To DUers who live in AR, do you plan to hold your nose to vote for Blanche Lincoln in Nov?

[Bryn]

I don't want to have to hold my nose to vote for her comes November. It'd be just as bad as voting for a repug.

I cannot stand her and I don't like her. I don't want her to represent me! x(


on edit: changed from "present" to "represent" Oooops!

Anyway I live in Garland County where they reduced 42 voting places to just two places in Hot Springs, AR where Bill Halter is very popular. I don't feel good about this.

[Sebastian Doyle]

1. Let's just say it's a good thing I don't live there

So it doesn't effect my vote. Only turns my stomach that the Repukes will get away with another stolen election.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

15. You don't live in AR. (nt)

[brentspeak]

3. As someone on Kos noted, Lincoln didn't run against Halter; she ran against his supporters

And now she has to grovel to the same people she vilified. It doesn't seem likely she'll be able to motivate statewide Democrats in order to beat Boozeman. Bill Halter would have had a much better chance at winning.

[Hawkeye-X]

4. I just hope my August primaries won't be like that.

I plan to vote early in Colorado for Romanoff.

I can't stand Bennet.

[depakid]

5. Someone in LBN is going to write in the Spaghetti Monster

:rofl:

[merci_me]

6. I don't live in Arkansas but.........

I'd have to hold my nose (something I've learned to do a lot, since moving to Texas) and vote for Lincoln.

I think for all Democrats, it's imperative that we keep our eyes on the prize and that's a Democratic majority in both Houses and through all the States. We've lived through so many years of ruin, the only way to turn our Country back to what it can be again, is to hold as many majorities (thus the Chairs), that we can, even if that means holding our noses in some races, because nothing will happen if we don't have the numbers.

[kjackson227]

11. +1

[martymar64]

12. When Democrats in Congress votes like Republicans, what's the difference?

The Democratic Party and especially the White House has given up all pretense of even giving a shit about working people. Look at the White House staff, the Fed and the Treasury stuffed full of Goldman-Sachs cronies if you don't believe me.

From now on, I'm voting my conscience.

[merci_me]

13. You do that, but remember.........

when all the committee chairs are Repukes, I hope you conscience doesn't take a walk, like a conscience votes for Nader left us with years of W. Sometimes you have to be the bigger person and think about the country. Someday, when you look back and see the big picture that unfolds, your conscience will thank you or say "That the fuck was I thinking". Look at history and make your own judgment.

[Kitsune]

14. Fat lot of good it's done us so far.

We have a majority of historical proportions and we can barely get an anemic reform-in-name-only health care bill passed, and it's touted as a major accomplishment.

More than anything else, having such a massive Democratic majority completely fail to change the downward slide this country is on has soured me on politics as a whole.

And I'm a state party convention delegate.

[glowing]

7. Is Diebold the big voting machine... If so, they can manipulate the results

in a close race to make the election rigged. Doesn't matter about one county.. Its the reason Obama spent so much time with GOTV. Also, how many write ins are they NOT counting at this moment?

[stray cat]

8. The Arkansans I know voted for her in the primary - Haltar isn't loved by all progressives in Ark.

He has been in office for awhile so they have had a chance to observe him -

[RedRoses323]

9. Bryn,

I'm in Bella Vista, AR and if I'm still here in November (looking for full-time employment all over or may go back to Wisconsin) I will vote 3rd party. :hi:

[Bryn]

18. That would be great if a Green Party candidate in Arkansas beat

both Lincoln and Boogyman (sic) in November. It'd be the biggest news ever in history for a red state like Arkansas to happen. Many dinos and repugs all over will run around like chicken without heads. Ha! Would be nice!

I expect a democrat to act like a democrat voting for the people's best interests, not the corporations. Lincoln took money from insurance companies to kill the public option. She seems to have gotten worse in later years moving to the right.

A member of the Green Party of Arkansas posts this in my email:

"Lincoln won because there was no republican runoff. That said and done, statements by union officials claiming they're(unions) "not an arm of the democratic party and will continue to support candidates that support working people", would lead one to expect that they should look outside the dim party for that person. We should make every effort to reach out --- and then we'll see whether the unions and liberal groups will actually back a progressive candidate or if they will obediently crawl back under the table to await their crumbs."

Another email to me from a member of Arkansas Greens:

"Sen. Blanche Lincoln: Labor and liberals had hoped to make an example of Lincoln, who proved over the years that she was not always a reliable Democratic vote, certainly not so on union issues. But this double barrel of labor and liberals failed to send Lincoln to the head of the unemployment line, and she now has five months to make her case for six more years in Washington.

Her win will likely help boost the confidence of some centrist Democrats fearful of facing the wrath of the emboldened liberal activists in the Obama era. But the unions are expressing no remorse in trying to defeat a Democrat. The AFL-CIO and SEIU both issued statements proclaiming that their efforts were a success, even if they didn't win.

"Taking a two-term incumbent in deep red Arkansas into a runoff, and coming within few thousand votes of her ... is a virtually unprecedented achievement," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement. "If working families were able to accomplish this in Arkansas, imagine what they can achieve in other states.

"It is also now abundantly clear to all politicians that if they want to get the support of working families on Election Day, they are going to need to fight for their issues every day," he added.

Undoubtedly, the unions and the liberal interest groups that opposed Lincoln will come under fire from fellow Democrats for dedicating millions of dollars to try to defeat a Democrat when that money could have been used to try to beat a Republican in November. Don't expect these groups to concede that this was a mistake, because they are an important financial and grass-roots constituency for the Democratic Party."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It looks like they're looking for a progressive candidate for 3rd party to be put on the ballot in general election in November. They're talking about reaching out to Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO President, but he's not going to abandon the Democratic Party, I don't think. We shall see.

[RedRoses323]

20. Thank you for the info Bryn

:toast: I am sick to death of these fake ass Democrats. Enough! :nuke:

[Uzybone]

21. hahahah...Green Party win in Arkansas??/

Hahahahahah.

Lets deal with reality here folks.

[Bryn]

23. Party Pooper!

Can't a girl hope? :P

[depakid]

29. The reality is that Blanche is toast and the White House alienated a key constitutency

in the process of propping her up.

That's a lose/lose if there ever was one.

[Arkansas Granny]

10. IMO, it's either vote for Blanche or allow John Boozman to take the seat.

While voting for a 3rd party candidate might send a message, I fear it would also allow Boozman to win the election.

[Ter]

16. He'll likely get there anyway

This is probably our most vulnerable Senate seat. Isn't she trailing by over 15 points or something?

[Arkansas Granny]

17. Yeah. But the last stats I saw showed Halter probably wouldn't have beat him either.

[Ter]

19. Halter did better in the GE though

Lincoln is further behind. I hate to sound negative, but I don't think she can pull this off.

[JI7]

25. well, it seems like you don't care either way

[Ter]

34. No, I care

I just don't think she will win, but Arkansas has lots of Comeback Kids.

[volvoblue]

22. how does anyone know Halter would have been better?

how do you know he was not just playing to be more to the left.
Frankly, I could not shake the double vision when he was on that he was John Edwards.
No fan of Lincoln but, I honestly do not think you would have been any better off with halter. I just have that same creepy feeling I use to get from Edwards during the primaries.

[zipplewrath]

37. It was about Lincoln

Putting her out on the street would have been a message to all representatives that they have to walk the walk, not just do the talk every election year. It wasn't really about Halter, anymore than it was about Sestak.

[jenmito]

24. "You are not permitted to use this message board to work for the defeat of the Democratic Party

nominee for any political office."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules_detailed.html

And: "Members are expected to be generally supportive of progressive ideals, and to support Democratic candidates for political office."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules.html

[saracat]

26. Does Lincoln really fit into any of those catagories? Just wonder

[jenmito]

27. She's a Dem. A Conservadem (from a red state) but a Dem. nonetheless, and will

help keep Dems. in the majority rather than having a "Majority Leader McConnell."

[saracat]

28. I'm not from AR but I woudn't campaign against her but I wouldn't vote for her if I lived there.

I would probably write in a Liberal Dem or at least one who "is generally supportive of progressive ideals" as we are supposed to be as members of DU. I would never cast a vote against my own interests , no matter what the letter after the name. If a serial murderer ran for office as a Dem, I wouldn't vote for them either. And sad to say, the Democrats have not done much with the majority to cause folks to betry their values in order to ensure a Dem Majority.

Don't get me wrong.I hope we win, and in terms of candidates I believe in, I will work to elect them. I think we are going to retain the majority and I hopw we do better with it this time.

[Bryn]

30. Work for the defeat of the Democratic Party?

I am a supporter of Bill Halter, a Democrat. The truth is because Lincoln won last night she will go down in November, the seat will go to a Republican. Many republicans felt threatened by Halter so they made it possible for her to win so that she will lose in November. They knew how unpopular she is with many Arkansans.

The news about her is huge all over USA that you cannot stop them from talking about her plus WH is speaking against unions that supported Halter.

Just because Lincoln has a "D" doesn't mean I have to vote for her when I have a choice. I can vote for the Green Party candidate who will be on the ballot in November, he has views much like a progressive democrat. I don't have to lockstep with you.

Instead of me wasting my time and money on Lincoln for November I will just go and support other democrats in other states who need my help. Likewise many DUers had given their support and donations to Bill Halter running against Lincoln.

[jenmito]

31. " Just because Lincoln has a "D" doesn't mean I have to vote for her when I have a choice."

According to the rules, yes, it does. SHE is the Dem. nominee. Halter lost. It's nothing to do with being in lockstep with me. It's following the rules of DU. Voting 3rd party is not supporting the DEM. candidate. It's helping another party.

[Bryn]

32. There are plenty of threads about Lincoln

so why aren't you going after them? Is it because I live in Arkansas and you're related to Lincoln?

DU allows Progressive, Liberals and there are some Green Party DUers here as long as we have same views as a real Democrat. Lincoln already lost me when she bragged about voting against the public option and voted other things just like a Republican. I have fired her as my Senator, you're in NY so it's not your problem. Even if I am to hold my nose to vote for her she will still lose so I am not going to waste my time and money on her.

She has 5 months to show us and we're watching her closely.

[jenmito]

33. I haven't come across threads with an OP asking if we shouldn't support the Dem.

candidate in an election. AR is a red state, especially compared to NY. If you want a Dem. Majority Leader we need to keep a big tent. :shrug:

[freddie mertz]

36. The rules say nothing about who one chooses to vote for.

In the end, that is a private manner and is none of anyone here's business.

I wouldn't be able to vote for her either, at last not right now.

But that doesn't mean I would try to convince others not to do so.

[meow mix]

35. i cannot in good conscience vote for max baccus

so i wont be.