Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) is capping off what has been a good week in Washington with the first televised debate of her reelection bid tonight, facing off with primary opponent Lt. Gov. Bill Halter back home in Arkansas.
Lincoln’s team says the senator is excited to talk about her role in shepherding a sweeping derivatives reform legislation out of the Senate Agriculture Committee, which she chairs, and how she is contributing to the financial reform debate in the Senate.
The bill puts Lincoln in a good position as she tries to fend off the progressive-backed Lt. Gov. Bill Halter in the May 18 Democratic Senate primary. Expect the legislation to come up in the debate, with Lincoln focusing on how — in her first six months as agriculture chair — she made it happen.
The Halter team says it’s ready to discuss the derivatives bill, too. They say Lincoln’s bill isn’t enough to make up for a record they say is out of step with Arkansans.
“The way Halter looks at this, it’s very Washington to claim credit after the fact for fixing something you had a hand in creating,” Halter spokesperson Laura Chapin said. “The financial crisis happened because Washington wasn’t looking out for what Arkansas families needed.”
Lincoln spokesperson Katie Niebaum pointed to Halter’s past as Social Security Administrator in the Clinton administration and suggested Lincoln is ready for Halter’s line of attack on the derivatives bill.
“Bill knows all about claiming credit,” Niebaum said. “He routinely takes credit for the federal budget surplus in his role as an unelected Washington bureaucrat, yet attacks Sen. Lincoln’s 1993 budget vote that is credited for actually producing the surplus, a vote President Clinton called ‘courageous.'”
Chapin said Halter is as excited to get in front of the cameras tonight as Lincoln is . She said Halter will make it clear he’d “do things differently” from Lincoln if he were in the Senate, and will take aim at the very record Lincoln’s camp is ready to discuss.
Both campaigns agreed the debate is just another step toward the finish line in the race, which kicked off March 1 when Halter — with the backing of national progressive groups and labor — jumped in the primary with a promise to offer an alternative to Lincoln. She has angered many Democratic activists with her opposition to card check and the inclusion of a public option in health care reform, but enjoys the backing of prominent Democrats like former President Clinton and President Obama.
Since then, Halter has outraised Lincoln and shown some momentum in polls. But Lincoln has continued to lead the race, leaving some observers to wonder about Halter’s chances.
The TPM Poll Average for the primary shows Lincoln ahead by a margin of 45.8-31.0.
Tonight’s debate kicks off at 8 p.m. eastern, and will be televised live around the country on C-SPAN.
