In the primary race between Blanche Lincoln and Bill Halter, one side is being fairly up-fron about their loyalties and their interests. Labor unions have made their preference known and are supporting Bill Halter with mailers and TV ads and the normal business of campaigning, along with full disclosure in cooperation with FEC regulations. And then there are the groups supporting Blanche Lincoln from the outside, who set up PO boxes and run their secretive organizations out of them:

Here’s something that drives home the absurdity of this. Halter’s campaign has tracked down the group’s mailing address and sends over a pic. It’s a P.O. box at this store in Alexandria….

Says it all. I know this isn’t news to anyone. But it is nonetheless remarkable that this group could help to decide who represents the state of Arkansas in the upper chamber — even though we know nothing about who’s funding it, why, and who the group even supports.

I would just point out that you can know at least part of a person by who their friends are. And the differences in this Senate primary couldn’t be more stark. All we know about Americans for Job Security is that their leader used to be an executive director of the New Hampshire GOP – we know nothing about their funders.

As for the substantive issues, it’s good to hear Bill Halter criticize Blanche Lincoln for supporting tax cuts for multi-millionaires:

Halter also was critical of Lincoln’s support for cutting the estate tax (known as the death tax), which he said would only benefit those with estates valued at $10 million or more.

“Folks, we don’t need more tax breaks for people with $10 million in wealth, especially at the expense of debt or deficits on the backs of your children and grandchildren,” Halter said.

While Halter won’t instantly become the most progressive Senator in the US Senate, he does have a populist streak that certainly represents an improvement over Lincoln and her corporate allies.