Dangerous Dominoes-- Another Reason To Defeat Blanche Lincoln

Followers of Jill Richardson's La Vida Locavore essential blog on all things related to food and food policies were already warned 2 weeks ago that one of the worst possible Democrats who could get control of the Senate Agriculture Committee, was likely to move in. And sure enough AgriBusiness lobbyists were popping champagne bottles up and down K Street yesterday before Obama's speech. They were toasting their gal Blanche. Yes, Blanche Lincoln, the senior senator from Arkansas-- and one of the half dozen most richly bribed members of the Senate by AgriBusiness-- along with John McCain (R-AZ), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Miss McConnell (R-KY), Pat Roberts (R-KS), and outgoing committee chair Tom Harkin (D-IA). Lincoln has taken in $1,530,236 from these corrupt special interests and no one in history has served their anti-consumer demands more slavishly than she. As you can see from the pattern of giving (below) in the current cycle, they probably had a good idea that Blanche could be ascending to a place where she could help them even more:


Her $306,500 in thinly disguised bribes this year is more than AgriBusiness doled out to the four next biggest recipients combined-- and we're talking here about longtime AgriBusiness shills like Richard Burr (R-NC), Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA).

As Reuters reported yesterday Dodd has decided to retain the chair of the Banking Committee, which moves Harkin to Ted Kennedy's old seat on Health Education Labor and Pensions. That gives Lincoln the opening on Agriculture she-- and the lobbyists-- have been waiting for. Opponents of the president's climate bill were also rejoicing since the Senate Agriculture Committee is likely to be able to water down the bill into meaninglessness later this year, something she will be paid well to do.

So far the only Democrat threatening to primary Lincoln is-- as hard as this is to imagine-- a crackpot even further right than she is, Bob Johnson. The Republicans have 4 clownish candidates, none of whom could beat a dead tree trunk. And then there is independent populist Trevor Drown and the mayor of Greenland, Arkansas, John Gray, who will be the Green Party's candidate and the likely recipient of the votes of many progressive and disenchanted Democrats. His campaign slogan, "Resist Corporate Rule of America," is a direct slap in the face to the most corrupt Democrat in the Senate.

Blue America has been running ads in Arkansas all summer helping voters there to get to know their senior senator. Take a look at the other two ads and please consider helping us keep them on the air with a small contribution.




UPDATE: Lincoln Lets Obama Know To Count Her As A Solid Republican Vote

This morning Harry Reid called for a cloture vote, shutting down the Glenn Beck-inspired Republican filibuster of Cass Sunstein's nomination to be Administrator of the Office of Regulatory Affairs at the OMB. Cloture passed 63-35 with Lincoln and two other Democrats joining the ritual obstructionists in perpetual opposition. Even 7 Republicans saw the filibuster as a pointless exercise in obstructionism and crossed the aisle to vote with the Democrats. One of Lincoln's exasperated colleague's told us, off the record, that if he lived in Arkansas he would vote for an independent candidate before voting for her and that she's the worst member of their caucus. (When I asked him if she's worse than Ben Nelson, he just laughed and then said they work for the same corporations.)