Free Republic

By most accounts, the two most vulnerable senators up for re-election this year are Democrats Harry Reid of Nevada and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas. The problems for Reid have been well chronicled. He has to balance his role as Senate majority leader, shepherding a mostly liberal party in Washington to pass President Obama's agenda, while retaining appeal among more conservative voters back home. Reid has been trailing generic Republicans in the polls for months; his supporters insist that when the GOP nominates someone real and not generic, the senator will win. Lincoln's problems in Arkansas may be more severe. In...

A well-known Washington insider has been telling Arkies this weekend that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is trying to talk Sen. Blanche Lincoln out of running for re-election. That would open the door for a Wes Clark candidacy. And U.S. Rep. Mike Ross would be in the race in a heartbeat

LITTLE ROCK -- Have you noticed? The closer Election Day comes, the more conservative some blue-dog senators sound. Till they turn almost Republican red. Consider the case of Blanche Lincoln here in Arkansas. By the time the primary is held in May, this state's senior senator could be speaking at Tea Party rallies. A headline on the front page of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette said it all: "Pressure on the rise for Arkansas' Lincoln/ Amid criticism, she chides party, Obama." To quote the story's lede: "U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln distanced herself from Democrats over and over last week. On Tuesday, the...

There is, I think, an amazing political fact right now that is hiding in plain sight and is rich with implications. It was there in President Obama's Jan. 25, pre-State of the Union interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer, who was pressing him about his political predicaments. "I'd rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president," he said. "And I—and I believe that." Now this is the sort of thing presidents say, and often believe they believe, but at the end of the day they all want two terms. Except that Mr. Obama shows every sign of...

The nomination of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board was just defeated on a cloture vote 52-33. Sen. Ben Nelson (D., Neb.), Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D., Ark.), and Sen. Scott Brown (R., Mass.) all voted against cloture.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will begin a drive this week to expel Pepsi, French fries and Snickers bars from the nation’s schools in hopes of reducing the number of children who get fat during their school years. In legislation, soon to be introduced, candy and sugary beverages would be banned and many schools would be required to offer more nutritious fare. To that end, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will deliver a speech Monday at the National Press Club in which he will insist, according to excerpts provided to The Times, that any vending machines that remain in schools be...

Hey Blanche... I think the "Big O" told you to sit down and shut up. Once he got this job and the opportunity to dismantle 234 heroic years of bloodletting for liberty and freedom he refuses to relent. Obamanism, born from the Alinsky playbook "Rules for Radicals" is his divine creed... next to his Islamic faith of course. He will NOT be deterred... Barack Hussein Obama expects to facilitate, in four years a total economic destruction of America. This dismantling of our way of life is being coupled with massive social reorientation. We're witnessing complete redistribution of every working American's...

President Obama’s sharp exchange of views with House Republicans made a splash the other day -- though for civility and substance, I much preferred the excellent left-meets-right encounter between Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) and our very own wunderkind Ezra Klein. In any case, for those seeking a true measure of Obama’s judgment, on both policy and politics, the meeting between the president and Senate Democrats yesterday was much more instructive. Obama’s words made it clear that, notwithstanding his party’s recent election losses at the polls and its declining poll ratings, he has no intention of embarking on a Bill Clinton-style...

The Obamacare disaster exposed the arrogance of the Democrat leadership in both houses and the "full speed ahead no matter what the people say" attitude of the president. The Scott Brown win in Massachusetts is proof that the people have had enough. So, what is a desperate democrat to do when American voters are in an obvious revolt, and if the midterm elections were held today, the results would easily resemble the St. Valentine's Day massacre? Apparently, Democrats decided it was time to go on the offense against the president's budget: "A Democratic Senate candidate in Missouri denounced the budget's...

Sen. Blanche Lincoln, one of the red state Democrats who voted for the health care bill, is getting destroyed in a new poll in Arkansas, where voters disapprove of the legislation by an overhwelming 61 percent to 30 percent margin. The survey, taken by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, shows Lincoln trailing potential Republican rival John Boozman by a staggering 53 percent to 33 percent margin. Her approval rating in the state has sunk to 27 percent,

Raleigh, N.C. – John Boozman will enter the Arkansas Senate race this weekend with a strong advantage over incumbent Blanche Lincoln. Boozman leads Lincoln 56-33. He takes 89% of the Republican vote while she gets just 68% of the Democratic vote, and he also holds a 66-20 lead with independents. (Charts)

What's the quickest way to go from United States Senator to "whatever happened to..."? Completely ignore the calls, letters and poll results from your constituents and vote for Obamacare anyway. That's the lesson Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas) is learning the hard way as her job approval rating and poll numbers are plummeting since she cast the all-important 60th vote for President Obama's health care reform legislation.

U.S. Rep. John Boozman, R-Rogers, said today he will make an announcement Feb. 6 regarding his political future. In a news release, Boozman said, “Over the course of the last few weeks, I have been encouraged by many Arkansans who are very concerned about the critical issues facing our state and our nation to consider where I can best serve the people of our state. The response has been overwhelming. “I will be in Little Rock next Saturday to make an important announcement, and I look forward to continuing these conversations with Arkansans during the weeks and months to come.”...

Rep. John Boozman (R-Ark.) is informing his soon-to-be opponents that he will run for Senate, according to an Arkansas source.

Barring a last-minute change of heart, Rep. John Boozman (R) appears set to jump into the Arkansas Senate race in the coming days. Sources on Capitol Hill said Wednesday that Boozman, the lone GOP Member of the state’s congressional delegation, has made it clear that he intends to challenge Democrat Blanche Lincoln in November. Boozman already has much of his Senate campaign team in place and the announcement is expected to take place in Arkansas before the weekend is out. When asked about a potential Senate bid Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Boozman would only say “nothing has been announced officially.”...

Two Senate Democrats are pressuring the Obama administration to move Sept. 11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s trial out of New York City and into a military commission. Democratic Sens. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Jim Webb of Virginia signed on to a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder condemning the administration’s November announcement of a criminal trial in Manhattan. “Your decision to prosecute enemy combatants captured on foreign battlefields like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is without precedent in our nation’s history,” the senators wrote. “Given the risks and costs, it is far more logical, cost-effective, and strategically wise to try Khalid...

WASHINGTON - Two centrist senators Tuesday threw up a roadblock to salvaging President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, as Democrats agonized over whether to push forward or shift to idle until political resistance subsides. Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark. — both face re-election this year in Republican-leaning states — said they would oppose the strategy Democratic leaders are considering to reconcile the House and Senate bills and put comprehensive legislation on Obama's desk. That approach involves using a special budget-related procedure to go around Republican opponents in the Senate, a calculated risk sure to inflame critics on...

It appears that the lesson of Scott Brown’s surprise victory did not go completely unnoticed by Senate Democrats from red states. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) announced today that she will not go along with the rumored plan to use reconciliation to push ObamaCare through Congress, making the plan much more complicated for Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to succeed:

uh-oh another major Dem retirement? RT @blanche4senate Stay tuned for an important campaign announcement tomorrow morning. - ed henry CNN VIA TWITTER Blanche Lincoln's site says announcement coming in morning...

Arkansas Rep. Marion Berry is expected to announce his retirement tomorrow morning, according to three sources briefed on the decision. Berry will become the sixth Democrat in a competitive seat to leave in the last two months but the first to announce his retirement since the party's special election loss in Massachusetts last Tuesday. Berry, first elected in 1996, had been noncommittal about his re-election bid for months although, privately, his allies insisted he was planning to run for re-election. While Berry had rarely been challenged in the 1st district over the past decade or so, the seat has a...