By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — Lt. Gov. Bill Halter ended months of speculation over his political plans today, announcing he will challenge U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., in a Democratic primary.

Halter’s office said the lieutenant governor would file as a candidate Tuesday, the second day of the week-long filing period. Halter was not available for interviews today, but he said in an e-mail it is time for a change in Washington.

Lt. Gov. Bill Halter

“Change is still possible. We can get America back to work, creating jobs. We can fix our broken health care system. And we can start helping Main Street instead of Wall Street,” he said.

Lincoln, who filed today as a candidate for re-election to a third term, told supporters at her campaign headquarters in Little Rock she is positioned between two extremes.

U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark.

“I am the rope in a tug of war between outside special interests,” Lincoln proclaimed at a rally at her downtown headquarters.

Lincoln said she is not endeared to extremes from the left or right, nor does she serve the president.

“I don’t answer to party, I answer to you” she told supporters.

In Washington, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said President Obama supports Lincoln as the incumbent senator.

While waiting at the state Capitol to file, Lincoln said Halter’s entry into the race does not change her strategy.

“We’ve always been going at it 150 percent; we’re going to do that now. It doesn’t change anything,” the senator said.

Asked if she was referring to Halter when she spoke of extremes, Lincoln said Halter “doesn’t have a record, so we don’t know what his stands are on issues.”

But Lincoln said she is “probably” not as far to the left politically as Halter.

“I believe that most Arkansans are very much focused on getting things done and getting results, and I think the best way to get results is to govern from the center,” she said.

Lincoln has faced troublesome poll numbers in recent months, consistently polling well below a 50 percent approval rating. As many as eight Republicans have said they plan to enter the Senate race, including U.S. Rep. John Boozman, R-Rogers, and Republican Curtis Coleman, a North Little Rock businessman, both of whom filed as candidates today.

Halter is the first Democrat to announce plans to run against Lincoln.

The lieutenant governor released a video message to supporters Monday in which he stands in a middle-class North Little Rock neighborhood and says Washington is doing nothing to help middle-class Americans. He points out that he worked in the budget office of Bill Clinton’s administration when that administration balanced the budget.

In 2006, he ran for lieutenant governor on a promise to create a state lottery to fund college scholarships. Two years later, he led the drive to put a constitutional amendment on the Arkansas ballot to create a state scholarship lottery. The amendment passed with nearly two-thirds of the vote.

The state began selling lottery tickets last September and lottery officials expect the program to generate more than $100 million for scholarships in its first year.

Also today, state Sen. Shane Broadway, D-Bryant, announced as a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, about an hour after Halter released his video. Republican Mark Darr of Rogers filed today for lieutenant governor.

The filing period will end at noon next Monday.