Elections going to be fun

For the first time in a long time we are going to have an interesting mid-term election in Arkansas. Even the general election might be fun. We will end up with two new members of Congress, and maybe even a new Senator. This could be the year we find out if Arkansas is about to join the rest of the South and become a haven for Republicans.

The fun all started when Vic Snyder announced that he was retiring from Congress. That wasn't too much of a surprise because Snyder is Arkansas' most liberal member of Congress. Add to that, that he is one politician who always does what is right even if it might hurt him politically, and you have someone whose job is always in jeopardy. He probably is just tired of the hassle.

That was followed by the more surprising news that Marion Berry was also going to retire from Congress. Berry has the safest Democratic seat in Arkansas. It's the only one that hasn't had a Republican in it since Reconstruction. Berry could have stayed there for the rest of his life, if he chose to.

The race most likely to draw national attention is the Senate race. Blanche Lincoln is facing her toughest challenge since she first ran for Congress against Bill Alexander. There's even some talk that John Boozeman may give up his safe seat to challenge her in November. If he does it will be the first time a Republican has been taken seriously in the general election since Tim Hutchinson ran.

There's no doubt that the health care issue has hurt Lincoln back home. Nationally she is under a lot of pressure to vote for health care reform, but back home most of the voters have bought into the scare tactics from the drug and insurance industries, and are afraid of reform. Now that the Supreme Court has said industry can spend as much as it wants to in an election, look for them to spend millions to defeat her if she votes for reform.

The best thing for Lincoln would be for Obama to back off of health care and concentrate on a jobs bill. If the debate in November is about putting people to work instead of health care reform, her chances for a third term will be much better. If not, election night could be a long one for her.

That's what makes this election so much fun for a political junkie like me. It won't all be over after the Democratic Primary. The only sure thing right now is that Berry will be replaced by a Democrat. The other two races will be wide open all the way to November.

This is gonna be fun.