(Newser)
–
Arkansas Lt. Governor Bill Halter officially announced that he’s running for Senate this morning, putting him on a collision course with Democratic incumbent Blanche Lincoln. Halter leans further left than the conservative Lincoln, and several progressive groups, including MoveOn.org, the Daily Kos, and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, are already lining up behind him, the Huffington Post reports.
“Washington is broken,” Halter said in a video announcing his candidacy, citing, among other evils, that it protected “insurance company profits instead of patients and lowering health care costs.” Lincoln was a health care reform holdout for much of the process. But a December poll says Halter has some ground to make up—42% of Arkansans said they’d back Lincoln in a primary, to only 26% for Halter, while 32% were on the fence.
