Hope fades in Arkansas as Clinton endorsement means little for Lincoln

Bill Clinton emerged from the 2008 campaign trail scarred. He alienated black Southerners by attacking Barack Obama. Some Arkansans wished Clinton had done more to help the impoverished parts of the state when he was president.

Still, in Arkansas, deep nostalgia exists for Clinton. In an October 2009 Talk Business Quarterly Poll, 50 percent of Arkansans polled thought Clinton would go down in history as an outstanding president and 68 percent believed his library had a positive impact on the state.

“I Miss Bill” bumper stickers are stuck on cars all over the state. Clintonites still spin White House yarns. The Clinton School of Public Service frequently hosts speakers who had roles in the Clinton administration.

“Charismatic people inspire that kind of loyalty and adulation,” said John Gartner, author of “In Search of Bill Clinton: A Psychological Biography.” “He’s a charismatic figure that has a way of making a one-on-one connection. He inspires immense love and loyalty.”

Gartner said Clinton possesses a keen way of renewing himself whether it’s taking on AIDS in Africa, his work with tsunami victims in 2004 or Haiti as the United Nations envoy to the country. But with so much on his plate including recovering from a heart procedure last month, will Clinton have the power to help Lincoln win in a state that is trending red?

“He will have to spend some time there and stump for Senator Lincoln,” said Dr. Lara Brown, an assistant professor of political science at Villanova University. “For him to win over the state, he needs to be in the state. President Clinton is still a powerful commanding figure that could affect voter change if he would actually to go work for it.”

The Halter campaign said it could not care less that Clinton has endorsed Lincoln.

“Bill Halter has never been an insider,” said Bud Jackson, spokesman for the Halter campaign. “And he is not afraid to take on insiders.”