I am very proud of everyone on this blog. We stayed out of the Lieberman-Lamont fray even though (to my knowledge) everyone here was hoping for a Lamont victory. Well, it happened. Joe Lieberman has conceded the Democratic primary victory to Ned Lamont ... and will now run as an independent. There will be an enormous amount of pressure on him to drop out of the race, but I can assure you that he will not. He has said it himself: he has loyalties greater than that to his party; namely, his loyalty to himself. He can't take the idea of being out of the Senate. I certainly hope no prominent Democrats come out to support him now -- if they do they should be (and will be) ridiculed.
It's not getting as much press, but it appears Cynthia McKinney (remember her?) has lost her primary as well. Good. We need to make a point that we will not accept unethical behavior in Congress.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
CT-Sen
Posted by Bell Curve at 8:26 PM
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if Lamont had lost, he would have rallied his supporters to the cause of the Democratic party and its nominee, Lieberman. The fact that Lieberman is too much of a sore loser to do the same reflects his character as a true self-serving politician. Only now is it clear to me how much he deserved to lose.
The vote for Lamont signals that Democrats are motivated for change, as is so much of the country (the reason it was close, btw, is that CT allows crossover voting, so lots of Republicans went to vote for Lieeberman to disrupt the process and further demoralize Dems).
// posted by LTG
I agree with both Bell Curve and LTG. The DNC needs to come out and stand behind Lamont. This is a situation in which I'm glad Dean is DNC chairman. I may think he's a poor campaigner but one thing he's not is a slave to the establishment. I would be surprised if he backed Lieberman.
Lieberman got so much support from the Republicans in his state you'd think he was a Green! What does that tell us. Why would Republicans want a conservative Democrat to win the primary? Wouldn't they want to run against far lefty who they could beat with a moderate Republican?
Answer: Because they know that the only way they sell that conservative ideology in a blue state like CT is to put in a Democratic package. Also, Lieberman votes with the GOP so often he's probably better for them than someone like Chaffee or Snow.
Lamont on CNN this morning was asked what a Lieberman indy run would do. Lamont was great, he said, "I think he'll split the Republican vote. He gets a lot more support from Republicans than Democrats."
Vote Democrat in 2006!
// posted by Raised By Republicans
Daily Kos has been a big Lamont supporter for a long time. They're reporting that major moderate Democrats who had supported Lieberman in the primary are lining up quickly behind Lamont now that he has the nomination! Good for them!
The list includes: Hillary Clinton, Evan Bayh, and John Edwards. These are three Democrats with ties to the DLC (Lieberman was a prominent member) and their support for Lamont is a strong signal in favor of party unity and also not a small signal to Lieberman that if he runs as an independent he'll be on his own.
He'll have to go begging to Republicans. And they have their own candidate (don't know his name but I know they've got one). Will those GOP money men and voters stick with Lieberman when he's not just going against Lamont but their own guy too? I doubt it. Lieberman is done but like many professional politicians, he doesn't know defeat when he sees it.
// posted by Raised By Republicans
Republicans aren't going to support Lieberman. If a major Republican senator were defeated in a primary (such as McCain) by a less centrist candidate, would Democrats line up behind the defeated Republican? Hell, no! They would take advantage of the once in a liftime opportunity to try to take the race. In CT, lieberman will be seen as a sore loser. Polls taken 3 weeks from now will show him polling less than 20% of the vote. He may drop out after labor day.
// posted by LTG
I agree that Lieberman may well drop out in a few weeks after his money sources dry up and half of his staff defects because they want to have futures in the Democratic party.
My guess is that the Republican candidate will try to ignore Lieberman and run against the supposedly leftist Lamont.
// posted by Raised By Republicans
More good news -- Barbara Boxer has decided to campaign for Lamont . Considering her ties with Lieberman, that is a good sign.
But I'm not as optimistic as you two about Lieberman dropping out of the race. We'll see.
// posted by Bell Curve
What do you think of the following hare-brained theory?
One of the (many) deciding factors for Lamont was that Lieberman indicated he'd run as an independent if he lost the primary.
(I say "many" deciding factors because it was a close race, so the balance could've been tipped by the whims of less than ten thousand voters.)
// posted by Bob
I read over DailyKos an observation/question by SusanG that I thought I'd bring over to you. Paraphrasing the question, are the White House spokesperson/VP comments on the CT Dem primary unprecedented? What other examples are there of the executive branch expressing opinions about the opposition party's primary process, rather than staying above the fray?
I'd have thought that other than the occasional "nominate who ya want, we'll take on anyone!" comment, they'd leave sniping about why the opposition's last move was a mistake to party reps like Mehlman.
Well, bob, yes and no. I think Lieberman's public statement that he didn't care about the Demcratic party, rather just about his own seat, hurt him. But that's a slightly different point.
// posted by LTG
I think the biggest thing against Lieberman is that he's not the most exciting guy. Successful independents and third party types usually have a modicum of charisma. Jon Stewart calls Lieberman Senator Droopy and it sticks.
Lieberman has been totally dependent on the Democratic party lable in his state. He's spent the last six years trashing and lambasting just about every Democrat in the country all while ignoring the local party activists at home.
Lieberman will need two things to win: money and/or grass roots types to get out the vote. By abandoning his party without switching to the other party, he's going to have a hard time getting either. He'll have to win on personal magnatism - something he's got none of.
// posted by Raised by Republicans
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