Saving Private Blanche

Blanche Lincoln’s plan to force banks to spin off their derivatives desks has garnered enemies all around in Washington. And it seems all but certain to get defanged or revised in some major way. But Lincoln’s been flogging it like crazy back home in Arkansas as an example of her populist cred. Indeed, it seems pretty likely that that’s the reason she — quite unexpectedly — came forward with such an uncharacteristically left-populist leaning proposal in the first place. But Senate Dems and the White House don’t want to trip her up in her primary on Tuesday. So it seems they’re delaying any changes until after the election is over.