THE LIBERAL SANDBOX – AT 7:23 P.M. ET:  Don't you love it when politicians fight over nothing, like an almost-worthless Senate nomination?  Watch that play out tonight in Arkansas. 

Incumbent Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln is in the fight of her life, competing in a runoff for renomination against Lt. Gov. Bill Halter.  What makes the race interesting is that Halter is running well to Lincoln's left in a decidedly unliberal state.  He is a creature of a national campaign organized by ultra-lefty MoveOn.org, one of the most oddly named political groups I've ever seen, and major public-employee unions, determined to punish Lincoln for frugal thoughts.

Lincoln has not been an outstanding senator.  Representing a state with little in common with New York, Massachusetts or California, she's had to balance the required moderation with the demands of a "progressive" national party.  She usually winds up botching it, but has tried to appear at least somewhat centrist.  That is not sufficient for the party's ultras, who prefer candidates with the mentality of Japanese kamikaze pilots.  Just crash your campaign.  You will meet Karl Marx in socialist heaven, which is located above Sweden.

So Halter, beneficiary of a huge national effort, and funding to match, may actually win the Dem runoff tonight. 

But then comes November.  Republican candidate John Boozman is well ahead of both Lincoln and Halter in the polls.  Someone would have to prove that Boozman does strange things with antelopes to dent his lead.  So the Dem nomination, decided tonight, will probably be worthless.

But if Lincoln is defeated, the crazies in the party will have proved their clout.  They're willing to destroy the house just to prevent anyone else from living in it.  They've gotten behind Halter as a warning to anyone who plans on challenging the public-employee unions.  After all, why stop at bankrupting New York and California?

June 8, 2010