It used to be that five million dollars in corporate money was enough to make a senator safe in their seat. But times have changed:
Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter (D) is quickly becoming the darling of the liberal left in his primary challenge to Sen. Blanche Lincoln. In the space of just 36 hours, four liberal groups — Moveon.org, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Democracy for America and the Daily Kos blog — collected more than $1 million for his campaign, a remarkable total that suggests that Lincoln’s presumed cash advantage in the race may be in some jeopardy. And today the Sierra Club launches two weeks of radio ads blasting Lincoln for backing a “Big Oil bailout” in the form of her support for an effort by Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) to keep the Environmental Protection Agency from overseeing greenhouse gas emissions.
Blanche Lincoln’s money advantage could be wiped out in a matter of weeks. And all from small donors who think she’s a terrible Democrat because she puts Wal*Mart first. Do you think she saw this coming? I don’t.
What I certainly didn’t expect was that there is that much loose change out there in a time of high unemployment, forclosures, and medical bankruptcy.
Either more folks are better off than I thought or all that talk about a Democratic or progressive enthusiasm gap has created a backlash.
One of the implicit strategies in ActBlue and other progressive funds aggregation tools (and the correponding traditional bundling of union contributions) is that it could become a way of buying our country back. And this realization was based on seeing the funding for members of Congress and realizing how cheaply they were selling out. If ordinary folks are able to raise the cost of buying a member of Congress high enough, it is no longer a slam-dunk decision for corporations to kick in; the cost-benefit calculation gets dicier. We are well away from that point at the moment, but it is nonetheless a possibility in a nation of 330 million people.
Actually not surprised – indeed kept checking the bats over at the orange place on the first day for high numbers. Some of us small donation contributors (I guess alot of us) have been holding out for passage of hcr (last week the DSCC caller yelled at me) and following the possibility of Halter, promising contributions. As soon as he announced made sure to get donations in on the first day, both through Actblue and Moveon in response to their email.
Wow, the liberal left co-opting some of that Tea-Baggin’ style fervor and applying it to the Blue Dogs.
And not a Hitler poster or a gun in sight around the Halter campaign headquarters.
Who would have thought you could do it that way?
Weeks? Heck no, it’s already almost gone:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/afl-cio-backs-halter-in-arkansas-commits-3m-to-defeat-lin
coln.php
“A labor source confirmed to TPMDC tonight that the AFL-CIO voted to back new Senate candidate Lt. Gov Bill Halter over Sen. Blanche Lincoln in the May 18 Democratic primary in Arkansas. Three unions within the umbrella group have committed to a $3 million independent expenditure on Halter’s behalf.”
That’s $1 Million from the Progressive netroots, and $3 Million from the AFL-CIO. So he’s currently looking at having about a $4 Million war chest, in 3 days. Let’s hope he uses that gift to spend less time having to fundraise, and more time out campaigning to the people of AR.
Let me guess. Lincoln opposes the Employee Free Choice Act.
Blue dogs and “centrist” Dems please take note.
They’ll only take note if Lincoln is crushed. Did they take note from Al Wynn getting spanked? Or from HoJo losing the primary? No, they didn’t.
Exactly – it only actually matters if Halter gets the win. And THEN he has to win the general too, which is apparently no sure bet.
Still, it’s great to see someone of Lincoln’s political ilk threatened from the left. The folks making that happen are to be applauded.
Puts Evan Bayh’s decision to shaft the primary process in a whole new light.
If she truly wasn’t aware that large sums of netroots money can be raised very quickly, then Blanche (or her handlers) hasn’t been paying attention. It’s certainly not the first time that money has been raised quickly. And, after all, she has been something of a lightning rod for lefty anger. Did she really not see a strong challenge coming?
Did she really not see a strong challenge coming?
Yes and no. If Halter loses, he’s basically pissed away any remaining political career he has. There has been talk of a primary for a while now. The big question is who, if anyone, would jump in. Did they expect the sitting Lt. Governor to jump in as compared to someone like General Wesley Clark(just using him as example since most people know his name)? I don’t know.
I am referring to the loss of her money advantage, not that she might receive a challenge.
Pretty vindictive since he probably won’t win the Gen. or even arrive in DC in time for hcr. Halter won’t say if he would vote for cap n trade and fudged on EFCA last night on Ed. Forgive me if I’m not impressed with the new pretty boy.