Disclosure: I worked for the Lamont campaign doing web design and production and some writing for the official blog (from 9/5/06 to 11/07/06).
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Wednesday Morning Round-Up
- Just a "single issue"? According to a recent poll, 31% of Democrats nationwide think Iraq is the nation's most pressing problem, more than twice the number who answered the economy. Arthur H. House follows both local editorials and Chris Matthews yesterday in calling for a real debate about Iraq in this race, the elephant in the room that Lieberman has been avoiding since February:
Challenger Ned Lamont goes right to the point. For him, Iraq was a mistake; it has weakened American leadership and resulted in our missing other priorities. Lieberman has been consistent and passionate in his sustained defense of the war and even criticized those who do not defend President Bush.
What's a voter to do? Demand answers!...
Iraq deserves to be front and center in the elections. Today it is an American war, and it defines our ability to lead in an increasingly dangerous world. So, let the spotlight shine on Connecticut.
This is about the future. While Democrats like Sen. Clinton, Sen. Dodd, and Sen. Kerry have all grown more skeptical of the Bush administration's foreign policy, Sen. Lieberman has not, and will without question continue to cheerlead this administration into disastrous war after disastrous war if he stays in office. Shouldn't that be an issue in this race? Should Sen. Lieberman just be allowed to dodge it by claiming he is "principled"? - New SUSA July poll numbers are out for Lieberman, and in general they don't show much movement. He goes from 55 approve/41 disapprove in June to 54/41 in July among all voters. Lieberman does gets a small bounce from Democrats, going from 46/50 to 50/46.
More concerning is the bigger bounce he gets from self-identified liberals, where he's also back in positive territory, going +10 from 40/56 to 50/43. This is outside the large margin of error of 9%. While he's down among moderates (from 58/39 to 54/43), this surge among liberals should concern Lamont supporters.
Yes, it's a tiny sample and an automated poll, and the trend from the beginning of the year is still anti-Joe. But this is a good wake-up call that Ned Lamont is almost definitely not up 10 points, as the Rasmussen poll (also with a tiny sample) claimed. An incumbent with a 50% approval rating in his party is in pretty good shape for the primary. And Joe will throw everything including the kitchen sink at Ned in the next two weeks, starting Friday when he will reportedly return to the state for the duration, missing senate votes if need be. Keep working. Neal at MLN tells you how. - Joe Conason takes on Lieberman's "Connecticut Problem," which is becoming CW:
Contrary to the silly myth repeated by lazy journalists and anxious consultants, the Internet did not conjure up voter opposition to Mr. Lieberman. Yet that canard has generated its own virtual reality. Blathering on so relentlessly about the supposed centrality of bloggers in the Lamont campaign, the mainstream media provided priceless free publicity to the challenger, while simultaneously “branding” his campaign as cool and new....
Unfortunately for Mr. Lieberman, he understands none of those things. He doesn’t comprehend that a war costing thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars is not just a “single issue.” He doesn’t realize that repeating White House talking points about the war is not going to win him any votes this year. He has left the reality-based community for the never-land of neo-conservatism—and if he loses, that will be why. - Today, Ned will speak at: A candidate forum at CCSU in New Britain at 11am, a senior center in New Haven at 1pm, and a meet-and-greet in Westport at 7pm.
- Update: Former New York gubernatorial candidate Howard Stern endorses Ned.
posted by tparty at 8:19 AM 
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Correct. I looked at the SUSA polls and had to do a double-take when I saw Joe's numbers rise among liberals. Coupled with Bill Clinton's visit, Joe must be getting a bounce of some sort, how high I don't know.
Lamont has to kick his campaign into a much higher gear now. One thing they lack is TV presence, at least in my area. I hope these last few days they totally blanket the state non-stop with Ned ads.
Lamont has to kick his campaign into a much higher gear now. One thing they lack is TV presence, at least in my area. I hope these last few days they totally blanket the state non-stop with Ned ads.
# posted by 
at 10:52 AM
at 10:52 AM
Holy Joe may finally be waking up but it might be too late
"His campaign is currently producing a TV commercial from video shot at yesterday's rally with Bill Clinton but his campaign has pulled back on TV ads this week."
"The increase in staff is very noticeable at Lieberman's Rocky Hill headquarters. Lieberman now has twice as many paid campaign staff as Ned Lamont."
http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=5197065&nav=3YeX
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"His campaign is currently producing a TV commercial from video shot at yesterday's rally with Bill Clinton but his campaign has pulled back on TV ads this week."
"The increase in staff is very noticeable at Lieberman's Rocky Hill headquarters. Lieberman now has twice as many paid campaign staff as Ned Lamont."
http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=5197065&nav=3YeX
# posted by at 12:20 PM
at 12:20 PM << Home