Washington (CNN) - Vice President Joe Biden travels to Boston Wednesday, where he's scheduled to team up with Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas.
A Democratic source tells CNN that the event is a fundraiser for the two-term Democratic senator, who faces a very difficult re-election bid this year.
After surviving a very tough primary challenge from Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter that extended to a run-off election, Lincoln now faces off against four-term Rep. John Boozman, the Republican Senate nominee.
A recent Mason-Dixon poll of likely Arkansas voters indicated that Lincoln trailed Boozman by 17 points. Other recent surveys suggest that Boozman's lead is even larger.
–Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @psteinhausercnn
Editor's Note: In the final 100 days before Election Day, CNN has been profiling one race at random each day from among the nation's top 100 House races, which we've dubbed "The CNN 100." Read the full list here. Today's featured district is:
Arkansas 02 – Rep. Vic Snyder (D) is retiring
Primary: May 18, 2010
Location: Little Rock
Days until the election: 42
This race, while technically located in Arkansas' second congressional district, has some obvious national overtones that will likely play prominently in its outcome. The current seat-holder, Rep. Vic Snyder, a thirteen year veteran Democratic congressman, is retiring, leaving in his wake a liberal voting record (voted for stimulus, climate change, and health care reform) in a more conservative-leaning district (carried by McCain in 2008), and a GOP that is eager to take the seat (and favored to do so by senior political handicappers such as Stuart Rothenberg and Charlie Cook). To complicate matters, the GOP is fielding a nationally-polished candidate, prosecutor Tim Griffin, who was appointed by President Bush, and served as Mr. Bush's recount adviser in 2000 and the opposition research director for the Bush 2004 re-election campaign.
(CNN) - Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Arkansas, faces off against Rep. John Boozman, R-Arkansas, at a 1 p.m. ET debate in one the mostly hotly contested Senate races of the 2010 Election.
Polling shows that Boozman would defeat the two-term incumbent senator if the election were held today – a victory Republicans would need to help win back the Senate majority. The GOP needs a net gain of 10 seats to wrest control of the Senate from Democratic hands – an unlikely prospect at this point unless a strong anti-Democratic wave sweeps across nation. Republicans will certainly pick up seats, but the question is will it be enough to win back the Senate.
Tune into this critical Senate debate at 1 p.m. ET.
(CNN) - Former President Bill Clinton delivered a spirited defense of Democratic policies Wednesday night in a speech reminiscent of those he gave when his own name was on the ballot.
The lengthy remarks delivered on behalf of embattled Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln were entirely trademark Clinton: part feel-your-pain folksiness, part policy lecture, and part blistering critique of the opposition.
"It's okay for people to still be mad, frustrated and feel helpless because that's their lives," said Clinton to the Little Rock, Arkansas crowd – many of whom still consider him their favorite son. "I get that but let me ask you something, specially everybody here with gray hair like me. If you have lived long enough, you would know that every time in your life that you've made a decision that was important when you were really mad, there is an 80 percent chance that you made a mistake. Ain't that right?"
The former president also said voters are currently suffering from "anger, apathy and amnesia," factors he said that are blocking a sound debate on the differing policies of the two parties.
(CNN) - Former President Bill Clinton heads home Wednesday to help out a fellow Democrat facing a very tough re-election bid.
The former president teams up with Sen. Blanche Lincoln in his native Arkansas at an event in Little Rock to celebrate the lawmaker's one year anniversary as chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.
"As Chairman of the Senate Ag Committee, which oversees nearly one-third of our state's economy, my top priority is utilizing this leadership position as a pipeline for jobs and economic opportunity for our state. I am grateful for President Clinton's support in this election and look forward to celebrating what I consider 'Arkansas's Committee' with my fellow Arkansans on September 8," says Lincoln in a statement.
Washington (CNN) – Former President Bill Clinton heads back to his home state of Arkansas next week to campaign for two Democratic candidates.
Clinton is scheduled to appear at events for incumbent Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln and congressional candidate Chad Causey on September 8.
Clinton backed both candidates in the Democratic primary, with the former president repeatedly hitting the trail for Lincoln as she fought to survive a tight Democratic primary process against the more liberal Lieutenant Gov. Bill Halter.
(CNN) – A new poll released Tuesday indicates trouble ahead for incumbent Arkansas Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln.
Lincoln, who was able to survive a tight Democratic primary process against the more liberal Lieutenant Gov. Bill Halter, is now trailing Republican candidate Rep. John Boozman by 19 points in the general election matchup according to a new poll.
Conducted by Reuters/Ipsos, the poll indicates Boozman tops Lincoln, 54 percent to 35 percent.
Since the bitter primary ended, Lincoln has scored a major legislative victory, playing an important role in the passage of the Wall Street reform bill, authoring a provision that increases regulation of the derivatives market.
(CNN) - Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln won the Democratic primary Tuesday night, beating back a challenge from Lt. Gov. Bill Halter in this high profile contest that exposed a rift between the liberal and centrist wings of the Democratic Party.
Lincoln was targeted by national unions and liberal activists, who accused the Arkansas Democrat of turning her back on them as well as failing to support President Obama's policy goals.
The Lincoln critics found their candidate in Halter and poured millions of dollars into Arkansas. Halter officially announced his candidacy in March making the primary a sprint, not a marathon.
With the help of these outside activists, the lieutenant governor forced Lincoln into this June runoff election after she failed to receive more than 50 percent of the vote in last month's primary.
Little Rock, Arkansas (CNN) - Big oil Blanche? Arkansas Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln mocked an attempt by her political opponents in the final stretch of the state's runoff election to blame her for the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
"You know it's amazing to me that all of the sudden I am now the reason for the oil spill," Lincoln told reporters after voting in Little Rock on Tuesday. "I can't figure out for the life of me where that has come from other than just that these outside interest groups and others want to put negative outside advertising out there about me and try and mislead voters. I am certainly not part of that problem in the Gulf."
A television ad airing in Arkansas sponsored by the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund this week links Lincoln with campaign contributions from oil companies and highlights her support for offshore drilling.
The ad calls the campaign donations "another gusher" and maintains that Lincoln has taken more money in the last two years than any other senator, and a half-million dollars since she was elected. With a BP logo prominently displayed on the screen, the television ad argues that Lincoln "got that money because she helped Bush and Cheney give oil companies 14 million in tax breaks or maybe because she voted to allow risky offshore drilling for BP and others. It's time to send big oil a message. On Tuesday send big oil packing."
The environmental group also created a website targeting Lincoln, labeling her "big oil Blanche."
Little Rock, Arkansas (CNN) – Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Arkansas, began the day that could end her Senate career insisting she feels good about pulling off a win, but also vowing to support her Democratic opponent should he snatch the party's nomination.
"I'll always support the Democratic Party of Arkansas. I'm a Democrat," Lincoln told CNN in an interview at her first stop of the day to greet voters.
For the past three weeks, Lincoln has been locked in a runoff against her Democratic challenger, Lt. Gov Bill Halter, trying to avoid becoming the latest incumbent lawmaker torched by anti-Washington fever.
From CNN Politics
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