Arkansas: Sen. Gilbert Baker

Sen. Gilbert Baker will go on a five-city media tour of Arkansas tomorrow to "offer his solutions on health care."  I would assume most of the day will be spent talking about how Sen. Blanche Lincoln is just a Washington-establishment, tax-and-spend liberal, that she's not like us conservative Arkansans.  What do you bet?

Frank Rich has a pretty good summary of the fratricidal GOP battle for an upstate New York congressional seat. Already, a solid Republican has been driven out of the race by  a torrent of attacks from the Club for Growth/Beck/Palin conservative candidate.

I should add that the conservative is the chosen candidate of Jackson T. Stephens Jr. of Little Rock, a Club for Growth moneybags. Stephens may buy himself a seat in upstate New York. If he does, it won't be of much help to locals, not that Jacko cares. The candidate is a carpetbagger who doesn't live in the district and knows next to nothing about it. But he's solid on the starve-government orthodoxy of his patrons.

Might Lt. Gov. Bill Halter drop his bid for re-election to challenge U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln in the Democratic primary? There'll never be a better time to run on his state lottery achievement.

Wrote the Washington Post columnist Chris Cillizza today:

Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter (D) is contemplating a primary challenge to Sen. Blanche Lincoln in 2010, according to Fix sources in the Razorback State. Halter, who was elected as Gov. Mike Beebe's (D) ticketmate in 2006, would try to capitalize on the left's discontent toward Lincoln on health care but is a somewhat odd liberal champion, said one Democratic who closely follows Arkansas politics.

Here's a copy of Sen. Gilbert Baker's opening ($510,000) campaign finance report for U.S. Senate. Lots of Conway money, familiar Republican names and a bunch of doctors.

Baker's potential opponent, U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, meanwhile wants to spend money. Specifically, she's joined the Democratic call for $250 in payments to seniors who won't get a Social Security COLA this year because of the rotten economy. That would pump $160 million into Arkansas, she said. And right back into the "doughnut hole" of drug coverage for many, no doubt.