Why Blanche Lincoln's primary challenge is so different

[Ardent15]

"Serious primary challenges to incumbent U.S. senators aren’t that common, but they aren’t unheard of, either. Since 1980, four sitting senators have been defeated in primaries, and several more have faced political near-death experiences in them.

Generally, it’s easy to categorize these primary challenges. There are two basic varieties: ideological, with an exercised party base seeking retribution for an incumbent’s dissent from the party line; and pragmatic, with party members responding to the perceived electoral deficiencies of the incumbent.

And then there’s the Democratic Senate primary now under way in Arkansas, which seems to be a perfect hybrid of these two types. With the latest poll showing Blanche Lincoln’s challenger, Bill Halter, within 13 points of her, that primary -- now just seven weeks away -- has become the hottest Democratic contest in the nation.

Lincoln, who’s in the final year of her second term, has managed to pull off a somewhat remarkable feat, infuriating both the left-of-center base of her party and her state’s right-leaning general election audience at the same time. Thus, the challenge she’s receiving from Halter doesn’t neatly fit into either of the above categories."

more:http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/03/30/blanche_lincoln_primary_challenge_halter

[Cha]

1. blanche is rather useless and I hope Halter

beats her in the primary!

Contribute~
http://www.billhalter.com/

[Coyote_Bandit]

2. Ummmm......

I have family and friends that live throughout the state and I spend enough time there that I too could claim residency.

It is a right leaning state. Dems are likely to lose a Senate seat there IMHO. And that may happen regardless of who wins the Dem primary.

Health care reform has been an extremely divisive issue there and for months cable and TV have been overwhelmed with ads from all sides urging folks to contact Senator Lincoln regarding her healthcare vote.

[Winterblues]

3. I hope if we go down there it will be as Democrats and not whatever Lincoln is..

If a Republican wins at least we know for a fact what we are dealing with. with Lincoln we get a stab in the back and I am sick of it...I also believe that if a real Democrat is in the race our chances are actually improved. There are many Democrats that just don't bother to vote because they feel no matter what their interests are not represented..People there may get a surprise. I believe Democrats are going to do a hell of lot better than right wing pundits would have you believe..

[cascadiance]

4. Even if we lose, then the party will need to focus on ousting the incumbent the next time...

... instead of leaving a corporatist that does the same thing a Rethug would do, like we're seeing now.

In Democratic leaning states this is especially frustrating, since candidates like Lieberman and Feinstein in the past have gotten little to no heavy challengers, because the wingnuts know that someone like Feinstein or Lieberman is about the best they can hope for for their agenda, and if they oust that pol, then more likely than not the next time a Democrat will beat the Republican should they win with a far more progressive stance.

And even though this isn't as much of a Democratic leaning state as California or Connecticut are, the country is in the mood for populist candidates, and I believe with the right message, a populist candidate can win even in a conservative state. A non-populist Democrat such as Lincoln is almost certain to go down in my book to a Republican than a Democrat that provides a true choice. If the state wants a Rethuglican, why go for Rethuglican lite when they can have the real thing, especially when they don't even try to be populist at all, which might appeal to some tea partiers.

[Vidar]

5. Best of lucki to Halter.