Bill Clinton, a Blanche Lincoln supporter, shares his thoughts on the heated primary race between Lincoln and Lt. Gov. Bill Halter in this MSNBC interview that aired Monday.

Lt. Gov. Bill Halter today called on some friends — including a descendant of Franklin D. Roosevelt — to help him counter a television ad that accuses him of trying to privatize Social Security while he was part of the Clinton administration.

A release from Halter’s U.S. Senate campaign quotes James Roosevelt as saying, “I’ve seen the ad, and I can tell you as a friend and a colleague of Bill Halter’s it’s a lie. My grandfather, President Roosevelt, founded Social Security — and Bill Halter has fought for that legacy. Bill Halter served under President Bill Clinton and I worked with him at the Social Security Administration to protect Social Security and fight privatization.”

Halter also was joined at a news conference in North Little Rock by members of the Alliance for Retired Americans, which represents more than 4 million retired people nationwide, about 20,000 of them in Arkansas. The alliance has endorsed Halter’s campaign.

“Bill Halter is a great friend to Social Security and Medicare,” said Barbara Easterling, president of the alliance. “He is a great friend to seniors.”

An ad paid for by the group Arkansans for Common Sense asserts that while serving as acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration under Clinton, Halter spoke in support of investing a portion of the Social Security trust fund in the stock market. The ad equates Halter’s comments with advocating privatization of Social Security.

Halter said today his comments were from a discussion of Clinton’s proposal to put a very small portion of trust fund money into the stock market.

“That’s not privatization,” he said.

Halter said he opposed efforts by the Bush administration to privatize the program.

Blogger Jason Tolbert reports on a split between Mike Huckabee’s HuckPAC and Team Huck Tennessee over endorsements.

Rogers Mayor Steve Womack today unveiled a television ad for his 3rd District congressional campaign that stresses his roots in the district.

“I was born at Russellville and graduated from high school and college here in the 3rd District, so I think I have a pretty good understanding, a good feel for what drives people here in the 3rd District,” Womack says in the ad.

The ad does not mention any of Womack’s seven opponents in the GOP primary, but it could be an attempt to distinguish him from opponents who grew up outside the district.

Bernie Skoch and Steve Lowry grew up in Central Arkansas, Lowry after coming to Arkansas at age 4. State Sen. Cecile Bledsoe and Doug Matayo grew up in Georgia and Illinois, respectively.

Rogers Mayor Steve Womack says he has raised $150,000 for his campaign for Arkansas’ 3rd District congressional seat.

Womack is one of eight candidates for the GOP nomination for the U.S. House seat now held by John Boozman, R-Rogers. Boozman is running for the U.S. Senate.

Second District Democratic hopeful David Boling reports that his campaign has raised more than $250,000 and has more than $200,000 on hand.

The first-quarter fundraising period ended Wednesday. On the same day Boling made his announcement, Lt. Gov. Bill Halter announced his U.S. Senate campaign had raised more than $2 million.

Robert Obar, chairman of the Pulaski County Republican Committee, tells Politics in Arkansas he sees nothing irregular in the committee’s decision to have a political candidate serve as moderator of an upcoming debate.

The committee is scheduled to sponsor a debate between Republican U.S. Senate candidates at the Holiday Inn Presidential in Little Rock on Friday from 6:30-8 p.m. Jim Keet, a Republican candidate for governor, will be the moderator.

“We thought it would be a good opportunity for him to get out and get to see people,” Obar said.

Though a candidate for state office, Keet has been outspoken during his campaign on national issues such as health care reform. Obar said Keet will serve strictly as a moderator during Friday’s debate and will refrain from expressing his own political views.

It’s getting hard to tell that the majority rules in America these days, U.S. Rep. John Boozman, R-Rogers, said on the floor of the U.S. House today in denouncing the new health care reform bill.

Boozman, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, said this in his speech:

“Madam Speaker, America is a democracy, not a monarchy, but you wouldn’t know it by the way the American people have been ignored by President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid.”

Video of Boozman’s speech is available here.

Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate have been invited to a debate Tuesday night at UALR’s William H. Bowen School of Law, and most have said they will attend, according to the state Republican Party.

The debate starts at 6:30 p.m. and is sponsored by the Arkansas Federation of Young Republicans. KATV anchor Scott Inman is scheduled to moderate, and KATV plans live streaming of the debate on its Web site.

Questions for the candidates can be posted on the Young Republicans’ Facebook page, sent to their Twitter account or e-mailed to:
elizabeth.aymond@arkansasyr.org

UPDATE: KATV reports today that it will not stream the debate live, though it plans to have a video of the debate on its Web site sometime tonight or early tomorrow. Also, the station says U.S. Rep. John Boozman will not be participating, but Sarah Huckabee, his campaign manager, will stand in for him. The other seven GOP candidates have said they will take part.

The state Democratic Party is trying to make political hay out of a tweet today by Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kim Hendren.

Hendren posted on Twitter, “Had to sell 5 black angus cows to stay in the game! But we’re in to win and still have a few more cows!!!”

In a follow-up tweet, Hendren said he needed cash to pay the $12,500 filing fee.

In a release headed “Kim Hendren Bets the Farm,” state Democratic Party spokesman Gabe Holmstrom says, “Sen. Hendren may have more cows to sell left in his barn, but lots of Arkansans can’t even afford meat for the dinner table. With a voting history like his, Arkansas might be better served if Kim Hendren stayed on the farm and tended his cattle.”