Why post on something this parochial? Three reasons. One: It’s an excuse to show you Lincoln’s new ad, which I dig. Amusing, creative, and memorable (and a none-too-subtle shot at Obama and her party). But judge for yourself. Two: Lincoln was, as I’m sure you recall, the 60th vote for cloture on Reid’s bill and she’s been taking a beating for it in polls against hypothetical Republican challengers ever since. The left’s way of saying thanks? Primarying her, of course:

Virtually overnight, outside groups have erased the seemingly insurmountable financial advantage Lincoln brought to the contest. On Tuesday, an umbrella of four labor groups that have long been frustrated over Lincoln’s refusal to support card check legislation — the AFL-CIO, Communications Workers of America, AFSCME and United Steelworkers of America — jointly announced they were each pledging to spend $1 million in an all-out effort to dislodge Lincoln.

By Wednesday morning, a coalition of liberal organizations led by MoveOn.org — which blasted out a fundraising appeal calling Lincoln “one of the worst Democratic senators” — had raised an eye-popping $1.1 million for Halter, Arkansas’s lieutenant governor, who announced his candidacy Monday…

The progressive Netroots, for its part, has embraced Halter, with Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas writing, “Bill Halter will rescue the Democratic establishment from itself and help us hold a seat Lincoln is guaranteed to lose.” Firedoglake blogger Jane Hamsher prominently featured Halter in fundraising appeals on her site and blasted Lincoln as a “corporatist.”…

“Blanche Lincoln has become the living, breathing symbol of a politician who represents the interests of their corporate donors over those of their constituents,” said Hamsher, whose Accountability Now PAC has endorsed Halter.

Three: Make a mental note of the “reality-based community’s” strategy here for the next time some concern troll on MSNBC or the New York Times op-ed page starts fretting about the conservative base’s “purity tests.” Centrist though she is, Lincoln is probably too far left to survive the red wave this November given the realities of her state; by backing a candidate even further left than she is, the nutroots is either (a) engaged in a fiendishly clever strategy to make Lincoln look right-wing to Arkansas voters by contrast or (b) all but conceding this seat to the GOP and using the primary as an opportunity to flex their muscle by bludgeoning a moderate Democrat. My money’s on the second theory. In fact, I suspect this is their way of indulging their id by trying to beat a conservative-ish candidate in an election cycle in which they know real conservatives are going to stomp them into dust. But I digress. Offhand, I can’t think of an example of the famously pure tea party doing something as stupid and self-destructive as backing a far-right candidate in a blue state just to show how “principled” they are or whatever. In which case, your exit question: Which side is the one that’s truly reality-based?