Arkansas Halter Top

Down Little Rock way, Dem Lt. Gov Bill Halter has entered the race for Sen. Blanche Lincoln's seat as a primary challenger.  The White House is backing Lincoln of course, they have no choice.  But labor certainly sees Bill Halter as better and the AFL-CIO has officially ditched Lincoln for Halter...to the tune of $3 million...in the space of 24 hours.

A labor source confirmed to TPMDC tonight that the AFL-CIO voted to back new Senate candidate Lt. Gov Bill Halter over Sen. Blanche Lincoln in the May 18 Democratic primary in Arkansas. Three unions within the umbrella group have committed to a $3 million independent expenditure on Halter's behalf.

In the day since he officially announced his intention to take on Lincoln in the primary, Halter has lined up the support from Democratic base groups, including progressive groups MoveOn.org and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. Those two, among others, raised nearly $500,000 for Halter from progressives across the country in less than 24 hours.

Lincoln still enjoys the support of at least one prominent national progressive though. The White House says President Obama backs Lincoln as he would any Democratic incumbent.

The backing of the AFL-CIO is an important one for any Democrat. For Halter, it signals that the unions are prepared to put their money where their mouth has been for almost a year now when it comes to Lincoln. When Lincoln came out against the "card check" provision in the Employee Free Choice Act, unions balked and threatened to fight her. Now it seems Halter has given them their chance.

Halter now adds the AFL-CIO's significant support to efforts on his behalf from grassroots progressive groups, which have publicly claimed some of the credit for Halter's decision to run today. Ben Tribbett, executive director of the progressive PAC Accountability Now and an organizer of the online campaign to draft Halter into the race, promised today that his group's efforts to help Halter will continue. 

I've said for a while now that we need better Democrats in Congress, particularly the Senate.  Bill Halter is definitely one of those better Dems.  He knows why he's running and who he's running for.  Right now the race is between two Republicans:  Lincoln and one of a various number of Republicans that all clean Lincoln's clock right now.

Halter's making his move.  Lincoln is doomed anyway.  Might as well go for the long shot in Little Rock than the sure loser.