LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Lt. Gov. Bill Halter didn’t give up their dizzying pace in their fight for the Democratic Senate nomination, with both trying to sway any remaining undecided voters in Arkansas as they headed to the polls Tuesday.
Lincoln, considered one of the most vulnerable incumbents seeking re-election this year, cast a provisional ballot at a Little Rock precinct and planned to greet more voters around the city. Halter voted Tuesday morning in North Little Rock, the culmination of a 25-hour tour of the state.
Eight Republicans are seeking the GOP Senate nomination. U.S. Rep. John Boozman leads in most polls, but he could face a June 8 runoff with state Sen. Gilbert Baker or former state Sen. Jim Holt.
Lincoln, the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, could also be headed to a runoff with Halter if Little Rock businessman D.C. Morrison draws away enough votes.
“We are going to be ecstatic one way or the other, whether we win right out or we go to a runoff,” Lincoln told reporters after voting in a meeting room at St. James United Methodist Church in west Little Rock. Pulaski County Clerk Pat O’Brien said it is common for people who spend a lot of time out of town to take an absentee ballot but vote a provisional ballot if they are in-town on Election Day.
Provisional ballots are counted after the end of voting by the county Election Commission.
The last-minute campaign stops mark the end of a frenetic, expensive fight for the Democratic nomination that began March 1 with Halter’s entry into the Senate race. Since then, the two have been engaged in a daily exchange of attacks over issues such as health care, free trade and union organizing legislation.
In Camden on Tuesday morning, H.A. Martin, 69, who runs a ribs catering service and is a Baptist minister, said he voted for Lincoln.
“Lincoln is a people person. She has come down here from time to time. I don’t believe in politicians that throw mud. That tells me a lot about their character and Lincoln’s campaign was clean, at least at the start,” he said.
In Little Rock, Ann Phillips, 65, voted at a precinct in the central portion of the city. She said she supported Lincoln in the past but shifted her allegiance this election to Halter.
“She (Lincoln) had a chance to prove herself. She just couldn’t make up her mind” on issues, she said.
Phillips complained that Lincoln would make promises during personal appearances but she couldn’t get a call back when she’d call Lincoln’s office.
“That stays with you,” she said.
She said Halter is “energetic and young.”
“He needs a chance to prove himself,” Phillips said.
Outside groups, such as the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have dumped millions of dollars into both sides of the race. Lincoln has said outside groups are nationalizing the race to make an example of her.
“Just because I’m that good old independent-minded Arkansas person who’s going to be working hard for Arkansas, people have decided that since I’m not with them 100 percent of the time, they’re going to come in this state and try to bad-mouth me and talk bad about me,” she told supporters at a barbecue Monday. “Let me tell you folks. I do what’s right for Arkansas. I answer to you.”
Lincoln has angered conservatives by supporting the Democratic-led health care overhaul and frustrated liberals by opposing a government-run insurance option as part of the reform package.
Halter said Lincoln’s stance on health care has fed the perception that she had flip-flopped on key issues. He also has criticized her opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier for workers to unionize, despite co-sponsoring the legislation previously.
“It’s not just the positions, but it’s the fact that she’s wavered so much back and forth,” Halter told reporters Monday.
Outside the polling site at Temple B’Nai Israel in Little Rock, W.J. Williams, 63, said he voted for Lincoln, but said his support was weak.
He said he would likely vote for her in the fall, but added he might switch to Halter if there is a June 8 runoff.
“In a sense, I may have a bigger decision in the runoff,” Williams said.
Gene Haymond, 80, a retired mobile home salesman and former Marine, said he and his wife voted for Halter at their Camden polling place.
“That’s the only race that mattered. That was my whole reason for voting today,” he said, adding that he believed Lincoln should have voted against health care reform.
Tuesday’s election also features primaries for Congress and state offices, as well as nonpartisan judicial races. Three of Arkansas’ four incumbent congressmen are not seeking re-election to the House this year — including Boozman. Arkansas Secretary of State Charlie Daniels has predicted between 30 percent and 35 percent of the state’s 1.6 million voters will cast a ballot in the primary.
• Associated Press writers Barry Bedlan in Camden, and Kelly P. Kissel and Chuck Bartels in Little Rock contributed to this report.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.