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).

Friday, August 04, 2006

 

"Tremendous Pressure"

George Stephanopoulos (who was in state to tape interviews with both Sen. Lieberman and Ned Lamont for This Week on ABC this Sunday) made a short appearance on WTNH (YouTube) this afternoon, and voiced the clear opinion of the D.C. establishment about Joe's possible independent run:

STEPHANOPOULOS: This going to send shockwaves... through the entire Washington establishment in the Democratic party. It will also send a signal to the Republicans that this war is an issue that could work against them in November....

MARK DAVIS: If he loses the primary, is the Washington Democratic establishment, from what you understand, going to try to put pressure on him to withdraw?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Tremendous pressure. What you're going to see is, even people who supported Sen. Lieberman, like former President Clinton, like Hillary Clinton, like the leader in the senate Harry Reid, they're all going to say "we have to abide by the results of the primary." I think there will be overwhelming pressure on Sen. Lieberman not to run as an independent.... I've talked to a lot of Democrats in Washington, and a lot of them want to support him through this primary process. That support is likely to evaporate the day after the primary, if he loses.

DAVIS: I can tell you that we hear that from Democratic operatives here as well.


Both Stephanopoulos and Davis are vociferously stating what is clearly the emerging strong consensus of establishment Democrats in both D.C. and in Connecticut - if Joe loses the primary, he needs to bow out gracefully.

Lieberman's latest gambit in a week that's been full of them was to have Sen. Lautenberg suddenly try to suggest that Ned Lamont has to win by 10% in order to get Joe to respect the results of the primary. The number is arbitary, of course, and it would be ridiculous to assume Lautenberg just spouted it randomly. It's an attempt at gaming the system, to hold off the "tremendous" and "overwhelming" pressure that is sure to come Lieberman's way in the aftermath of any loss, close or otherwise.

More than that, the "10%" gambit likely represents one of the last in a series of last-ditch moves.

But they're going to try with all their might to pull this one out, and there's no doubt they still can. Joe's ground game isn't disappearing. Their canvassers are out knocking on every door they can find (even, apparently, Ned Lamont's daughter's!)

Not to mention, Lieberman raised a huge sum of money from PACs and corporate donors over the past few weeks, and if Joe really does start believing he needs to win on Tuesday to save his career, it's spend it or lose it. As David Sirota notes, it's not just the 50-something former dirty-trickster D.C. corporate lobbyists starting ruckuses with teenagers in cheeseburger shops who are Joe's true core constituency and will back him to the bitter end. Powerful lobbyists and corporate interests of all stripes are deathly afraid of a Sen. Lamont:

“The Washington lawyers and lobbyists in those rooms will come back for Joe Lieberman. Who knows what Lamont would be like?”

- Enron lobbyist and former Lieberman chief of staff Michael Lewan, at a fundraiser this week by Washington lobbyists for Joe Lieberman [Source: Hartford Courant, 8/4/06]


But if it doesn't work out for him, and if Sen. Lieberman loses - by any margin - on Tuesday night, it's increasingly clear that he really has no other choice but to concede gracefully, and to help unite the Democratic party for November.
Comments:
Why are all of the Lieberman people showing up here?
 
Why should lobbyists be afraid of Lamont? It seems he's not above making money at the expense of the underlings. Lamont may be better than Lieberman, but when I read things like this (Time.com) it sickens me! Ned Lamont is certainly rich enough to afford to be clean from investment in Wal-Mart and Haliburton. HYPOCRISY!!!!! READ ON! I CHALLENGE LAMONT TO COME CLEAN AND WITHDRAW HIS INVESTMENTS IN DIRTY, ROTTEN CORPORATIONS!

Lamont, who is worth between $90 million and $300 million, is leading Lieberman 54% to 41% in the latest Quinnipiac poll. His campaign accused the Lieberman camp of desperate political tactics in criticizing his holdings of the Wal-Mart stock. “This is a pathetic attempt by someone who’s clinging to power to make an issue where there is no issue,” Lamont’s campaign manager Swan said.

Swan said Lamont has no plans to sell either the Halliburton or the Wal-Mart stock. “At this time he is not looking to getting into directly managing or investing any of his funds,” Swan said, “If he is fortunate enough to be elected, Mr. Lamont realizes that there are a variety of investing decisions that he will have to make,” including, “How to deal with [his investments] in the most ethical manner.”
 
Hi there,

Ned Lamont is new to me. The first time I heard of him was on "The Colbert Report". I have been doing research and he seems like an excellent candidate, as long as what he says is true. He seems to have a strong stance in each topic, however, I cannot find where he stands on one in particular: STEM CELL RESEARCH ? I'd really like to know.

Thank you,
Amanda
 
Lamont is a progressive. As such, he supports both a woman's right to choose and stem cell research.

Lamont does not support stone-age thinking.
 
Amanda, I realized that you'd probably want more than an anonymous poster's "word" on stem cell research. Here is a link where Ned laid out his position on it (May 2006):

http://www.issues2000.org/Domestic/Ned_Lamont_Civil_Rights.htm

Basically, he said this:

"I am a strong supporter of affirmative action and equal rights for all Americans. Increasingly the federal government is intruding into our private lives and blurring the bright line between church and state: attempts to limit marriage, stem cell research, teaching creationism in the science classroom, and the Terri Schiavo case come to mind. On questions of individual conscience, it is time for the government to get out of the way."

Essentially, Ned Lamont wants the government to butt out on questions of individual conscience, like stem cell research, Terri Schiavo, etc.
 
Will Joe cave in to pressure though? From his personality, I'm guessing he probably will, especially if the polls continue to show he has no chance. It's not like he can't get a cushy job in the private sector anyways, and he certainly doesn't seem passionate about his current job.
 
To the Anonymous at 10:22 PM.

I dare you to post the link to those comments attributed to Swan. They were never said. Shame on you.
 
http://www.dmocrats.org

http://groups.myspace.com/endthewarinIraq


We the people demand that congress pass legislation ending the war in Iraq and withdraw the troops and arrange with the United Nations to replace US troops with UN troops to defend Iraq until The Iraqi army can defend Iraq or we will not buy any General Electric consumer products again.



Please invite your friends to join this group and also please put a link to this group on your website.

Notice: By joining this group you pledge to call or email defense contractor and Republican contributor General Electric in Connecticut and tell them a boycott on their products exists and that you will boycott their products until the CEO gets the Republican Party to hold a press conference announcing that the congress will pass legislation to end the war in Iraq and that congress actually passes legislation ending the war in Iraq.

The boycott of GE products includes stoves, ovens, refrigerators, light bulbs, RCA TVs and stereo equipment, etc.


You can email General Electric by going to the web site http://www.ge.com

or at their consumer electronics feedback page

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or at their general feedback web page.

https://www.ge.com/ge/feedback.htm

..
 
To the Anonymous at 9:37 AM who said---

I dare you to post the link to those comments attributed to Swan. They were never said. Shame on you.

From the Anonymous at 10:22 PM. OKAY, Read for yourself. This is also posted on CNN.com

http://www.time.com/time/nation/printout/0,8816,1222948,00.html

TIME.com
Friday, Aug. 04, 2006
An Embarrassment of Riches for Lieberman's Challenger
Only a day after Ned Lamont criticized Wal-Mart for its wages and benefits, the Connecticut Senate Democratic hopeful explains his ownership of stock in the retail giant
By MASSIMO CALABRESI/WASHINGTON
Ned Lamont, the Democratic challenger who faces off against incumbent Joe Lieberman in Tuesday's Connecticut primary, has run into another problem with his multi-million dollar stock portfolio. Last spring the anti-war candidate had to deal with revelations that he owned up to $50,000 worth of stock in Halliburton, the services giant that has been at the center of controversy over its lucrative post-war contracts in Iraq. And now, only a day after he took Wal-Mart to task at a campaign stop in Bridgeport, a review of his personal financial disclosure forms has revealed that he owns between $2,000 and $30,000 worth of Wal-Mart stock in two managed accounts.

In response to questions from TIME Thursday, Lamont's campaign manager, Tom Swan, said the candidate was not actively controlling the investment. "He does not own any stock directly, it's not a direct holding," he said. Part of the Wal-Mart stock is held in a Goldman Sachs "Tax Advantaged Core Strategies managed account", according to a letter released Thursday by Swan. He said the account is designed to track the S+P 500 index, and that Goldman Sachs makes the investment decisions for the account.

Lieberman's campaign didn't take long to accuse Lamont of hypocrisy. "It obviously says something about him, being at a Wake Up WalMart rally yesterday," Lieberman's campaign spokesperson, Marion Steinfels, said Thursday. At the rally, which Lieberman also attended, Lamont said, "This is about waking up Wal-Mart and this is also about waking up corporate America." It was organized by WakeUpWalMart.com, a union-backed group trying to highlight wage and benefits complaints against the company.

Lieberman's campaign lambasted Lamont for the Halliburton holdings last spring, until it was revealed Lieberman himself owned mutual funds that held stock in the corporate giant. Lieberman spokesperson Steinfels said the Senator has no stock in Wal-Mart, either held directly or in mutual funds. His financial disclosure forms do show mutual funds that continue to hold Halliburton.

Lamont, who is worth between $90 million and $300 million, is leading Lieberman 54% to 41% in the latest Quinnipiac poll. His campaign accused the Lieberman camp of desperate political tactics in criticizing his holdings of the Wal-Mart stock. "This is a pathetic attempt by someone who's clinging to power to make an issue where there is no issue," Lamont's campaign manager Swan said.

Swan said Lamont has no plans to sell either the Halliburton or the Wal-Mart stock. "At this time he is not looking to getting into directly managing or investing any of his funds," Swan said, "If he is fortunate enough to be elected, Mr. Lamont realizes that there are a variety of investing decisions that he will have to make," including, "How to deal with [his investments] in the most ethical manner."
 
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