On the heels of Republican Arlen Specter’s announcement that he won’t support the Employee Free Choice Act comes another similar announcement –  this time from a Democrat. U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, an Arkansas Democrat said she won’t back the bill to make it easier for unions to organize workers.

Lincoln made the announcement at a political gathering in her home state — the site of Wal-Mart’s headquarters.

Union organizers, however, saw a sliver of light in Lincoln’s statement: “I cannot support that bill, cannot support that bill in its current form. Cannot support and will not support moving it forward in its current form.”

AFL-CIO spokesman Eddie Vale said you have to read between Lincoln’s lines to get the true meaning — that the EFCA will be modified and that senators like Lincoln will support the bill after modification.

Vale’s response: “This certainly isn’t devastating …  it’s political science 101.A bill is introduced and then Congress works through the process of committees, amendments, and debates and 99 out of 100 times the final bill is different from when it started.”

Tags: AFL-CIO, Blanche Lincoln, EFCA, Employee Free Choice Act