Lieberman/Lamont race looking good

[monarch]

Lamont Shown Gaining Ground
June 9, 2006
By MARK PAZNIOKAS, Courant Staff Writer NEW HAVEN -- A new poll shows a dramatic tightening in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, indicating that Democrats increasingly see newcomer Ned Lamont as a credible challenger to Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman.

"One-fifth of those who oppose Lieberman cite his support for the war in Iraq as the primary reason. Connecticut voters overwhelmingly disapprove of President Bush's handling of the war, 73 percent to 23 percent. Tom Swan, Lamont's campaign manager, said he was neither surprised nor distressed that the poll found more anger toward Lieberman than affection for Lamont. It is a common dynamic, he said.

"'If there wasn't a problem with an incumbent, no challenger would have a chance,' Swan said, predicting that Lamont would continue to win converts...." To cheers, James Dean of Democracy for America mentioned the poll results during the noon rally, saying that Lamont had seen his support double in a month.

"A Quinnipiac finding that Lieberman might do better as an independent in a three-way race prompted another round of speculation among activists that Lieberman might skip the Democratic primary and run as a petitioning candidate on the November ballot. Lieberman's staff discounted the speculation."

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-senpoll0609.artjun09,0,58778.story?coll=hc-headlines-local


Worth a read for the rest of the article.

[Smarmie Doofus]

1. It's not over, but I think you can 'stick a fork in' .....

>>>"A Quinnipiac finding that Lieberman might do better as an independent in a three-way race prompted another round of speculation among activists that Lieberman might skip the Democratic primary and run as a petitioning candidate on the November ballot. Lieberman's staff discounted the speculation.">>>

...Lieberman as a DEM. He's so far out of the party mainstream it must be getting a little embarrassing , even for him.

Question is: Can Lamont win against a republican and a neo-republican in a NOV threeway?

I'll go out on a limb: "possibly"

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Reminder that it's not just the numbers.

By having Lamont challenge Lieberman to run on the democratic platform for Senate, Lieberman has the frustration and inconvenience of time and money to JUSTIFY his positions since 2000. That is, he has to DEFEND why he has supported * in many areas, including the war, Israel, etc. Why he often voted against the democrats, if only symbolically. (He'll claim it shows that he doesn't vote in lockstep with the democrats and he votes the will of his constiuents.)

But fact of the matter is that he has not been in a position where he has been HELD ACCOUNTABLE for his words and deeds. Of interest is that Lieberman was 500 votes short of becoming a democratic vice president, and was a potential democratic equivalent of Cheney as far as policy.

I want to hear what he has to say in his defense, and I predict he will come up short, and Lamont will do more than criticize Lieberman; he will state what he would do differently in his position.

Let the games begin.

[enough already]

3. "Rest of the article" indicates that Lie-berman still leads 57% to 32%

Ned isn't going to be able to win that race, unfortunately. I'd love to know what the hell Connecticut Dems are thinking on
Lie-berman. The man is a disgrace.

[CTyankee]

4. Well, as a CT Dem and a supporter of Ned

I think what is really going on is that Ned is gaining visibility. His supporters are passionate, but the general public is not and getting their attention is hard to do. Amazingly, Ned is making real strides.

I always knew this was an uphill battle. There doesn't seem to be a lot of energy in this campaign outside of Ned's. It's going to be very hard getting enough come from behind votes in early August when half the state is on vacation (including me, but I'm getting an absentee ballot).

I have the only Lamont yard sign in my neighborhood, but I have only seen one Lieberman yard sign so far. But this neighborhood, Westville in New Haven, is Joe's neighborhood. He lived only about 4 blocks away from me before he sold his house a couple of months ago. It's also where his Orthodox synagogue is located. But I haven't seen the guy anywhere and I used to see him out running. Maybe he is holed up in D.C.

[monarch]

6. Does Lieberman still own property

anywhere in CT? If he doesn't, I hope that Lamont starts making as big a deal about that as Joe makes about Ned being a millionaire (otherwise known as a successful entrepreneur.)

[CTyankee]

7. If he does, he hasn't publicly said anything about it

Back when he first put the house on the market he talked about his moving out of his house as "downsizing" and that he was staying in New Haven. But I haven't heard a word lately and his house sold about a month ago or so (Mid $500,000, which I found surprisingly low. It is a rather nice Tudor).

[Zynx]

5. Among likely voters it gets down to 55% to 40% in favor of Lieberman.

However, Lamont still has piss poor name recognition. If he can get that up before the primary in a big way, we could have a race.

[CTLawGuy]

8. I chalk Neds low name ID up to low attention

his name ID will ramp up exponentially over the next two months.