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One Year Ago Today
by CGG · August 8th, 2007, 5:22 am · 31 Comments
Tags: Democrats · Elections · Joe Lieberman · Ned Lamont · People · poetry
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31 responses so far ↓
A momentous night. Probably the most exciting night in Connecticut politics that I can remember.
I spent the evening at Joe Lieberman’s HQ, watching the Kidz 4 Joe get drunk off their asses. Then I watched Joe give his non-concession concession speech, and everything turned upside-down. Wild!
I still have pictures somewhere, I gotta dig them up.
I remember Gabe and I emailing back and forth with you, comparing the two parties.
I still can’t believe you went to Joe’s HQ. But I guess one of us had to.
I remember Lamont having little to no follow-up plan after the historic primary win and then failing to emphatically urge Joe out of the race. I then remember Lamont supporters going after Joe for not respecting the primary process well into October, rather than focusing on the merits of Lamont’s campaign. That’s why the Lamont story is a small footnote in CT political history rather than a chapter.
There was a great quote about the failure of Lamont to capitalize, and I forget who said this, but he/she said “They took their boot off his neck.” Which they did. They gave Joe the whole month of August to build himself up.
Thank God that we don’t have Lamont and Farrell — that combo was absolutely scary … Connecticut is very fortunate to have Lieberman and Shays in office. Hopefully Shays will be effective at bringing more moderate Republicans into Congress from the rest of New England.
Gabe is a mets fan?
Even as a Republican, I did enjoy watching this video. Even chuckled a couple of times. But, in the end, as the say goes…Don’t Blame Me, I Voted For Schlesinger!
For once in my lifetime, Connecticut actually mattered!
Thanks a million Ned!
lamontcranston –
Indeed. I believe I am one of the few Mets fans reared within sight of Yankee Stadium (who aren’t related to me)!
One year ago I was an intern for the Lieberman campaign, and one year ago in nine hours I was avoiding the trip up to the headquarters, same as just about everyone else (and one year ago this Friday morning the field staff was fired). Now it feels like it all happened much, much farther in the past.
[quote comment="17085"]lamontcranston -
Indeed. I believe I am one of the few Mets fans reared within sight of Yankee Stadium (who aren’t related to me)![/quote]
Nice to know I am not the only mets fan on this blog.
Go Mets!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[quote comment="17083"]For once in my lifetime, Connecticut actually mattered!
Thanks a million Ned![/quote]
Not to beat a dead horse, but “Connecticut mattered” only in the eyes of… one quarter of Connecticut Democrats. To the vast majority of Connecticut residents, Joe Lieberman was and is the best man for the job.
[quote post="820"]To the vast majority of Connecticut residents, Joe Lieberman was and is the best man for the job. [/quote]
Liberliar won by less than 50% of the vote. That’s not a majority.
This is true. A plurality — like the pluralities that elected Clinton and Bush. My mistake.
[quote comment="17104"]This is true. A plurality — like the pluralities that elected Clinton and Bush. My mistake.[/quote]
Not to split hairs but GW Bush won with the majority of the votes in 2004. First time since his father in 1988.
Lamont lost the election that night. As much as it is politically incorrect to say, Jackson and Sharpton standing behind Ned for the world to see was the beginning of his downfall. You cannot have to of the country’s most polarizing figures stand behind you and then tell us you are a different kind of politician.
[quote comment="17113"]Lamont lost the election that night. As much as it is politically incorrect to say, Jackson and Sharpton standing behind Ned for the world to see was the beginning of his downfall. You cannot have to of the country’s most polarizing figures stand behind you and then tell us you are a different kind of politician.[/quote]
Yeah Gerstein did a good job spreading that racist meme around. I was there on primary night. Ned was also surrounded by his CT Democrats, his family, and Swan. That smear was one of the nastiest things the Lieberman campaign did, and after awhile I lost count of how many of those they pulled.
Of course Sharpton, Jackson and Maxine Waters only came to Connecticut after the Lieberman campaign’s paid street workers started spreading ugly lies and rumors throughout the minority community.
[quote comment="17123"][quote comment="17113"]Lamont lost the election that night. As much as it is politically incorrect to say, Jackson and Sharpton standing behind Ned for the world to see was the beginning of his downfall. You cannot have to of the country’s most polarizing figures stand behind you and then tell us you are a different kind of politician.[/quote]
Yeah Gerstein did a good job spreading that racist meme around. I was there on primary night. Ned was also surrounded by his CT Democrats, his family, and Swan. That smear was one of the nastiest things the Lieberman campaign did, and after awhile I lost count of how many of those they pulled.[/quote]
You have to admit though,….bringing Terry Schiavo’s husband to the state was one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen in my entire life regarding campaigns. Sharpton and Jackson don’t help either. I don’t know if Mr. Schiavo asked to come here, and the campaign said yes, or what, but that was just odd and creepy.
I voted for Ned, but his campaign really did seem derail after the primary. Someone needed to say, “Okay, we got the lefty vote, now time to grab the center”,…and that never happened.
Also, to point out Jackson and Sharpton are oppurtunists, media whores, shakedown artists, and really not what they claim to be (“civil rights leaders”) isn’t racist.
Lamont was a one issue candidate with very little substance—hence adored by the left and fell completely flat in a general election.
This state is far more purple than a number of hardcore posters here will ever recognize.
[quote post="820"]You have to admit though,….bringing Terry Schiavo’s husband to the state was one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen in my entire life regarding campaigns. Sharpton and Jackson don’t help either. I don’t know if Mr. Schiavo asked to come here, and the campaign said yes, or what, but that was just odd and creepy.[/quote]
I was pretty critical of that move at the time actually. Not sure if I posted about it but I certainly voiced opposition in the comments section here.
[quote post="820"]Also, to point out Jackson and Sharpton are oppurtunists, media whores, shakedown artists, and really not what they claim to be (”civil rights leaders”) isn’t racist.[/quote]
Please. The push was so transparent it was ridiculous. They were counting on racism to get righty voters all riled up and it worked. Meanwhile, during the primary they did just the opposition accusing Ned of being a racist.
I hear ya, both sides played the race card. But to claim is was so transparent is a stretch. I was fairly active last summer and I only heard laughable antecdotes about Libermans street team, nothing that people should take seriously. Whatever damage Lieberman’s “street team of propagandists” (aka 15, 20 dudes getting paid crap to walk around) might have done, Ned did their jobs (getting racists riled up) for them when he brought out Jackson and Sharpton. I’m just talking strategy, not what is right or wrong or fair.
I really don’t see how Ned played the race card, especially since Lieberman also sought an endorsement from Al Sharpton.
Have you read Ken Cain’s piece in GQ about the primary? Cain does an excellent job of describing the importance of the African American voter in that primary.
I’d also direct you to David Sirota’s take on this, while including the disclaimer that he later worked for the Lamont campaign..
I just read the GQ piece. I get what the author is saying. My point was just strategically speaking it didn’t work. Campaigns are about weighing pro’s and con’s constantly. I still just think the con’s outweighed the pro’s. I’m sure as the article points out those appearances motivated the people who witnessed the speeches, I don’t doubt that. What I do question is how much was gained through that strategy versus how much was lost?
If I look at the map from that race, Ned won huge in Hartford, Bridgeport, and New Haven. Joe won almost everywhere else (excluding Mansfield area obviously). Seems to me Jesse and Al could have stayed home, those three cities would still have gone Ned, and he may have also picked up some towns on the outskirts.
I think the problem of the campaign post primary was not properly weighing pro’s and con’s in a variety of areas.
Has Lamont rejoined the exclusive club in Greenwich? I forget, does that club have any members who are Black? I just recall that he felt the need to stop participating with an extremely exclusive club in Greenwich, so that he could try to fit in better with the commoners. I thought that there was some issue about that club not having any Blacks or very few of them. I guess that Ned is a little bit more normal than John Edwards. Edwards apparently joined a hedge fund after 2004 to help him understand the lives of the poor better. Meanwhile, Ned has the common sense to try to remove himself from the extremely priviledged life that he lived prior to his critical election months. Anyone know if Lamont rejoined the club?
Oh, and does anyone know if Jim Hymes is a member of Ned’s favorite Greenwich club, too? Or was he a member last year (before the desire to be a man of the people)?
[quote comment="17134"]Oh, and does anyone know if Jim Hymes is a member of Ned’s favorite Greenwich club, too? Or was he a member last year (before the desire to be a man of the people)?[/quote]
This was bullshit on the Lieberman side though. I never in my life witnessed more conservatives become class warriors overnight. Never had I heard more AM radio doofus talk show hosts and their moron callers decry having some cash and being white as some horrible crime.
For further enlightenment regarding those in lower Fairfield County……
Member of the Club
A pretty good read.
>>Please. The push was so transparent it was ridiculous. They were counting on racism to get righty voters all riled up and it worked
Oh please.
I’m fairly “to the right” yet feel strongly that a non-violent response to racism is, by WASP’s at any rate, wholly inappropriate.
On the contrary only John Brown’s response was, what I feel is “correct”; then, and now as well.
To paint the right as racist while actively practicing and promoting what amounts to the “New Slavery”; (which is exactly what the new left promotes); is the height of hypocrisy.
CGG brings up race…I’m bringing up two very polarizing figures, whose popularity in this state probably rivals that of Karl Rove and George Bush…also two very polarizing figures who are not of color. It’s not that they were at Ned Lamont’s victory party…they were standing right behind him throughout his speech. Lamont’s campaign even excluded them from his campaign commercials that showed clips from that evening.
Do you think they are polarizing figures CGG? That’s a yes or no question.
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