In our ed meetings over the last few days we’d picked up hints that the White House and Senate leaders were concerned that Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), currently fighting an uphill reelection battle, was going to try to water down the big financial services regulation bill, particularly as it applies to the trading of derivatives. (For a complicated set of reasons, her post as Chair of the Ag Committee puts her in a good position to do this.) Now, this had me scratching my head a bit. Arkansas has turned into an awfully conservative state. So I can get her running against the liberals and the unions and Health Care Reform and Cap and Trade. But, she needs to cozy up to the big investment houses and hedge funds in Little Rock?
It turns out though that everybody had this one figured wrong. Rather than tacking right and trying to cut a deal with Republicans, Lincoln has gone the other direction, announcing that the administration wasn’t tough enough and calling for even tighter regulation of banks and derivatives trading.
