PPP (D) is out with a poll today showing two-term Democratic Senator Blanche Lambert Lincoln trailing her relatively unknown GOP opponents. It puts Lincoln's approval ratings at a hyper-anemic 36% approve, 44% disapprove. She trails state senate minority leader Gilber Baker 42%-40%, businessman Curtis Coleman 41%-40%, and leads attorney Tom Cotton by only 40%-39%.

Obviously it would be nice for the GOP if Republicans could recruit a top-tier candidate. The problem is that, for interesting historical reasons, the GOP is weaker in Arkansas than in other Southern states. The bench is shallow.

But before we write off Lincoln's unknown GOP opponents, let's recall that the successful Democratic fields in 2006 and 2008 included three state Senators, a Naval Secretary from the 1980s, a mayor, and a comedian. In 1994 the presumptive Democratic majority leader was knocked off by a little-known surgeon by the name of Bill Frist. If the winds blow heavily enough against the Democrats, some of these candidates may well be able to pull off the victory.

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