Stop the presses, we might have some good news on the war in Afghanistan. Savor it.

Arkansas’ Lt. Governor and Senatorial candidate Bill Halter has seized on Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s opposition to the budget reconciliation, particularly to the piece of it that would reform the student loan industry.

Throughout the next two months, we will hear a common complaint from Blanche Lincoln as she runs for re-election against Bill Halter: that outside interests are coming into Arkansas and telling the people who should represent them. Of course, it’s the Arkansas chapter of the Sierra Club objecting to Lincoln’s support for stopping the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases. And similarly, the state AFL-CIO, the local coalition for working Arkansans, just endorsed Halter in the primary.