Arkansas and Derivatives   When Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter
forced a runoff in the Arkansas Democratic Senate primary on May
18, it looked as if the labor movement might just force a
revamping of how derivatives are bought and sold on Wall Street
--more importantly, who buys and sells them.  Sen. Blanche
Lincoln had proposed a tough amendment that would spin off
derivatives operations from commercial banks. Just before her
primary, as she led in polls and was expected to cruise to
victory, Sen. Chris Dodd introduced an amendment that would
weaken it; the press caught on late, and it looked like Dodd was
removing the provision now that Lincoln was out of political
danger in her primary. Well, with organized labor spending
millions to back Halter, Lincoln failed to reach 50% of the
vote, and her primary battle continued, and Halter gained some
key momentum. Dodd then pulled his amendment, essentially
putting Lincoln's get-tough measure back in. The political
danger was back, thanks to labor's campaigning, and