Senator Lincoln has certainly been on the wrong side of the issues according to those on the left, including refusal to support card check legislation, efforts to block the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases and a variety of other hot button issues. Senator Lincoln is also being criticized for her opposition to the public option as well as cap and trade emissions policies. Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas wrote of Lincoln's opponent "Bill Halter will rescue the Democratic establishment from itself and help us hold a seat Lincoln is guaranteed to lose". This view is one that is currently being shared by many on the left with Lincoln's primary opponent Bill Halter being able to raise over $5 million from the likes of Sierra Club, AFL-CIO, Communications Workers of America, United Steel Workers, Progressive Change Committee, as well as a host of other interest groups.
This is shaping up to be a huge battle between a first term lieutenant governor and someone many on the left view as a protector of corporate interests and obstructor to change. I would like to take this minute to remind Senator Lincoln that the American people overwhelmingly voted in the mandate of change in the 2008 election and if she chooses to continue with her conservative policies she might want to consider running as an Independent or switch to the other sides of the aisle. This effort by organized labor/PAC's etc. is commendable and wouldn't it be great if more people who said they represented a party and who consistently chose viewpoints that differed greatly from the party were then purged through competitive primaries such as this one?
I will certainly be watching anxiously election returns on this one.
Cory Flack
1 comment:
Candidates represent their districts, not their parties. Arkansas leans to the right politically and to ensure political viability a politician like Senator Lincoln must balance their own agendas against that of their constituency. This compromise brings the state closer to party goals than they would get if candidates did not toe the line. It does a political party no good to reject candidates based on political purity.
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