Bill Clinton Backs Up Lincoln

Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln is public enemy #1 for labor-backed progressives this year, but President Bill Clinton is standing by her, Hotline OnCall's Reid Wilson reports.

After urging Lt. Gov Bill Halter to challenge the Democratic incumbent Lincoln, unions have spent heavily on his behalf, aiming to take her down. (Why attack Lincoln? She's been a swing vote on the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would make it easier for workers to form unions. They've pressured her on this for the past few years. Turning Lincoln's Democratic seat into a solid "yes" on that bill would be a coup, and it would show labor's ability to punish Democrats who don't support their agenda.)

But Clinton has defended his fellow Arkansan, and now he's lent his voice to two radio ads being run by her campaign:

Lincoln has faced sagging poll-numbers over the past year, though she leads Halter in her primary by 8 percentage points, according to an April Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll.