Making Her Blanche

I wrote over the weekend about how the road to tying down Chuck Grassley and Max Baucus ran through their individual states. Another "Democrat" who has been out front in slow-walking anything that deviates from the status quo, who is also up for re-election next year, is Blanche Lincoln. They have a racket in Arkansas where the two parties almost never challenge each other in general elections - and considering that both party stalwarts do the bidding of their corporate contributors, why should they? In addition to her changing statements on the public option, which drew a round of ads from Blue America, Lincoln thinks the climate change bill should be dumped.

The U.S. Senate should abandon efforts to pass legislation curbing greenhouse-gas emissions this year and concentrate on a narrower bill to require use of renewable energy, four Democratic lawmakers say.

“The problem of doing both of them together is that it becomes too big of a lift,” Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas said in an interview last week. “I see the cap-and-trade being a real problem.”

I remarked to Digby last week that maybe we should rerun the Harry and Louise-type ads against Lincoln, only with two polar bears at the kitchen table instead of the couple.

Maybe that's something that Arkansas State Senate President Bob Johnson can use when he challenges Lincoln in a primary.

Arkansas Senate President Bob Johnson said Friday that he's considering challenging incumbent Democrat U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln in next year's primary.

Johnson told The Associated Press that's he's been encouraged to challenge Lincoln, who is seeking a third Senate term next year. Johnson said he doesn't have a timeline for deciding whether to challenge Lincoln.

"I'd be less than honest if I told you it hasn't surfaced in a number of circles," Johnson said. "I am weighing it very carefully."

Let's not harbor any illusions. Johnson is "running as a conservative Democrat" against Lincoln. He actually sounds like a scoundrel. But in a primary, someone will have to play to the base, where primary voters live. And that could help Lincoln get over her reticence on health care and climate change legislation.

In even better news, Howie Klein says that Jim Cooper's going to get a primary challenge, on the heels of his pathetic approval ratings on the health care issue.

There's enough anti-Washington sentiment in the country that a lot of lawmakers ought to be looking over their shoulders.