Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Blanche Lincoln Is `People Driven' In Race

People-oriented issues is what drives Blanche Lambert Lincoln in her quest for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Dale Bumpers.

Lincoln, who was in the area recently, said the major issues of the race are those affecting people's everyday lives. These include the Social Security program, Medicare and education.

She said the budget surplus should be placed in the Social Security program. For more than 60 years, this was a fabulous program, Lincoln said, and it deserves to have the entire budget surplus go into it so the program will be there for all Americans.

In the area of Medicare, Lincoln said fraud and abuse must be eliminated from this program.

In Arkansas, 14 percent of the population depend on Medicare. It's an important program, she said, and must be maintained.

This program has $27 billion in fraud and abuse needing to be eliminated, she said. It's a vital program that's in jeopardy.

Education, though, is possibly the most important issue. The education system in Arkansas must be improved, Lincoln said, to allow students to be competitive. A good education system in the state will also help Arkansas attract high-tech, good paying jobs to the state as well.

Additionally, she said, teachers' pay needs to be increased as well, with better buildings constructed for the students and faculties. Most current school buildings, Lincoln said, are out of date.

Discipline and manners must be put back in the classroom, with teachers in control.

Parental involvement is another important plank in the education platform for Lincoln. She said parents need to work with their children, get active in school groups and activities and become a part of the educational system.

"I'm a product of the public school system," she said, "and I'm proud of it. I will fight hard to make sure there are smaller classrooms and public money will go to public schools. I will make sure the resources are there for better buildings."

Lincoln said her opponent in the race for Senate, Fay Boozman, has bragged about how every bill he's put before the state house has been defeated.

On the other hand, she learned how to deal with the Washington, D.C. bureaucracy from a master, Sen. Bumpers, while she was a Congressman from the First District.

"Dale Bumpers helped me learn the process and how to get things done in Washington," she said. "I will be the best I can be, but I can't fill his shoes right off the bat. I will work hard and fight I can scrap with the best of them.

"If I'm sent to the Senate, I will do all I can to fulfill the legacy of Dale Bumpers. I can do it and I will work hard to make you proud."

The Lambert clan came to Arkansas as missionaries from Kentucky, she said, to save the "heathens" in Arkansas. It is one of the oldest families in the state, and she is a seventh generation Arkansan.

The family, she said, has always been staunchly democratic.

Everything, Lincoln said, can't be solved by legislation. Leadership is needed on all levels.

Boozman, she said, wants to eliminate the Department of Education and privatize Social Security, two things which will be a detriment to the people of Arkansas.

Currently, Lincoln said, the United States has dropped to 12th out of 20 nations in the world on education. This must be turned around.