Well, we’re still not quite sure. We do know that he’s got big balls!  He’s the Lt. Gov of Arkansas, and he’s mounted a primary challenge to incumbent CoservaDem Senator Blanche Lincoln and, for that, I love him.  But before I jump on the Halter bandwagon and sing his praises, I want to know a bit more about him.

Some groups are painting him as a “progressive populist” and helping him raise lots of money, while others are proceeding a bit more cautiously.  Howie Klein of DownWithTyranny is working hard to get the real scoop on Halter.  So far, he’s come up with conflicting opinions from people who’ve worked closely with him.  DWT today asks “Is Bill Halter a Progressive We Can Trust?” with a guest commentary by Lara Bergthold who, in 2004 worked with Halter when she served as National Political Director for General Wesley Clark’s presidential bid.  She says, “A conservative Democrat who consistently and loudly touted his pro-military, pro-business beliefs running as a progressive populist? It’s been a couple years since I’ve lived in Arkansas, but the definition of what makes someone progressive sure has changed.”

Howie Klein is still waiting for an interview with Halter in order to decide whether or not to add him to Blue America’s Send The Democrats A Message fundraising page.  He’ll come back on the show as soon as he speaks with him to give us his thoughts.  (BTW, I have an interview request in too…)

We moved on from Howie to a conversation about the sad state of labor in the US.  The executive council meeting of the AFL/CIO is going on this week in Orlando, as union leaders plot their strategy for the 2010 elections.  In an interesting related move, the AFL/CIO today backed out of their support of Lincoln, and pledged $3 million in support to Bill Halter!  I spoke with Amy Dean, author of A New New Deal — How Regional Activism Will Reshape the American Labor Movement about the challenges facing labor unions in today’s political climate.

And finally, my friend and former Air America colleague Jack Rice joined me to talk about his recent trip to Haiti. He’s posted some amazing video on his site, and drove home the need for people to remember that the tragedy continues there, long after the cameras have departed.

We also talked a bit about the fact that Chile suffered an even more powerful 8.8 quake, yet America seems to have little interest in the tragedy unfolding there. Perhaps we have earthquake/disaster fatigue.  But we need to keep those people in our thoughts and hearts.  The Nation has a great piece today on ways to help out the people of Chile.