The Arkansas Democratic Senate primary, already one of the toughest in the country, took the back-and-forth between Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Lt. Gov. Bill Halter to a new battlefield today: cyberspace.
Lincoln took to Twitter this afternoon to respond to a story published this morning suggesting her mind maybe have changed on reconciliation. In the tweet, she reaffirmed her opposition to reconciliation. A few minutes later Halter fired back with a tweet of his own making it clear that he supports the reconciliation process as a means to get health care reform.
The stage was set for the tweet-off this morning, when the published a story suggesting Lincoln might be open to considering reconciliation in the final Senate reform push. (The AP later published an account of Lincoln appearing to reverse herself in a gaggle with reporters in the Senate today.)
Lincoln seemed determined that her views on reconciliation be clear. So this afternoon, her campaign tweeted this:
Just a few minutes later, Halter gave his own take via his campaign twitter feed:
(You’ll note Halter followed the example of most Democrats these days and refrained from using the word “reconciliation,” while still espousing the idea.)
Unlike Lincoln, Halter’s views on reconciliation have never been in doubt. In a conversation with TPM shortly after he announced his candidacy, Halter made it clear he favored using reconciliation to add a public option to health care reform, a plan most of his progressive backers across the country also support.
Speaking with reporters today after this morning’s story came out, Lincoln said her views on using reconciliation to pass the haven’t change since she first rejected the idea months ago.
“I don’t support reconciliation!” she told the gaggle of reporters today, according to the AP. “All I said was I want to see what’s in it.”
