The Republican National Convention released its platform yesterday during the big opening day of its weeklong event—only slightly punctuated by the weather—and to no one’s surprise, it was chock-full of regressive policy ideas that seek to push the United States back a few decades or centuries. But it wasn’t always that way. The Prospect dug through the history books and found the parts of past Republican Party platforms that the current members don’t care to remember—and that we think are pretty great. Below are some of the best ideas the GOP ever promulgated.

Paul Waldman's post about the uselessness of motives in evaluating politicians reminds me of a question a student asked me this week when assessing the Johnson administration. To paraphrase, my student said that his impression was that while LBJ may have signed two important civil rights bills, his motives for doing so were far from altruistic. My answer was that 1) this is right, but 2) I don't mean that as a criticism of LBJ.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln faced Rep. John Boozman in their first official debate today (though they squared off in a less official forum in front of county executives earlier this summer). Lincoln is behind about 2 to 1 in most polls in the Arkansas Senate race.

A day ago, Politico's Mike Allen told us that Arkansas Democratic officials were preparing for a huge loss for Sen. Blanche Lincoln against Arkansas's Lt. Gov. Bill Halter. That loss was projected to be by at least five points, possibly more. Instead Lincoln won by five points, or about 10,000 votes.

On Tuesday, voters will finally decide between Bill Halter and incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln as the Democratic nominee for one of Arkansas's Senate seats (some are already deciding, since early voting has started).

Lincoln, who's nearing the end of her second term, came under fire when she helped squander a Democratic supermajority that could have led to more progressive health-care legislation, among other things. So MoveOn.org and labor unions like the AFL-CIO backed Halter, who is the state's lieutenant governor. On May 18, when the first vote was held in the primary, Halter and a third candidate, conservative D.C. Morrison, siphoned off enough votes to keep Lincoln from getting an outright majority, forcing a runoff.

Yesterday, Tim wrote that one of the benefits of Lt. Gov. Bill Halter's primary challenge to Sen. Blanche Lincoln was that we got stronger derivatives regulations in the financial reform bill than we might have otherwise. That Lincoln might be pulling a bait and switch, tempting voters with this seemingly tough stand that's almost certain to be weakened, is a big criticism of Halter's.

Yesterday, Senate Agricultural Committee Chair Blanche Lincoln released surprisingly strong legislative language to regulate the derivatives market. (I had worried she would water it down.) While some questions still remain about drawing exemptions for end-users, on the whole Lincoln's plan is very strong; the endorsement of Sen. Maria Cantwell doesn't hurt.