Card Check in the hands of Blanche Lincoln

UPDATE (6:15p ET): Jason Tolbert of The Tolbert Report has video of Sen. Lincoln dancing all over the issue from January 2009.

K. Ryan James, an Arkansas voice in Washington, D.C., offers insights today concerning the influence that Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln may have in either protecting or taking away the secret voting rights of workers via Card Check:

David Saunders of Stephens Media’s Arkansas News:

According to Arkansas opponents of the federal Employee Free Choice Act, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may have a tough time getting moderate Blue Dog Democrats to support the union-backed legislation more commonly known as card check.
…
The Blue Dogs strongly urged House leadership not to bring this bill back up on the House floor until the Senate had passed something first, because they look like idiots for continuing to pass it and then it dying in the Senate.

This story is a big one for the people of the right-to-work state that is Arkansas, considering that our senior Senator Blanche Lincoln has has literally been all over the place on this issue - which is to be expected when you consider that Arkansans spectacularly rejected President Barack Hussein Obama and his liberal policies in November.

So imagine my surprise when I checked out Glenn Thrush at Politico just minutes ago:
The Blue Dogs have asked — and Nancy Pelosi has assented — to pushing card check back until the Senate acts, Greg Sargent is reporting.

“Their concern is that the House will pass something, then the Senate will take up the bill and do something different,” the senior leadership aide tells me. “The Blue Dogs don’t want to end up voting on something that won’t even become law. They’re saying, ‘See what can get through the Senate first, and then we’ll vote on it.’” House Dem leaders agree with this assessment, the aide says. Asked if it would anger labor leaders, the aide said that labor might not like it but that labor leaders would “understand the dynamic.” . . .

. . . So now we have House Democrats, in a move acknowledging fractures within the caucus, forcing Speaker Pelosi to show her brand of leadership: punting to the Senate. Considering the “through the roof” moments of the porkulus debate, this ought to be fun.

Which brings us full-circle to Mrs. Lincoln. The closest thing we have resembling a position comes here . . . So it becomes clear that Sen. Lincoln, thanks to her Arkansan Blue Dog allies in the House (Reps. Marion Berry and Mike Ross), the self-styled “Independent Voice” who says that “Arkansans are independent-minded, and I vote with their best interests in mind,” is now a key linchpin in getting Card Check rolling.

Will Sen. Lincoln show her independence and not support a bill that is opposed by virtually all of her home state, including her own Democratic Governor? Or, will she kowtow to the labor lobbyists and their allies at MoveOn and other liberal groups.

I believe Mrs. Lincoln’s mission is clear, and it was put succinctly by one of her own constituents,

Bob Shell: “Ninety-five percent of [Arkansan workers ] are non-union. Seems to me that you’ve got the direction to go,” Shell told Lincoln. “Our state is nonunion and wants to stay that way.”

Now that the ball is in your court, what will you do Senator? . . . [Ryan's Full Article on Sen. Lincoln & Card Check]

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