Moderate Democrat Blanche Lincoln was defeated by 21 percentage points after Republicans made her one of their top targets in 2010. In the [[2008 Presidential Election]], Arkansas was one of the few states where [[John McCain]] exceeded [[George W. Bush]]’s margin, despite the national trend favoring Democrats. Generally, she voted the party line with President Obama, which angered her conservative constituents, but also voted against the [[Employee Free Choice Act]] (card check) and opposed to the public option in [[health care]], which angered liberals. She began airing TV ads in March touting her independence from President Obama and national Democrats. Lincoln defeated [[Lieutenant Governor]] [[Bill Halter]] in a close runoff for the Democratic nomination. | Moderate Democrat Blanche Lincoln was defeated by 21 percentage points after Republicans made her one of their top targets in 2010. In the [[2008 Presidential Election]], Arkansas was one of the few states where [[John McCain]] exceeded [[George W. Bush]]’s margin, despite the national trend favoring Democrats. Generally, she voted the party line with President Obama, which angered her conservative constituents, but also voted against the [[Employee Free Choice Act]] (card check) and opposed to the public option in [[health care]], which angered liberals. She began airing TV ads in March touting her independence from President Obama and national Democrats. Lincoln defeated [[Lieutenant Governor]] [[Bill Halter]] in a close runoff for the Democratic nomination. |