AOL News has a new home! The Huffington Post.

Click here to visit the new home of Politics Daily!

Hot on HuffPost:

See More Stories
Politics Daily

Bill Clinton Calls Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln's Opponent a Union Tool

3 years ago
  0 Comments Say Something  »
Text Size
Suzi Parker
Suzi Parker
Correspondent
Author Bio »
Contact Author »
Subscribe :
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Bill Clinton's message to Democrats here Friday about their heated two-way U.S. Senate battle was a simple one: a vote for incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln is a vote rank-and-file Arkansans, while a vote for Lt. Governor Bill Halter is a vote for outside labor unions and liberal activist groups.

Don't be fooled, Clinton told the gathering of about 300 at Philander Smith College. The big, national unions supporting Halter are "using you and manipulating your vote," he said.
Clinton returned to his home state Friday to lend support to the embattled Lincoln, who faces a contentious run-off with Halter on June 8. In the Arkansas Democratic primary earlier this month, Lincoln won 44.5 percent of the vote to Halter's 42.5 percent. A third candidate, DC Morrison, won 13 percent. The winner of the runoff will face Republican Rep. John Boozman in the November Senate election.
A Research 2000 poll for Daily Kos this week showed Halter with 47 percent of the vote, Lincoln with 44 percent and 9 percent undecided. Both trail Boozman in a November match-up.
The presence of various third-party groups on behalf of both candidates – unions for Halter and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for Lincoln – deeply muddies the political waters. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) have spent millions in Arkansas, bringing in manpower to defeat Lincoln.
Clinton held up a copy of a Washington Post article and quoted from it about how national unions want to make Lincoln a poster child for "what happens when a Democrat crosses us." The former president argued that the unions nationalized what should be an Arkansas-focused Senate race.
Historically, Arkansas has not been a strong union state. It's a right-to-work state. In 2006, only 5.1 percent of non-agricultural workers in Arkansas belonged to unions, placing the state ahead of only five states in terms of union density. Alan Hughes, Arkansas AFL-CIO president since 1996, says that about 100,000 Arkansans and 11,000 retirees are members of various unions.
He discounts the poster child argument and the Lincoln camp's argument that unions have sent thousands of people from around the country to Arkansas to work for Halter. "We are not trying to make her a poster child," he said. "We are not trying to manipulate our people. We have gone time and time again to Senator Lincoln to talk about issues, and she has not listened. Our rank-and-file members decided to endorse Bill Halter, and then that decision goes to Washington. It's Arkansans, working men and women, who are going door-to-door for Bill Halter."
At Friday's event, Lincoln cited her opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act , a bill that would make it easier to unionize workers, as the main reason labor is against her. She also said unions, which had backed her in 1998 but not in 2004, had turned on her. "I'm pretty independent minded," she said. "I vote for my constituents."

Hughes says it wasn't the single issue of the Employee Free Choice Act that cost Lincoln union support, but a combination of issues. "It's trade agreements, health care, you name it," he said. "She tuned Arkansas out for a long time and look, she's taken a lot of outside corporate money, too. And Clinton? He wanted our endorsement plenty of times when he was running."
The Clinton event came at the end of a week that saw both campaigns jockeying for momentum by launching new ads.
Lincoln's newest ad – "Breaking News" – is as an attempt to woo progressive voters more aligned with Halter. The opening shot features MSNBC television host Rachel Maddow discussing the Wall Street reform bill. In the ad, it appears that Maddow is a Lincoln supporter.
In reality, Maddow, during a March appearance in Little Rock, didn't exactly have kind words about Lincoln, whom she considers too conservative. "It is one thing to be a moderate Democrat, to be a conservative Democrat. It's another thing to seem not to want to be a Democrat," she said.
Halter launched two ads this week. One features him shaking hands in diners and on street corners around the state. In the other one, Halter's father tells voters to support his son.
The SEIU launched an ad linking Lincoln to former President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and big oil. AFSCME followed with an ad featuring a southern female narrator saying Lincoln has lost touch with Arkansas.
Lincoln would say the opposite.
"Outside groups need to go home," she told reporters after the event.
Clinton put it more bluntly during his speech, saying unions were playing Arkansans.
"If you want to be used that way, have at it," he said.
Filed Under: Democrats, 2010 Elections
Tagged: 2010 Senate Elections, 2010 Senate Races, AFL-CIO, Alan Hughes, Arkansas Senate Race, Arkansas Senate Races, Bill Halter, blanche lincoln, Employee Free Choice Act, John boozman, SEIU
More articles from Suzi Parker »

Our New Approach to Comments

In an effort to encourage the same level of civil dialogue among Politics Daily’s readers that we expect of our writers – a “civilogue,” to use the term coined by PD’s Jeffrey Weiss – we are requiring commenters to use their AOL or AIM screen names to submit a comment, and we are reading all comments before publishing them. Personal attacks (on writers, other readers, Nancy Pelosi, George W. Bush, or anyone at all) and comments that are not productive additions to the conversation will not be published, period, to make room for a discussion among those with ideas to kick around. Please read our Help and Feedback section for more info.

Add a Comment

Sign in »
*0 / 3000 Character Maximum Comment Moderation Enabled. Your comment will appear after it is cleared by an editor.

61 Comments

Filter by:
hello

After Election Day, who will be beholden to whom? And what are the long-term implications for the political system?

June 03 2010 at 8:37 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mrs T

Did anyone else find it humorous that Bill Clinton was at Philanderer Smith University?

May 29 2010 at 11:22 PM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down Reply
punnster

Clinton is kiss of political death for Halter. Arkansas does not like the Clintons.

May 29 2010 at 10:20 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
BULLMAN

Clinton is really stepping on Obamas foot.

May 29 2010 at 7:58 PM Report abuse +3 rate up rate down Reply
Kevin

Bill Clinton was the best Democrat a Republican can own.

May 29 2010 at 7:33 PM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
BULLMAN

The larger unions are now government.

May 29 2010 at 7:13 PM Report abuse +3 rate up rate down Reply
jjmamone

Geez,.....battling Dems ,it's why your polls are sinking
Who can believe anything from them.
I thought I had seen it all but now you got unions spending millions supporting a losing Democrat in a right to work state...pure genius...
Whats next .....coming to your town...unions want to organize kids lemonade stands

May 29 2010 at 5:20 PM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down Reply
drbuckles

Bill is a neoliberal elite that promoted NAFTA and the WTO and the Libertarian views of Milton Freedman economics through Robert Rubin and Larry Summers. He didn't come in the that way but left that way, eventually with 300,000 jobs lost to Mexico, and eventually too China. From Reagan to Clinton and then the final solution, Bush we have seen the reincarnation of the gilded age and I will be happy to see Sestek win in true liberal fashion.

May 29 2010 at 3:09 PM Report abuse -2 rate up rate down Reply
genetoome

This is who to choose between, the best of two evils....A vote against corrupt unions is always the better for the American People..Unions are one of the reasons companies are moving out of America,,they are destroying our jobs,and they are asking the American People for a bail-out,..Be against any Community or Union organizer..

May 29 2010 at 2:41 PM Report abuse +8 rate up rate down Reply
jdeacon220

Bill is losing it in his elder years. There is a reason Halter caught fire, which is that Lincoln has acted as a "tool" for corporate interests & is essentially a GOP lapdog. Washington doesn't need more Senators who vote with health insurers against the dire need of working Americans to be guaranteed coverage, Bill. Wake up -

Balkingpoints / www

May 29 2010 at 2:29 PM Report abuse +6 rate up rate down Reply

Follow Politics Daily

  • Comics
%PostTitle%
robert-and-donna-trussell
CHAOS THEORY
Featuring political comics by Robert and Donna TrussellMore>>
  • Woman UP Video
politics daily videos
Weekly Videos
Woman Up, Politics Daily's Online Sunday ShowMore»
politics daily videos
TV Appearances
Showcasing appearances by Politics Daily staff and contributors.More>>

News From Our Partners