U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton exhorted a jolly crowd at the Capitol this evening to send Barack Obama to Washington to “clean up the mess” Republicans have made. A string of Democratic dignitaries entertained with similar partisan takes. U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln reminded the crowd of John McCain’s antipathy to farm legislation. Former Sen. David Pryor promised a November “surprise” in Arkansas. U.S. Rep. Marion Berry wondered that Republicans weren’t too ashamed to field a candidate after the Bush debacle. U.S. Rep. Vic Snyder longed for smart people in the White House again. You get the idea. There were others, among them Wesley Clark and Gov. Mike Beebe, who said he was returning the favor happily for a campaign visit Obama made for him in the same place two years ago. Beebe strummed a populist chord, noting Wall Street Journal reporting that the McCain campaign proposes to pay for a health plan by cutting Medicaid, a lifeline to the neediest among us. It was on to an Edgehill Road fund-raiser after the speech for Clinton.