Lincoln, Who Gets A Large Amount Of Corporate Cash, Complains About ‘Other People’ Funding Her Opponent

By Zaid Jilani

On Tuesday, Arkansas voters will go to the polls to nominate a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate. The race is expected to be close, with incumbent senator Blanche Lincoln facing a tough challenge from former Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, who is mounting a populist campaign against Lincoln, claiming she is too close to big corporations.

Today, on CNN’s State of the Union, host Candy Crowley asked Lincoln about how she felt her campaign was going. The incumbent senator said that she has been traveling all over the state to campaign, while Halter has been allowing “other people fund his campaign and do his dirty work”

LINCOLN: I’ve spent the last oh gosh the last week on our countdown to victory tour in 20, 25 county courthouses across the state. Bill hasn’t been doing that, he’s been letting other people fund his campaign and do his dirty work and I’ve been out there with the people.

Watch it:

While it is true that Halter has received support from outside groups, such as the AFL-CIO labor union, it should be noted that during the 2009-2010 campaign cycle, 93 percent of his funds come from individual contributions, and only 5 percent come from PACs and other interest groups.

And while Lincoln boasts of being “out there with the people,” a review of her campaign contributions shows that she has received far more money from PACs, corporate front groups, and other outside interest organizations than Halter has. During the 2009-2010 campaign cycle, 38 percent of Lincoln’s funding has come from PACs. Here’s a short list of some of the “other people” funding her campaign:

- $9,000 from insurance giant Aetna Inc. - $7,000 from petroleum company Anadarko - $6,000 from drug corporation Bayer - $2,000 from Bechtel corporation - $5,500 from insurance company Blue Cross Blue Shield - $5,000 from defense contractor Boeing - $5,000 from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce - $5,000 from Charles Schwab brokerage house - $10,000 from oil giant Chevron - $6,000 from telecommunications corporation Comcast - $5,000 from oil company ExxonMobil - $6,500 from investment bank Goldman Sachs - $8,000 from retailer Home Depot - $6,500 from investment bank JP Morgan Chase - $7,000 from defense contractor Lockheed Martin - $5,000 from oil industry giant Occidental Petroleum - $8,000 from retailer Wal-Mart

If Lincoln is going to criticize her opponent for receiving funds from outside groups, she should be upfront about her own as well.

Update Lincoln took $4,000 from BP in the 2009-2010 campaign cycle alone.