Halter’s first ad is up:
His website can be found here, and apparently he has raised close to 150k through ActBlue alone. According to the Great Orange Satan he officially filed, and I know he raised an ungodly amount through MoveOn, too. Here is our page for those of you who are so inclined:
Brien Jackson
I’m still not getting the point.
geg6
What I really love is the AFL-CIO rescinding their endorsement of Lincoln and giving it to Halter, along with the $3 million they were gonna give her.
Suck it, bitch. ;-)
Mike Kay
Lincoln shot herself in the head.
Can you imagine if Loserman runs again – money will be pouring out of the sky to defeat him.
Mike Kay
@geg6:
No need to go full teabagger and go sexist.
fraught
Run her off the field!
Napoleon
@Mike Kay:
In fact I bet you would end up with Loserman’s Dem opponent not only setting the all time small donor record but obliterating the record.
Lincoln has got to go. An example has to be made of a Dem who votes against the Dems on closure.
Punchy
It’s a lefty Dem in a dark, dark crimson state. About as much chance as I have nailing Keira Knightley, nightly.
burnspbesq
DfA is also all in for Halter. You should see the email I got earlier today. Makes Halter sound like the greatest thing to come out of Arkansas in the whole of recorded history.
Give me a reason to believe that he can actually win in November and I will see what loose change might be wedged in between the cushions.
Zifnab
We are netroots, hear us roar!
Brien Jackson
@Zifnab:
If that really sums it up, I’m not sure you could find much better self-marginalization.
Shinobi
His name is a seriously major hurdle for me. Bill Halter? do we really need another bill halter in congress? I seriously thought it was a pracitcal joke when I got the e-mails from dem groups.
freelancer
@Napoleon:
Now if only the Nebraska State Democrats can find their balls and field a moderate who isn’t a total drama queen in 2012. First things first though.
hal
How well will all of this actually play in Arkansas? I always thought you had do be a Blanche Lincoln type to win in a state like that?
Tax Analyst
I thought I was gonna see hot babes in halter tops but I’m looking at some schmuck with a football instead.
This is what my $25 helped pay for?
Waaahh!!!
But seriously (or as serious as I can get these days) I hope he clobbers that old Banshee Blanchie.
Ed in NJ
@Shinobi:
Think of the ads!
Do you want a bill halter or Bill Halter for Arkansas?!
Comrade Scrutinizer
@Mike Kay:
__
Calling a bitch a bitch isn’t sexist, it’s more like—accuracy, or something.
Mike Kay
@Punchy:
that’s pure defeatism. you’re listening to too much MSM.
Why I remember a couple of years ago when everyone said a black guy couldn’t get elected in america. hell, I remember when people said the dems could nominate the worst senate candidate in history and still win the massachusetts special election.
Zam
@Shinobi: Holy shit I just realized that. Well at least the commercials will be easy to write when he refuses to vote for cloture.
Zam
@Punchy: If we could get a Bill Clinton I will be satisfied.
cat48
Not sending money to anyone right now for any reason. I would be reluctant to contribute to anyone who is promising not to raise taxes while getting the job done. Sounds too much like Bayh…or maybe Lincoln. That is what the debt and deficit commission is for that the prez signed off on. I want someone who will support that so the furoners don’t pick up my 1st grandchild due this yr & put it in a labor camp.
The last time I saw a commission I was screwed on SSA benefits a little and had my taxes raised. Fair enough. At $14T + debt and the $l.5T deficit we need to do that again with this new commission.
Know this isn’t popular.
Geeno
Blanche was getting blown out of the water anyway. How is supporting a different Dem self-marginalization in those circumstances?
If she were going to win, maybe you bite the bullet and take Lincoln’s crap, but she wasn’t. Her approval ratings were down in the 30’s.
joe from Lowell
@Napoleon
Indeed, this is what large majorities are for.
Pour encourager les autres.
Mike Kay
@Tax Analyst:
No kidding. I thought we’d see Gennifer Flowers or one of Bill’s myriad of bimbos in a halter top. I guess Bill’s latest mistress, Lady Lynn Forester de Rothchild, thinks she’s too good to show off the goods, cuz she’s doing an ex-president.
NR
@Geeno: Exactly. If Halter loses the general election, well, that sucks, but we’re no worse off, because Lincoln was going to lose the general election anyway.
Hopefully, if we can knock her off in the primary, it will send a message.
asiangrrlMN
@cat48: I’m a bit cautious, too, because I saw a clip of him talking about God and blah blah blah God. I know one has to give lip-service to God in order to get elected, especially in the south, but it really put me off my feed. And, I agree with you about the ‘no raising taxes’ bit in this ad. Again, I know it has to be said. It doesn’t mean I have to pay for it.
lol
The interesting thing is that he must’ve been raising a lot of money already, pre-announcement. Those TV ads hit Arkansas within hours of his announcement, which means he raised money and bought TV time days or possible weeks ago. Should be interesting to read the FEC reports.
Like many a reality TV show contestant, Halter isn’t in this race to make friends (with the Netroots), he’s not running to make a point, he’s here to win.
Josh Huaco
I’d settle for a 55 year-old Kim Basinger.
Punchy
@Mike Kay: You’re still high from 2008. You call it defeatism, I’m calling it reality.
Of course, I cant put it past the Repubs to do something redunkulously stupid between now and November to scuttle their mo. Of course, I cant rely on the media to actually report on said redunkulousness.
If Halter can run on a platform of legalizing meth production and nominating Sam Walton for Sainthood, then he’s got a puncher’s chance.
KG
not for nothing, but working from home today, flipping through the channels for some background noise and saw that American Carol was on. Figured I see if it was worth anything.
Wow.
Five minutes may have killed more brain cells than all of the alcohol I drank in college and law school, combined.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@joe from Lowell:
il faut cultiver notre jardin
We start the process by pulling up weeds.
This is a start.
Mike Kay
@asiangrrlMN:
You hippies have to wake up and smell the incense!
The fact of the matter is, I’d rather get half a
loafgranola bar, then noloafgranola bar, at all.willf
So when will he put some policy positions on the website?
Right now, it looks like all he stands for is, running for office.
Mike Kay
@Josh Huaco:
sad to say, she’s become anorexic.
http://www.livingtv.co.uk/images/kim-basinger-gal-431×500.jpg
asiangrrlMN
@Mike Kay: Believe me, I know this. I think it would be a good thing if he does manage to get Lincoln kicked out. I am just not sure I want to be sending him money.
cat48
@asiangrrlMN:
If it is Ark., you should be cautious. I was born there and have visited there several times after growing up in IL. The electorate is very different there. Think I might research him some more since he is Lt Gov, there should be something on him.
“God talk” always puts me off, too. I’m not an atheist, but havent been to church in 20 yrs probably, except for weddings & funerals.
Mike Kay
@willf:
it’s not about Halter, it’s about dumping lincoln, and enforcing party discipline (if you vote against us, we’ll vote against you).
Mike Kay
@asiangrrlMN:
gotta putcha money where ya money is.
Not every one can be a raving hippie like Ned Lamont.
Jeff
Halter is a populist– perhaps not the full Huey, but close enough. His stated views (pro public option, more or less pro-EFCA) are far better than we can hope for Lincoln.
Lets not get too cocky though, Lincoln still has boatloads of cash, and the corporations will be spending to halt Halter(!), and AK still is a conservative state.
We’ll need some help, now if Lincoln can oblige us……
asiangrrlMN
@Mike Kay: No I don’t. I don’t have to give anyone any money. I can choose whether I want to float a few bills his way or not.
@cat48: Yeah. And, like I said, I get it. There are certain things certain politicians have to say to get elected in certain states. I just don’t have to like it.
Mike Kay
@cat48:
I look at this as being pro-active. it make no sense to surrender the high ground. Beat them over the head with Jesus, before they do it to you. Make Jesus your own. I would go as far was doing a commercial with Jesus floating in the background saying “amen” after each of Halter’s talking points.
Sue
My goodness, he looks wholesome. This makes me nervous, for some reason. The secret has to be pretty bad.
cat48
@Mike Kay: Ok, it might work. O did give time to God during campaign at times, but only briefly. Just hard for me to take based on my required Southern Baptist upbringing. My parents were from Ark. so I’m basing it on that.
Mike Kay
@Sue:
I know what you mean. I could trust Bill Clinton, because I knew he was completely corrupt.
Max Power
Great ad. I think this guy can win.
Nellcote
@Shinobi:
It’s Arkansas, the name is probably a plus.
asiangrrlMN
@Sue: It put my teeth on edge, too. However, from the little I can glean, he seems pretty decent as a candidate. I might throw a few bills his way. Maybe.
Nellcote
OT Tweety supports Bunning in his special comment. Asshat(s).
ChrisZ
So, does this guy have a stance on health care reform or are we just pissed at Lincoln?
Cain
@Mike Kay:
Really? You think so? According to GOS, Dem establishment is rallying around Lincoln. Hell, even the white house is throwing support for her. Their plan? Halter is a dirty hippy and needs to be punched in the face. Yes, they are going to attack from the right. Assholes. So much for party discipline.
(h/t GOS link here
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Jeff: My wife will run you over for calling it AK, it’s AR. AK is where our favorite Republican failure lives.
Also, for everyone out there, check out the Dem/Repub ratio in AR. There are far more than you would think.
auntieeminaz
From an e-mail received from Democracy for America:
I’m David Wayne McAvoy and I live in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
I grew up here, went to High School and College here, and now, I work here. I’m also one of the volunteer organizers of the Draft Bill Halter group on Facebook. We’ve been campaigning hard since November to get Arkansas’ Lieutenant Governor to challenge Blanche Lincoln for U.S. Senate and yesterday our hard work paid off.
As an Arkansan, I’d like to tell you why I’m supporting Bill Halter and what this race means for Arkansas and for America. Right now, almost everyone (save maybe the big business interests she represents) are mad at Blanche Lincoln and a lot of people are curious about Bill Halter.
Bill Halter (a former Social Security Administrator under President Clinton) ran for Lieutenant Governor in 2006, against the wishes of the state’s party establishment. He defeated a right wing Democrat in the primary, and in the general election he defeated the religious right champion with 57% of the vote. Upon winning, Bill promised to use the office of Lieutenant Governor in a way no one else had, and he’s kept that promise, delivering results for the people of Arkansas that no other Arkansas politician, Democrat or Republican, has even bothered to do.
ETA: There is much more in the e-mail. He was just on the Ed Show. This guy sounds like he could win.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Cain: Actually, the White House spin is they’ll work with whoever represents Arkansas which is currently Lincoln. It sounded to me like non-committal spin.
Midnight Marauder
@Jeff:
This is true. However, between the $3 million he got today from the AFL-CIO, the $600,00 the Netroots raised for him yesterday (ROAR!), and the other let’s say $500,000 they’ll put up the rest of the week (DOUBLE ROAR!), suddenly Lincoln’s formidable war chest advantage isn’t so formidable.
trollhattan
@ Ed in NJ
I’m imagining all the blog posts: “Halter on Top!”
Nice break from “Romney Rising,” which is just all kinds of wrong.
trollhattan
p.s. Edit function fix of block quote fail, fail. It no save change. Mongo sad.
Napoleon
For what it is worth my impression is that some of Lincoln’s cash was donated for the general election similar to what happened with Hillary.
Nick
@Napoleon:
Just like the example LBJ made of Robert Byrd?
Nick
@Midnight Marauder:
Wait until Halter comes out against repealing DOMA or DADT or favors cutting funding for abortions in the healthcare bill, that money will dry up faster than an Ethiopian lake circa 1984.
Nick
I hope Halters wins, I really do…but allow me to make a prediction now…One of two spins the blogsphere will push if Halter gets creamed by Boozman .
1.) The establishment didn’t support him
2.) He abandoned his progressive base.
Anyone want to take a bet on which one it will be?
Nicole
@Comrade Scrutinizer:
I don’t know; it’s still a sexist term to me. Can’t we just be gender-neutral and call everyone assholes?
Tax Analyst
Campaign Committee:
“Boobs for Halter”
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Tax Analyst:
“Party is surprised as Halter tops money raising record in naked bid for disputed seat”.
Honus
I gave him $50 today through MoveOn, because I guess I had promised to do that. They said the total from MoveOn at that point was $777,000.
He’s already won statewide office in Arkansas, so I think he has a chance. I’d like to see how he does, running like a real democrat, or at least to the left of Lincoln. That’s worth a few bucks to me.
cat48
From Kos, maybe I’ll send money when he decides on cap and trade and makes hcr position plainer…..is this what EFCA is now?
CalD
You realize that if I’m right about what an absolutely pig-stupid idea it is to mount a primary challenge to Blanche Lincoln from the left this year, and I’m pretty sure I am, you are never gonna hear the end of it. If this seat ends up in the hands of an Arkansas Republican then long after I’m dead you’ll still be waking up in the middle of the night with the sound of my voice saying, “I told you soooooooooo….” echoing in your ears.
CalD
That fact alone should clue you to what a dumbass idea this is. You’d probably have to go back as far as the Clinton administration to find the last time MoveOn had a good idea. Y’all seriously couldn’t find a Republican anywhere that you’d rather fuck with than Lincoln? I damned sure can.
Bubba Dave
@CalD:
If Blanche Lincoln were unopposed in the primary, the seat would end up in the hands of an Arkansas Republican. The only way she wins reelection is if Obama is the Republican nominee.
That said, assume that Bill Halter wins the nomination and gets disemboweled in the general– the message will still have been sent that a red-state Dem who doesn’t respect her left flank can get the boot. Lincoln, Nelson, Bayh– all have felt free to tack as far to the right as they could because the only danger is being too liberal. If the result of this race is that the DFHs claim a scalp, at least that will force other red-state Dems to pay some attention to the Democratic wing of the Democratic party. That’s progress right there.
Nick
@Bubba Dave:
and get replaced by a teabagging Republican, the message would be sent that the left flank has to shut up and deal with their conservadem or get their asses spanked in a general election…but nice try.
Reminds me of those who said this about Nader…how did that work out?
TheBigotBasher
@CalD:
It has a great probability of ending up in Republican hands now, she will not get Republican support – to them any Democratic candidate is a commie pinko and she has no other support.
At least a new candidate may re-energize Democratic voters there.
Nick
@TheBigotBasher:
What Democratic voters? Can we all stop pretending there’s some great progressive movement in Arkansas?!
NobodySpecial
Wow, it’s almost like Nick believes it’s a center-right nation.
CalD
@Bubba Dave:
Lincoln was looking rather good in the last real poll I saw of hypothetical Republicans. Anyway, if you think the race is a lost cause, why spend any money on it. Aren’t there any actual Republican seats up for reelection. If Arkansas is a goner then we ought to be looking to how to make up for the loss.
@TheBigotBasher:
Last time I checked there were at least three basic flavors of voters, (not two). And the notion that anyone is going to win a Senate race in Arkansas this year by running to the left of Blanche Lincoln simply does not pass the laugh test.
CalD
@NobodySpecial:
Wait. Arkansas is a nation now? You’d think they would mention that in the brochures…
General Egali Tarian Stuck
I don’t have anything against primary challenges of dems –and fools and their money are soon parted. Just so long as the left wing doesn’t run third party candidates, then it will only be a waste of money, though not mine.
Blanche Lincoln doesn’t join winger filibusters that I know of and there is currently only one doing so on a regular basis and that is Nelson. She opposed a government insurance plan, or a PO if you will. This is a senator from a state that went 58% to 38% to Mccain over Obama in 2008. She is not doing poorly in the polls because she isn’t liberal or progressive enough, and up until her election year this year was pretty darn prog in her voting, at least for a red state dem, much more so than Arkansas’s other dem Mark Pryor.
And even this year and last she wasn’t the most conservative among conservadems, and her record of voting in 2008 back was more to the left and about middle of the road for red state dems.
Maybe this new guy will do better if he wins the primary, which he won’t, because Arkansas dems love Lincoln though not thrilled with all of her votes no doubt. The problem is there just isn’t enough libtards in that state to win with alone. And if he won, then the advantage of incumbency will not be with dems, and if and when the economy improves she will likely win back some independents and could possibly eek out a victory in this increasingly wingnutty state. And every dollar you send her dem challenger, is one less that could have been used in the general for Lincoln to prevail.
Blanche Lincoln is no wingnut, not at heart, and is doing what she and any other dem would do to win in that state, which is swing temporarily to the right. And here is her voting record, for any who might be interested.
Who is next before the prog firing squad? Webb? Testor? Dorgan? etc.. they all have similar voting patterns as Lincoln’s this year.
fraught
@Nicole:
Sure…or, bitch. Some men really hurt being called bitch. All the more reason to do it.
2th&nayle
@General Egali Tarian Stuck: Thx for posting Lincoln’s voting record links. Lincoln is one of my senators and I call myself staying fairly informed, but after perusing her record over the years I must admit, that for the most part, she’s been a pretty reasonable voice. Most of my complaint with her has been the Blue Dog related HCR hubbub. One thing I had forgotten was that she was one of the few that had the guts to vote against the MCAof2006 and that counts heavy with me. Of course Mark Pryor voted for it, so it was pretty much a zero sum, but still. I think people make a mistake to paint Arkansas as a deep red state. As has probably already been noted, the Gov, both senators, and 3 out of 4 congressmen are Democrats, so deep purple might be a better choice of colors. In the 2008 election, the Repubs didn’t even field an opponent to Pryor. His only opposition was from Green Party candidate Rebekah Kennedy and she got 20% of the vote, which doesn’t sound too good, until you take in consideration that she was running against the incumbent son of a former Arkansas Governor and Senator, David Pryor, and was a DFH besides!. My point is, if all you look at is the 2008 Presidential Election to determine that the majority of Arkansas voters are conservative wingnuts, you’d be mistaken. Granted we’ve got our fair share, but it’s by no means a wash for the Repubs, no matter how the Democratic primary works out. And just for the record I think Bill Halter has a damn good chance to be the Demo nominee.
beatty
You guys/gals are sounding like….Rahm or something. I think Halter’s ad is great. I think if he wants to run, he should go for it. He’s run before and won. All your arguments against him running sound a bit like establishment types who were against Howard Dean’s 50 state strategy to go after voters who wouldn’t normally support a Dem without a little presence and funding.
joe from Lowell
Uh, the ones who greatly outnumber Republicans in voter registration?
The ones who have already elected Bill Halter to statewide office?
Oh, yeah! Those Democratic voters.
joe from Lowell
Again, this is what huge majorities are for.
Nicole
@fraught: Yeah… telling me some men are upset at being called a feminine insult is really not making the case for me. Then again, women don’t usually get called “masculating” terms as an insult, so maybe my feelings would be terribly hurt if the situation were reversed. Who knows? Quick, someone, call me a dick and I’ll let you know if my feelings are hurt or if I laugh.
Bubba Dave
@CalD:
Blanche is dead politically (polling double digits behind Republican challengers). The question now is can we get some use out of her (political) corpse?
@Nick:
If Blanche were running neck and neck with Republican challengers, I might have a different tactical opinion. But she’s a goner; we can switch horses and have a slight chance of winning and a risk of losing even bigger, or we can stick with Blanche and take our safe, reliable ten-point thumping.
Bubba Dave
@Nicole:
Dude, quit being such a dick!
Seriously, I’m with Nicole. “Bitch” is usually a term that means “a woman who is smarter or more assertive than I want her to be.” Blanche Lincoln is an asshole, like DiFi and Ann Coulter and Maggie Gallagher and Jim Bunning and Orrin Hatch and… well, you get the idea. One insult for all, and all for one insult!