By Jason Tolbert
I have to admit that I was surprised by the results of Democratic runoff on Tuesday.
Along with most pundits, I expected Lt. Gov. Bill Halter to win albeit with slight margin. However, Sen. Blanche Lincoln surprised us by barely taking the nomination with 52 percent of the vote.
Shortly after her win on Tuesday evening, she sent out an e-mail to supporters saying former President Clinton had dubbed her the “new comeback kid.” In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.
The story of the evening may have been her surprise win, but the overall story of the primary was of an embattled two-term unpopular senator barely earning her own party nomination while having to deplete her million-dollar campaign war chest in the process.
“Sen. Lincoln survived this intra-party war by fully embracing her liberal Washington record, but she faces an uphill battle explaining to mainstream Arkansas voters why she has consistently voted for the Obama-Pelosi-Reid economic agenda in Washington,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee in a statement Tuesday evening. “With John Boozman as our nominee, I believe that this seat will be a prime pick-up opportunity for our party this November.”
The results from both May 18 and June 8 demonstrate how weak the Democratic Senate nominee is, particularly in the rural counties where she should excel as chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. She survived instead by turning out enough of the party faithful in Little Rock, Fayetteville, Pine Bluff and Jonesboro.
Shortly after 10 p.m., Halter took to the microphone at his watch party to thank his supporters and let them know that he had called Lincoln to concede the race. However, television cut away only minutes into his speech as Lincoln came to the podium in front of a crowd of cheering and relived supporters at her watch party claiming victory for the night.
Although seemingly offering an olive branch to the Halter supporters thanking them for their “good fight” and asking for their help, the slight was impossible not to notice. Sources tell me that this was not accidental, but rather Lincoln was watching Halter’s speech backstage and made the conscious decision to cut him off.
This move was perhaps the last in a long series of missteps that defined Lincoln’s primary campaign. Her first order of business after winning the nomination should have been an immediate focus on uniting her party and reaching out to almost half of the Democratic voters that supported her opponent. Instead, she took the occasion to get one last dig in at Halter.
The senator now begins the general election down by a margin of well over 20 points against Boozman. She begins this task after having to spend in excess of $7 million and being forced to take some left of center positions, aligning herself with unpopular President Obama and the unpopular health care plan.
Although it is still a long five months to November, Boozman is about the only Senate candidate who can consider Tuesday night a victory.
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Jason Tolbert is an accountant and conservative political blogger. His blog — The Tolbert Report — is linked at ArkansasNews.com. His e-mail is jason@TolbertReport.com.
