So, yeah, that Bill Halter thing, all a wasted effort right?  Should have saved our time and money, right?  Bullshit.  Think about it, we came within a hair of knocking off an incumbent U.S. Senator in a machine state!  We brought labor, progressives, environmentalists, minorities, and so many others so much hope that they could chance a political system that has left them out in the cold, and we almost pulled it off.

So what happened?  I can explain that one simply.  Halter underperformed in Pulaski County.  That was his base, and we were thinking he should be able to pull it in.  Thing is, he was running an anti-establishment campaign and, as John once summed up nicely, you don’t get much more establishment in the Democratic Party than Pulaski County Dems.  The Clinton/Obama support didn’t hurt down there either, or in Jefferson County for that matter.  (Garland County didn’t help much either, but I’ll have a post on that in a minute.)  Kos had a great comment last night that summed it up.  Basically, the Republicans are nominating teabagging nutjobs that can’t win in November.  We’re trying to nominate candidates that can win in November and the party establishment is doing everything they can to stop us!

And yeah, I mean it, Blanche Lincoln’s victory last night was pyrric.  She is DOA in November.  Her corporate buddies that helped do in Bill Halter aren’t going to lift a finger to help her.  If she or her team think that’s the case, then frankly, they’re stupid.  At one point, she could have earned back the Democratic base’s support, but after all the attacks on progressives, unions, and environmentalists she’s now going to find herself seriously friendless.  There’s already one Democratic pollster warning not to waste money on her.  My question is, is she really going to be as cutthroat and ruthless to Boozman as she was to Bill Halter?  Somehow I doubt it…

We at Blue Arkansas decided as a team after the initial primary that if Blanche was the party’s nominee we would not be endorsing her.  That’s the beauty of being a blog for progressive Democrats working to elect better Democrats-you don’t have to endorse all the bad Dems that come along.  My worry though is that Lincoln is electoral poison.  She’s so unpopular and she managed to alienate so many people she was going to need in November that it could have a net negative effect on our down ballot candidates.  I think we can still outwork it, but it’s going to be hard, and I know Democratic enthusiasm took a big blow last night.  Still, Joyce Elliott, David Whitaker, and Chad Causey need our help, as do O’Brien and Bryant (though probably to lesser extents).  We tried our hardest to make this a better year for Arkansas Democrats.  Bill Halter could have consolidated the base after last night.  From where I’m standing, it doesn’t look like Blanche Lincoln can.  Still, we keep going, no matter what.  This isn’t about winning an election or about the letter beside someone’s name.  It’s about changing people’s lives and about changing the way things are done.  It’s about building a movement  from the ground up.  We came a long way in such a short time, less than a year, and we’ve still got a lot of work to do.  The fight ain’t over yet folks.  Let’s recoup, retool, and get back to work!

According to politico, the state party is expecting a Lincoln loss:

Top Arkansas sources tell us the state’s political establishment expects Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) to LOSE her primary runoff tonight by at least 5 points — and perhaps 7 to 10, since insurgents have been outperforming their polls this year. That’ll make her the fifth incumbent member of Congress to get fired even before November. She’ll be the third senator (after Bennett of Utah and Specter of Pennsylvania), making the most primary-season defeats for senators since 1980, when four went down. (hat tip: Howard Mortman) Two House incumbents also have lost: Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) and Rep. Parker Griffith (R-Ala.), who switched D. In another time, Lincoln’s seat on the Agriculture Committee would have served as an insurance policy with voters in the rural state. Now, anything about Washington is bad. For once, the media aren’t exaggerating: It’ll be an ugly November for insiders.

Now, personally I think it’s a little too early for team Halter to celebrate or for team Lincoln to throw in the towel. Elections are funny things and Arkansas is a funny state. Anything can happen, and we if this is close then there’s no telling what the mess in Garland might do. So let’s just sit tight and be patient.

You know, the more I see the more I’m convinced that most of the Arkansas media sucks.  I have to say, Meredith Oakley’s column on this race with LJ Bryant and Monty Davenport for Land Commissioner over the weekend was excellent.  It’s nice to see someone out there telling the truth about this race and giving a shout out to bloggers like the Blue Hog Report for their excellent investigative work on the Greedy Monty site.  According to BHR, Oakley doesn’t get all the details exactly right, but if it wasn’t for our Tech Guy I wouldn’t have been able to either, so no fault there.  All in all, it’s nice to see someone is still willing to look at the evidence here and to learn that real journalism isn’t dead.

If you haven’t cast your vote already, make sure you don’t forget L.J. Bryant in the Land Commissioner’s race.  Modernizing Arkansas’ constitutional offices across the board is as important as any other task, and getting him elected will help us build a progressive bench for years to come.

The Garland County issue is making such huge waves as to draw attention from one of our candidates for Secretary of State, Blue Arkansas endorsed candidate Pat O’Brien. Here’s the press release:

Pat O’Brien, a candidate for Arkansas Secretary of State, today strongly denounced the decision of the Garland County Election Commission to reduce the number of polling places for the June 8th Run-off Election to only two county-wide. In addition, he offered his own plan for how to avoid this situation in future elections along with encouraging voters in Garland County to vote anyway.

“The Garland County voting situation has become a mess,” said O’Brien, “What started out as an effort to save money has created a crisis that could have been avoided with a few simple legal changes. Bottom-line, I don’t want even one person to be discouraged to vote.” O’Brien offered a three-point plan of how this situation can be avoided in the future:

1) Every county in Arkansas needs to have an election coordinator that has been certified by the Secretary of State’s office as qualified to conduct elections and enforce the myriad of laws pertaining to elections. O’Brien has made this a center point of his campaign since last year;
2) Election Commissions should be required to petition the Secretary of State prior to consolidating more than 15% of polling locations when there are statewide or Congressional races on the ballot. The Secretary of State will then keep a central registry of all polling places publicly available on its’ website. Any campaigns affected should have a reasonable time to appeal the decision; and
3) An Election Commission should be required to perform a cost analysis of how much money it will take to notify affected voters individually prior to making a decision.

“It matters who is overseeing elections in Arkansas,” said O’Brien, “I was able to take a train wreck of an election system in Pulaski County and turn it into a point of pride. I hope and pray that every person in Garland County is allowed to exercise their right to vote on Tuesday.”

Pat O’Brien is currently seeking the Democratic nomination for Arkansas Secretary of State. Pat has served as Pulaski Circuit and County Clerk since 2005. He has also served his community on the Pulaski County School Board and as Chief of Staff for the 22nd Judicial District’s Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Prior to public service, Pat had a successful law practice and served as Director of Operations for JKP Foods, Inc., running seven McDonald’s restaurants in North Pulaski County. He is a native of Jacksonville, Arkansas, and received both his Bachelors and Juris Doctorate degrees from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

I have to say, I like these ideas. Arkansas needs serious election reform, that’s for sure. And if O’Brien makes it into the Secretary of State’s office, he will have a mandate to clean this mess up, and Blue Arkansas will be here to make sure he delivers. I’ve said it many times. The right to vote is sacred, and we can’t allow what’s happened in Garland to go unanswered.

Damn, right up until the bitter end with this lady.  Think Progress catches Lincoln blasting Halter for letting “others” fund his campaign when she’s taken a ton of corporate cash.  Among the gems of her corporate treasure chest:

- $9,000 from insurance giant Aetna Inc.
- $7,000 from petroleum company Anadarko
- $6,000 from drug corporation Bayer
- $2,000 from Bechtel corporation
- $5,500 from insurance company Blue Cross Blue Shield
- $5,000 from defense contractor Boeing
- $5,000 from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- $5,000 from Charles Schwab brokerage house
- $10,000 from oil giant Chevron
- $6,000 from telecommunications corporation Comcast
- $5,000 from oil company ExxonMobil
- $6,500 from investment bank Goldman Sachs
- $8,000 from retailer Home Depot
- $6,500 from investment bank JP Morgan Chase
- $7,000 from defense contractor Lockheed Martin
- $5,000 from oil industry giant Occidental Petroleum
- $8,000 from retailer Wal-Mart

But besides that, I noticed another little lie in Lincoln’s comment:

LINCOLN: I’ve spent the last oh gosh the last week on our countdown to victory tour in 20, 25 county courthouses across the state. Bill hasn’t been doing that, he’s been letting other people fund his campaign and do his dirty work and I’ve been out there with the people.

Umm…Blanche?  Bill’s been running on his “Countdown to Change Tour” and from the look of things has crossed more of the state than you have.  For interested parties, he’ll be at the Jonesboro headquarters Monday the 7th around 5.  She just can’t break from her narrative, right up until the end.

You know, I got to talking with a friend of mine last night and figured out what makes Tim Wooldridge so dangerous. Both of us had met Wooldridge in the past, back when he was running for Lt. Gov, and remember him as being rather charming and coming off as very sweet natured. And that’s probably genuine too. When you meet the guy, it’s hard to believe you’re talking to the man who who tried to bring back hangings or has been campaigning with such dishonest tactics and lies to suppress the truth on things like his vote against tax breaks for military men or his awful anti-gay positions. That’s what makes him so dangerous. He’s good at sweet talking and playing the politics of imagery, and when confronted on his record he and his supporters do their best to cover it up and even Wooldridge himself is not beneath lying to voters, especially about his vote against tax breaks to military men and women.

We saw those lies on full display in his last ad.  Now though we’re seeing Tim Wooldridge really insult the voters intelligence with things like this:

Votes against tax breaks for service men and women while we’re at war.  But he has a jeep!  Such patriotism!  And then there was this little doozy.

That pic came from a friend of mine who was at the Memorial Day event here in Jonesboro.  According to him, both Wooldridge and Causey were there, but Causey’s team didn’t even have stickers on their shirt. (I don’t have confirmation on that however.)  Wooldridge though parked this trailer right out there for everone to see.

But it gets even better.  Remember awhile back when I posted those polite, respectful explanations of why we ran with the Tim Wooldridge hate group story on their facebook page and extended the offer for the Wooldridge team to give their side of the story?  Remember how instead of responding and discussing the issue with us they deleted the comments?  Yeah, apparently they didn’t learn anything from it:

At least this time they actually gave a threat.  That guy at the end doing threatening to delete the post without responding to the substance by the way is Gary Phillips, an occassional commenter here and Chair of the Mississippi County Democrats (at least he was last I heard) and a Wooldridge supporter.  And he’s right, I do have my own blog to spew my crap, but I also have no time for politicians and their thugs that try to stomp out discussion and dissent.

So hey, let them take the damn thing down.  It will just prove my point and confirm everything I’ve been saying about Wooldridge and his goons.  So go ahead Gary, take the damn post down and show us all what we can expect from Tim Wooldridge and his supporters if we’re unfortunate enough to get stuck with him as our party’s nominee and our Congressman.  Just go right ahead.  And by the way folks.  For all I have had to complain about Chad Causey, he has never stopped anyone who disagrees with him or criticizes him from doing so on his facebook page.  In fact, you can still find comments from Blue Arkansas readers raking him over the coals for his opposition to the health care reform bill on his discussions page.  Bill Halter has been really good about allowing people to challenge him on his facebook page.  Even Blanche Lincoln and her team don’t seem to adopt these tatics on their page.  It’s just the Wooldridge people, and that should tell you something.  This isn’t some personal page we’re talking about.  This is the facebook page of a man running for office, and it’s become increasingly apparent with every passing day that Wooldridge has no business being in Congress.  The last thing the first district needs is someone who’s supporters resort to intimidation, lies, and coverups to shield him.  We don’t need people who think like the Bush-Cheney thugs in any office in Arkansas, be their Democrat or Republican.

And I want to say this to the Wooldridge supporters.  I want to see you defend this guy’s record on the merits.  Come on, defend the military issue.  Defend the hanging bill.  Defend his opposition to ENDA.  Defend his membership on the board of a hate group.  Come on, do it.  Bring it and stop acting like a bunch of underhanded cowards.

Read this article.  Especially this part:

At first, he said an attorney with the Secretary of State’s office advised him he could do it, so he made the announcement.

But he later came across an Arkansas law that requires him to give at least 5 days notice to the public when opening a polling location.

“I don’t want to break any laws… and once we researched the law we realized we could not do it,” he said.

That’s the now notorious Charles Tapp talking about why he couldn’t keep the polls opened today as he promised with over 200 voters showing up and being turned away.  But you know what’s telling?  Watch this video again:

That’s right.  Tapp says in the article that he had to give five days notice.  In the video he says ten days.  This is after serving as an election official for eighteen years and apparently not having learned the damn election law by now.  Still believing his crocodile tears?  I wouldn’t blame you, this character poors it on so thick that even John was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for his screw up.  John’s a nice guy…but I’m not.  This guy Tapp is lying his ass off, and through it all he still can’t admit that the actual “mistake” was reducing the polling places so dramatically.  But then again, it’s not a mistake at all.  Make no mistake, this is by design.

Remember how rural voters broke so heavily for Halter in the primary?  Well now those same rural voters have to travel miles across a mountain range to get to town on a weekday to cast their vote, and Tapp ran away when he was asked about what this would do to disenfranchise minorities.  How painfully obvious can this get?

Oh, I’ll tell you how.  While Halter was going down to Hot Springs to stand up for the right to vote and stuck up for the people trying to do their sacred civic duty, Lincoln couldn’t even bother to talk to us with that condescending double speak of hers:

A spokesperson with Senator Blanche Lincoln’s campaign said they do not have any comment at this time.

Couldn’t even say they were troubled by it.  If that’s not an admission of guilt I don’t know what is.  And now I’m hearing rumors that similar stuff is going on in other places, like in Texarkana.  I don’t know for sure, but if any readers have information, please, let us know.

These are the depths the establishment is willing to stoop to.  I don’t have a doubt in my mind that there are more hands covered in dirt here than meets the eye.  They’re running scared and they’ve pulled out their dirtiest trick yet to win this and defeat Bill Halter and the growing progressive movement in Arkansas.  They know that if they lose this fight then things will change forever and there will be no going back.  Their time is up, and this shows plain as day why the Arkansas Democratic Party establishment needs to be ripped apart and rebuilt from the ground up.  Consider this our rallying cry.  Get everyone to the polls for Halter that you can.  All across the state.  Got a friend that hasn’t voted?  Move ‘em out.  Don’t take no for an answer.  Grandma not able to get out with out help?  Help her out like I did mine.  Tell the establishment to go to hell.  There time is over.  Our time has come.  Stand up and be counted.

This is a disabled woman who might not be able to make it back out in Garland County:

This is a woman who came to America has an immigrant and has always cherished the rights of a citizen since she became one:

These are the people they are willing to hurt and they are the people we are fighting for.  To those of you in Garland County I say this.  You are not alone.  You are not forgotten.  Stand and fight.  Do not let them take your right to vote away without waging the mother of all battles to get to the polls and to throw the people responsible for this out.  We will be with you until this is over, and I promise you that we’re going to do everything possible to win this fight.

Tell Blanche Lincoln to get off her ass and denounce this.  No comment and doublespeak is unacceptable.  You can contact her campaign office or her Senate office.  She is, after all, a candidate and your Senator at the same time and needs to be reminded of that

Her Senate office contact info:

 Washington-202-224-4843, Little Rock-501-375-2993, email form.

Her campaign contact info:

(501) 801-2800, info@blancheforsenate.com

Don’t stop there  Call the Garland County Elections Commission-  501-622-3622 – and the Arkansas Elections Commission- (501) 682-1834 or (800) 411-6996 . 

If your vote is at risk, call the Department of Justice and tell them what’s going on.  Switchboard- 202-514-2000, Voting Section- 202-307-27670

Today, as I was driving to Wynne to get my grandmother her absentee ballot (she’s recovering from successful surgery after a battle with lung cancer) I happened to hear former Arkansas Democratic Party chair Jason Willett on the radio, commenting on the races for U.S. Senate, AR-01, Secretary of State, and Land Commissioner.  The Senate portion on its own was fairly nauseating, with endless praise for Blanche Lincoln and rattling on about unions and outsiders attacking poor little Blanche.  The rest though was pretty standard fair, except for the Land Commissioner’s race.  There, Willett had plenty to say about the “Greedy Monty” story.  Now to be fair, Willett, qualified his statements by saying it looked like Bryant was behind the website from “what I’ve read.”  Clearly, Willett doesn’t read the Blue Hog Report.  That said, more interesting was his comment that it was unfortunate to see a “young candidate like Bryant going so negative.”  Now maybe I wasn’t paying close enough attention, but I never heard Willet once say anything about Lincoln’s nasty “Dollar Bill” or “Bill Halter’s Prescription Drug Problem” mailers.  And I know he’s never said anything about the nasty stuff that his old boss Marion Berry has to say about Halter.  And you know, it’s just a hunch, but if Davenport was the anti-establishment candidate, I don’t think Willett would have had much to say.  Just goes to show you, the Arkansas Democratic Party is like one big fraternity and the frat boys look out for their own.

The notion that Bryant is somehow connected to the “Greedy Monty” site has, after thorough research been debunked.  If you’ve been on Blue Hog Report or reading our blog during the last week you’d know that.  After Willett’s little remark on the radio today I’m more convinced than ever that it’s more about the establishment rallying around Davenport against the new guy.  Sound familiar?  Should by this point in the game.

The worst part about this is that Max Brantley has gotten in on the game.  With Brantley, it doesn’t seem so much motivation to support the establishment.  After all, he’s always been a voice for outsiders and progressives in the past.  Rather, Brantley can’t seem to get past Bryant’s support for Tim Wooldridge when he was just out of high school.  Bryant has detailed how his positions are far different from Wooldridge but Brantley’s not buying it.  What’s worse is he won’t even look at the work the Blue Hog Report has done to show that the emails in question are doctored.  I never thought I’d say this about Max Brantley, but I’m really disappointed in him.  The evidence is there on this, but he just seems to dismiss it because he can’t get past an old connection from when Bryant was just cutting his teeth on politics.  A lot of progressives across the state have looked to Brantley’s Arkansas Times and Arkansas Blog as an oasis of information in a state where so much of the media simply can’t be trusted.  For the first time, a lot of us are wondering if we can still think that way.  I don’t know, hopefully it will blow over.

All that said, L.J. Bryant is the progressive candidate in this race and he is the man with the vision for the Land Commissioner’s office.  So when you go to vote in the runoff, if you haven’t already, make sure you mark your ballot for him.

Check this ad:

Boy, I don’t know where to begin with this one. First off, Wooldridge did attack Causey for being young, unmarried, and not having kids.  That was the first shot across the bow in this runoff.  And that whole thing about how he’s never lived his life by tearing down another man?  I guess he’s not counting his efforts to make Bill Halter look like a porn tycoon:

“Perhaps it’s the experience of profiting from online gambling and internet pornography,” Wooldridge said. “Does he actually want to teach our children that it’s alright to profit from those types of industries, even using those ill-gotten gains to seek public office? Maybe he sees little wrong with those issues, since one of the companies he ‘leads’ was found to be storing images from teen pornography and gambling sites on public school and university servers,” Woodridge said.

Oh, and then he lied about his vote against tax cuts for military members, and Max Brantley busts him on it good.

But what I don’t get is the attack on the Blue Hog Report.  What?  He circles their name and suddenly that takes away their credibility?  Clearly Wooldridge is counting on voters being stupid.  Personally, I hope the Causey team has another ad in the works.  Personally, I’d like to see them hit him harder on the military issue, but hey, throw in the public hangings bill for good measure.  Let’s see Wooldridge lie about that!

Oh, and I want to say something just in case we have to cross this bridge.  This race is a pure tossup in our book and could go either way.  If Wooldridge is the nominee, we will not be endorsing him, and I personally plan to leave the House race blank on my ballot if he is the nominee.  It takes more than a D by your name to get my vote, and Wooldridge has done nothing to earn it.  If he is the nominee, there will be no significant difference, issue wise, between him and Rick Crawford.  And if he does get elected, let me assure you, we will highlight every right wing vote, every fiasco he tries to sweep under the rug, and do whatever we can to field primary challengers every election year until he is gone.  We’ve come a long way in just under a year, and Blue Arkansas and the Arkansas progressive movement will only grow.  If he’s elected, we’ll throw him out in 2012.  If not then, 2014.  If not then, 2016.  If not then, 2018.  If not then…well, you get the picture.  Put it this way, I’ll be 24 this year and most of the men in my family die somewhere between 70 and 90.  Time I’ve got, and Blue Arkansas ain’t going anywhere.

Hopefully it doesn’t come to that though.  I’d much rather see Tim Wooldridge retire peacefully to his overpaid lobbying gig and let bygones be bygones.  That’s why it’s important to get everyone you know out for Chad.  Chad is the better candidate, simply by virtue of not being a gay rights opposing, hanging bill introducing, cartoon.  We can live with and work with Chad Causey far better than we will ever be able to do with Wooldridge, so get all your friends and family to the polls for him.  Hit up your facebook and myspace friends.  Send out emails.  If you can make it to Chad’s office in Jonesboro, go in and do some volunteering.  Anything and everything to help him make it across the finish line.  The alternative is just too awful to consider.

You know, someone I know dropped me a line today to talk about all the work we’ve been doing to fight back against Robbie Wills nasty politics.  (He has a new mailer out by the way.)  In the course of our conversation, I learned (and was reminded of) some interesting things about Pat O’Brien.  For one, I was reminded of how O’Brien was an early and avid supporter of Barack Obama and worked his butt off for him even when he was getting no help from establishment politicians.  What’s more, I wasn’t aware that O’Brien was a fierce opponent of Act 1 in 2008.  That makes me feel a lot better about O’Brien.  Sure it has nothing to do with the SoS job, but it will be nice to have a progressive bench of statewide office holders to choose from in future races.  Makes me feel even better about our endorsement.

Today, I had a phone interview with L.J. Bryant to discuss events that had unfolded of late in the campaign and some concerns that progressives had. There was a high bar for L.J. on this one. His campaign, once soaring, has been struggling in the last couple of days and hemorraging a bit of support. However, I was pleased and surprised to see him clear that bar.

Now let me be clear. It has become apparent that the emails that Bryant has been accused of sending are fraudulent. Whatever else L.J. might be criticized for, on this one he’s gotten some unfair treatment. That said, my bigger concern was always his progressive credentials and his connection with a few characters progressives like me find to be unsavory. So a large part of our discussion revolved around those issues.

L.J. explained that he has known Jack Critcher since he was three years old. Critcher owned a store where he lived and was kind to him growing up, always willing to talk, and so when he was old enough it more or less opened the door to a job and a gateway into politics. The rumor has circulated as to whether or not he would give Critcher a job in the Land Commissioner’s office and he responded without hesitation, “No. Absolutely not.”

We then talked about Tim Wooldridge. L.J. explained that in 2005, when he was 18, Wooldridge was the only person running for Lt. Gov and, at the time, was thought to be maybe the only candidate that would file. Again, he was just looking for a way to get involved and learn the ropes, and the only requirement was that the candidate be a Democrat. Speaking as someone who majored in political science, I can say that I see a lot of young people who think the same way early on. I can’t say that I was all that different at 18. Just to be safe though, I asked him about Wooldridge’s positions on LGBT issues and whether L.J. shared similar positions, particularly regarding employment discrimination. Bryant said that as Land Commissioner, he wouldn’t fire anyone based on their sexual orientation or anything other than whether or not they were doing their job. He also acknowledged that he might not be the most liberal person when it comes to LGBT issues, but he likes to think that he is friendly to the community and wants to see all Arkansans treated with dignity.

I also asked him about D.C. Morrison’s endorsement. He explained that when Morrison originally offered his support, he was hesitant, realizing it might raise some concerns among more progressive supporters. L.J. noted that Morrison had called the President a socialist at one point, and that to him that was unacceptable. But, he decided that the Land Commissioner’s office wasn’t an office that was particulary ideological or partisan, and he decided that he wanted to reach out across the spectrum, both political and generational, in his campaign. For good measure, I asked him if he agreed with Morrison that global warming was a hoax, and L.J. responded that science had effectively proven that climate change was a problem that had to be addressed.

As we were talking, L.J. mentioned one other campaign he had worked for that I thought was interesting. In 2004 he had gone off to support the Gephardt campaign because of his strong support for labor. (remember, L.J.’s dad was a union man) That wasn’t his only pro labor credential either. He’s also campaigned hard for the Employee Free Choice Act, something very few Arkansas politicians would lay claim to.

All in all it was an interesting conversation, and whatever concerns I may have had before, he succeeded in clearing them up. Again, I’m not interesting in assigning guilt by association. Bryant may have worked for some people I don’t particularly like or agree with and he may well have some support from constituencies far different from our own, but that’s no reason to abandon his campaign, especially considering his own progressive positions and his policy prescriptions that are far superior to Monty Davenport’s. And I have to say, I’m really disappointed in Max Brantley for not doing more research into the greedymonty story or judging Bryant’s progressiveness by his issue positions rather than some of his connections. Brantley usually offers Arkansans a much better service. In this one case, he dropped the ball in a big way.

There is one last thing I’ll point out. When Harry Truman was first elected to office, he came in under a cloud due to his ties to the Tom Pendergast machine in Missouri. Truman, famously, was derided as the “Senator from Pendergast”. However, he went on to become a progressive hero both as a U.S. Senator and as President. Bryant could well be in a similar position, though the concerns about his associates is more ideological than having anything to do with corruption. So we’re basically in a position where we could elect a progressive minded Democrat with a vision for the office, or a guy who’s only qualifications are his connection to the good ol’ boy racket and who will likely just occupy a desk. So the choice is clear, vote L.J. Bryant for Land Commissioner.

Meanwhile, one wonders if Max Brantley would have given Truman the same treatment…

Sometime back in April, I opined that a divisive Republican primary could potentially help Democrat David Whitaker in AR-03.  Today, Roby Brock made the same observation and people are starting to take notice.  Now, I want to explain something first.  Generally, I fall into the train of thought that says competitive primaries are good things.  They toughen a candidate up and force them to actually build a campaign operation that can win, and they excite the base and drive them to the polls.  However, there are a few exceptions that prove the rule.  Sometimes (and it’s not near as often as party bosses and nail biters think) a primary campaign gets so nasty and leaves so many hurt feelings and exhausted resources that a party’s nominee can’t recover.  Again, I can think of very few instances where this has actually happened.  Maybe the New Mexico Senate race in 2008 counts, but even that could be a stretch as more often than not what has happened in recent years is that the Republican primaries have produced candidates so far to the right that they’re unelectable.  That rule may not fly in the Republican stronghold of the third at this time though.  (I bet though that changing demographics will make that the case in the next decade.)  Anyway, I just want to make sure we’re careful not to fall into a fallacy that says Republican primaries are somehow always detrimental to the nominee but Democratic primaries aren’t.  That aside, what’s going on in the GOP primary is worth a look.  So let’s dive back into what’s gone on in another round of Crazy vs Crazy!

The latest spat has come from one of Steve Womack’s advisors calling Cecile Bledsoe an old lady.  That’s pretty far below the belt, I have to say.  That’s after this ad though:

Yeah, she compared him to Barack Obama in that…and is it just me, or did she darken his face too?  Seriously!  It looks like her ad team deliberately darkened his face and made him look more like, well, a black man!  That could just be my imagine, but it looks pretty crazy, hence Crazy vs Crazy.

So, could Whitaker maybe pull off an upset here?  Yeah, definitely.  Anything’s possible in American politics-haven’t you learned that yet?  But he needs to kick his campaign into gear.  He’s a good candidate I think, unafraid to stand up for progressive values and positions and solid in many other regards, but he needs to become more visible.  I bet that if the general election was polled he’d have extremely low name recognition right now, but that’s fixable.  He also needs to convince the state party to actually invest in this race.  There is one thing though that we can all do here to help his campaign pick up.  Contribute to it.  The chance of an upset here may still be slim, but it’s a lot more likely now than it was just a short time ago.  So come on, let’s give David Whitaker the resources he needs to kick this up a notch!

Okay, from where we are standing now, barring any further revelations, it looks like the emails tying LJ Bryant to greedymontydavenport.com are a hoax of some sort.  Our tech guy broke his long standing silence (and will hopefully continue to post when he has something to say) to explain this earlier.  Whether or not you’ll read that anywhere else besides Blue Arkansas or the Blue Hog Report I have no idea.  Take that one up with Brantley, Tolbert, Rutherford and all the rest.  But there is something that is bugging me and Max Brantley did nail this one correctly.  The problem isn’t the alleged dirty politics that the apparent hoax tried to portray.  (Blue Hog Report has a good theory on that now that’s worth investigating.)  Instead, what’s bugging a lot of us is his association with several right wing “Democrats.”

Two of these, believe it or not, I can actually understand.  Those would be Bryant’s employment by and past support of the loathesome Jack Critcher and Tim Wooldridge.  Why do I understand that?  Because Bryant is only 23, same age as yours truly.  Back when Wooldridge ran for Lt. Gov in ‘06, he was 19.  There are a lot of young guns interested in politics at that age who just go to work for whoever will take them.   A lot of times, they give them their all because they want to impress and earn their marks.  Is that a form of naivety?  Yeah, it’s called youth, and it ain’t a bad thing in all regards.  What’s more, from my conversation with Bryant and my observation on the campaign trail, he is presenting a progressive vision for the office.  Remember, this is the son of a union man who has spoken eloquently about the need for good government, improving people’s lives, supporting workers, and protecting the environment.  So yeah, he supported an awful Democrat and worked for an awful Democrat.  We’ve all done it, and hell, that’s one less to regret than what I’ve got on my score card. (And I’m not about to share those three names in public!)

What bugs me though is the endorsement of D.C. Morrison.  It’s one thing to get it and say thank you.  It’s another thing to make such a big deal out of having a nut job who thinks global warming is a hoax and ran to the right of Boozman supporting you.  I don’t know what the Bryant team was thinking, but it was undoubtably the stupidest move by a political candidate this cycle, and that’s AFTER Robbie Wills’ dumb attacks on Joyce Elliott mind you.  Not only did it look silly, it threatens to drive away the progressive support that has been fueling Bryant’s surge.  Max Brantley’s little post did a lot of damage, even if Max is indulging in a bit of guilt by association.

Today I sent an email requesting to talk to Bryant sometime soon.  I want to discuss this, and get his take on it from his mouth.  He needs to reassure progressives now, and he may well have to put in some work and answer some questions that take him off the beaten path.  Can he patch up the wounds before the election?  I hope so, because the more I think about it, the more convinced I am that this stuff doesn’t have the weight to it that a lot of people are attributing to it.

Remember those old Bugs Bunny cartoons where Elmer Fudd would be chasing Bugs into a room, only to pull open the door and get blasted with a cannon? Yeah, Robbie Wills just got that treatment.

I love Joyce Elliott…Seriously, that ad was brilliant. It hit back hard, nailed Wills on his own record and put him on defense, and Elliott never got off message. She handled herself like a pro and even introduced a little humor into the equation. Anyone worried about how she’ll handle Tim Griffin should now rest a little big easier. I’ve said from the beginning, do not underestimate this woman, and it seems like every time I turn around she’s proving that statement right.

The President of the Arkansas NAACP, Dale Charles is now saying what we’ve been saying all along.

“To say that she’s not electable that’s a code word for racism,” Dale Charles, president of Arkansas chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said in an interview. “She came out on top in a field of five in the primary … Why all the sudden does the word electability come up?”

He’s right. As I’ve said before, if Elliott looked like Vic Snyder or Kathy Webb or Sue Madison, none of this would come up. Now Wills himself hasn’t alluded much to Elliott’s race until now (more on that in a moment), but the people making the electability arguments about him are certainly dancing around the issue. Both John Adams and Patrick Kennedy were running out of Pulaski County with more liberal positions than Wills akin to Elliott’s. They clearly thought they were electable enough to make a go at it regardless of geography or ideology, so why is Elliott suddenly unelectable despite what they had in common? Come on, this stuff is such transparent bullshit.

Oh, but there is one thing Wills has been willing to introduce into the electability argument, besides geography:

But Wills said the main reason he gives the party the best chance of holding the seat in the fall is that Elliott’s “extreme views” are “out of touch with Arkansas values” — a contrast that wasn’t as clear as it could have been in the crowded primary.

Wills also characterizes Elliott too liberal on the issue of abortion.

The Elliott campaign hit back nicely on that one, firing off a press release detailing her positions on the second amendment, voluntary prayer, and abortion. As I’ve said many times, Elliott isn’t stupid. She knows what she’s up against here and what she’ll have to do to win this thing. Judging by how foolish Robbie Wills was with this mailer and with his positioning in the primary, I have to say I think his poor judgment really puts that electability argument to rest.

Oh, but Mr. Wills isn’t through putting the nail in his coffin yet:

If anyone has injected race into the runoff, he says it’s Elliot.

“Sen. Elliott has on many occasions made the point she’s the only African American female in the race,” said Wills.

Okay, first off, how is stating the obvious injecting race into the runoff? She is the only African American female in the race. That’s a statement of fact. But really, this is a familiar canard. Wills is playing to the old white victim mentality by acting as if Elliott is the one playing the race card unfairly. It’s an old trick that plays to racial resentment and Wills should be ashamed of himself.

You have no idea how happy I will be when Joyce Elliott ends his political career.