Blanche Lincoln

Blanche Lincoln
Senior Senator from Arkansas
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 6, 1999 Serving with Mark Pryor
Preceded by	Dale Bumpers
Succeeded by	Incumbent (2011)
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arkansas's 1st district
In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1997
Preceded by	William Alexander, Jr.
Succeeded by	Marion Berry
Born	September 30 1960 (1960--) (age 47) Helena, Arkansas
Nationality	american
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Spencer Bingham
Profession	Lawyer, Politician
Religion	Episcopalian

Blanche Lambert Lincoln (born September 30, 1960) is the Democratic senior United States Senator from the State of Arkansas. She was the youngest woman ever to be elected to the Senate when she was elected in 1998 at the age of 38; as of 2007, she is also the youngest Senior Senator in the Senate. She is the second woman elected to the Senate from Arkansas after Hattie Caraway, who served 14 years in the senate.

Early life

Blanche Lambert was born in Helena, Phillips County, Arkansas. She attended Arkansas public schools and graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1982. She studied law at the University of Arkansas. Her sister, Mary Lambert, went on to be a movie director.

Early career and the House of Representatives

Immediately after graduating she took a job as staff assistant to 1st District Congressman Bill Alexander and served in his office until 1984. Lambert defeated her former boss in the Democratic primary of 1992 and took his seat in the House. She was reelected to a second term under her married name, Blanche Lincoln, and served in the House of Representatives until 1997. Lincoln did not stand for reelection in 1996 because she was pregnant.

The Senate

In 1998, Lincoln returned to politics and ran for the Senate seat being vacated by incumbent Democrat Dale Bumpers. She defeated her Republican opponent, Fay Boozman, by a margin of 55%-42%.

Lincoln serves on the Senate Finance Committee; Special Committee on Aging; Select Committee on Ethics; Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee; Senate Social Security Task Force; Rural Health Caucus; Senate New Democrat Coalition. Lincoln has concentrated primarily on issues involving farmers, and rural issues. She is one of the primary advocates of the Delta Regional Authority (DRA), which is designed to spur development in the lower Mississippi Delta region. She is also the Chair of Rural Outreach for the Senate Democratic Caucus.

Sen. Lincoln calls herself a moderate or Centrist Democrat, in attempts to appeal to the center-right (though historically Democratic) southern state of Arkansas. Lincoln was among the minority of Democrats to support CAFTA and she is opposed to some protectionist measures. She has voted in favor restricting class action lawsuits and tightening rules on personal bankruptcy. Though initially she was one of the few Democrats in Congress to vote in favor of the tax cut passed in 2001, she now advocates scaling back or eliminating the portions of that tax cut, has opposed making tax cuts permanent, and was nearly a fatal vote against the 2003 tax cuts.^[1]

Sen. Lincoln holds a press conference with Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee regarding Medicare and the proposed changes to the system.

She laments that the tax cuts were unfairly biased toward the rich, and advocates scaling back on tax cuts that benefit those tax payers with incomes over $300,000. She supports the permanent elimination of the estate tax. Lincoln cast a vote to pass the Partial Birth Abortion Ban, though she previously supported the Feinstein Amendment (Senate Amendment 261) to the bill, which would strike out the act itself and replace it with "Post Viability Abortion Restriction Act." Pro-life advocates argued a health exception in the amendment would render the ban ineffectual.^[2] She also supported the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act to ban lawsuits against gun manufacturers and distributors.

As of 2003, after fellow Democrat Mark Pryor defeated Senator Tim Hutchinson, Lincoln has been Arkansas' senior senator. In 2004, Lincoln was re-elected 56%-44% over State Senator Jim Holt (R-Springdale).

In May 2006, Lincoln voted in favor of S. 2611, a controversial immigration bill which would almost double the number of H1-B visas (see H1B visa). Lincoln, like almost all other senate Democrats and a few of her Republican colleagues (most notably Arizona's John McCain), argued that it was a compromise between those activists who seek the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants, and those activists who believe in some form of amnesty. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

Lincoln called for the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, claiming that the firing of eight federal prosecutors has created a "serious breach between the Justice Department and Congress, a breach that I'm not sure can be repaired with Mr. Gonzales at the helm." She and her Senate colleague, Mark Pryor, were particularly upset that Gonzales reneged on a promise to have a replacement for Bud Cummins, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, go through Senate confirmation. Gonzales ultimately did resign, in August of 2007.

Miscellaneous

Some observers initially considered Lincoln to have been a possible running mate for presidential candidate John Kerry in the 2004 election. However, she might be a compelling running mate for a Northern Democrat such as Barack Obama in 2008. A moderate Southern woman, with a solid record in Senate and two big Senate wins in Arkansas, she could be a good balance for the national ticket. Also, since Arkansas has a Democratic governor, a Democrat would be chosen to fill her seat should she leave it for the Vice-Presidency.

Lincoln co-authored the book Nine and Counting with eight other female Senators relating their experiences in public service. Lincoln is married to Dr. Steve Lincoln and is the mother of twin boys, Reece and Bennett.

She is up for re-election to the Senate in 2010.

Electoral History

NOTE: Reform party candidate Charley E. Heffley received 2.7% of the vote.

References

External links

• United States Senator Blanche Lincoln official Senate site
• Blanche Lincoln at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Federal Election Commission — Blanche Lambert Lincoln campaign finance reports and data
• On the Issues — Blanche Lambert Lincoln issue positions and quotes
• OpenSecrets.org — Blanche Lincoln campaign contributions
• Project Vote Smart — Senator Blanche L. Lincoln (AR) profile
• Washington Post — Congress Votes Database: Blanche Lincoln voting record

United States Senators from Arkansas
Class 2: Fulton • Ashley • Sebastian • McDonald • Clayton • Garland • Berry • Davis • Heiskell • Kavanaugh • Robinson • Miller • Spencer • McClellan • Hodges • D. Pryor • Hutchinson • M. Pryor Class 3: Sevier • Borland • Johnson • Mitchel • Rice • Dorsey • Walker • Jones • Clarke • Kirby • T. Caraway • H. Caraway • Fulbright • Bumpers • Lincoln

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