Why the GOP May Not Be Able to Capitalize on a Lieberman Loss

[LTR]

...With the right outcome, the GOP could actually make a run for Lieberman's crucial Senate seat. With the right outcome, that is, and the right candidate.

Problem is very few people think Alan Schlesinger — or Alan Gold, as he used to call himself when he was gambling at Connecticut's Indian casinos — is the right candidate. Last spring, back when Lamont was a joke and Lieberman looked unassailable, Schlesinger took the time to tour Connecticut collecting enough votes to get himself the Republican nomination. The former state legislator and mayor of Derby was not exactly a political star, but no one begrudged him the work he put in to get the party's nod. As one former GOP lawmaker put it in a recent op-ed in the Hartford Courant, "No one was very enthused about Schlesinger, but he had the virtue of wanting the nomination."

Everyone was less enthused when it emerged that at one of the Connecticut casinos Schlesinger/Gold used to patronize, he had gotten a "Wampum card" — a kind of frequent flier bonus card issued to gamblers based on the volume of bets. Opinion dropped even further when, after he said he couldn't remember having any gambling debts, it came out that Schlesinger had paid more than $28,000 to settle lawsuits with two Atlantic City Casinos in 1990 and 1994. Schlesinger calls the gambling stories 20-year-old non-issues, and says he never broke any laws.

(more)

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1223918,00.html?cnn=yes

[davidinalameda]

1. the GOP candidate doesn't have a snowball's chance

the Repukes would end up voting for Lieberman so he would defeat Lamont in the general

[existentialist]

3. Actually, the Republican might

be a kind of spoiler, taking just enough votes away from Lieberman so that Lamont can win the general election.

You're correct that the Republican doesn't have a snowball's chance. I remember reading one article a few days ago about how he collected a total of just slightly over $50,000 for his campaign.

A serious statewide election in Connecticut is NOT run with $50,000.

[davidinalameda]

5. we can only hope

but I'm sure that the Repukes up there are going to be taking their marching orders from Joe's buddies in the White House and support him

[longship]

2. A Lamont win signals HUGH111111 trouble for the GOP.

Especially if Lamont blows it out. (I'm predicting 56/43 because of early reports of possibility of 50+% turnout.)

What this means for the GOP, is the following:

1. The electorate is pissed at the current situation.
2. The turnout is likely to be high this year.
3. Pro-Bush and pro-war candidates are going to be extra vulnerable.
4. You can throw the "conventional wisdom" book out the window.

This year could very well be the HUGH111111 blowout we could be hoping for.

[C_U_L8R]

4. There's gonna be a new meaning to "Joementum"

and it's the tidal wave of democracy that's
gonna wash the republicans right out of Washington