primary challenger either. When I listen to his rhetoric, I hear a lot of tap-dancing around how Halter would vote on progressive issues. I'm not convinced that should he win, he would be an entirely different kettle of fish than Lincoln, but I'm certainly willing to be wrong about that.

[Cha]

3. I know what you mean..I only

saw him once though. It must be hard to be a Dem in a place like Arkansas where they apparently need to dance around a bit.

[CTLawGuy]

6. yeah

bottom line it's still Arkansas, not the most liberal state in the country. Still better to have a Dem than an R tho.

[grantcart]

4. twelve minutes

Interesting you can not only depend on the outrage you can actually set your clock by it.

[TheBigotBasher]

5. Lol

[WeDidIt]

7. The ad was probably part of the price for her vote on HCR

last December.

D'OH! Everybody forgets she voted for HCR then, like the entire Democratic Caucus in the Senate did.

[TicketyBoo]

8. I got an e-mail wanting me to call

Arkansas Democrats in order to get out the vote for Halter. However, I know nothing about him, and I know very little about Arkansas politics.

It could be that if Lincoln loses in the primary to someone who is more liberal, that liberal won't stand a chance in the general election. That's the way it would be here in Nebraska. We are not going to get a liberal Democrat. Period. And, I guess, a conservative Dem is better than a Republican. I think?

It really is a rock or a hard place here.

[WeDidIt]

9. I support Halter in this race

Not because he'll be any more progressive than Lincoln.

He won't.

In fact, on most issues he will probably be to the right of Lincoln.

I support him because he is the only slim chance there is to hold onto the seat. Lincoln will definitely lose in the climate of anti-incumbency. Halter at least would ahve a shot at it.