First Quarter:

Ned Lamont: $712,611 ($371,500 from his own funds.)
Joe Lieberman: $947,356

Two things to keep in mind. One, Lamont only declared his candidacy in March, so this represents significantly less than a full quarter for him. Two, aside from the apx. $180,000 raised online via ActBlue, there hasn't been much focus at all on fundraising from the campaign yet. That will be changing:

Tom Swan, the campaign manager for Lamont, said the first-quarter results are enough to establish Lamont as a credible challenger. He is spending next week networking with national progressives, cultivating contacts who can help raise money.

Lamont will not win this race because of money, especially having sworn off lobbyist donations, but he will raise enough to get his message out to Democratic voters before August. Lieberman will outraise and outspend Lamont.

So the senate is halfway through a two-week recess.

Where's Joe? He showed up very briefly in Connecticut last Sunday and promptly shot himself in the foot by saying he'd run as an Independent. He'll be in Waterford on the 23rd, but that's a week and change away.



Where could he be? Why is he avoiding Connecticut?

If you can't find Joe himself, you can still give him a piece of your mind on Monday the 17th in New Haven, where you can get your own personal 10-second rant filmed for inclusion in a forthcoming Robert Greenwald project about the race.

A week from next Wednesday - save the date:

The first month of the Ned Lamont for Senate campaign has exceeded all our expectations. Since we announced his candidacy March 13, more than 7,000 of you have made contributions and signed on as volunteers.

The next step in our grassroots campaign is a petition drive to make sure Ned is on the ballot for the August 8 Primary and to talk with thousands of Democrats about our campaign.

On April 26 we will launch the drive with training sessions around the state. Mark your calendars and join us for this historic effort. Click here for more details on how you can help.

Ned believes in making connections person to person. That’s why he is visiting every town committee and every group he can, and that’s why we know that your efforts and energy will make the petition drive a success. Click here to see where Ned is speaking, or for information about how to invite him to visit with your group or organization.

Ned has pledged not to seek or accept any money from Washington lobbyists. Instead, he has us. Mark your calendars to join us for the April 26 kickoff, and look for web site and email updates for information about a training session near you.

A lot happening today already, and it's only 9am:

• Alan Schlesinger, former mayor of Derby, will officially enter the senate race on the GOP side, reports the Courant. He will join anti-immigration xenophobe Paul Streitz as officially declared Republican candidates. Unlike Streitz, he has the tacit support of the state party and plans on putting his money where his mouth is:
  

  A tax attorney who graduated from the University of Connecticut School of Law and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Finance, Schlesinger is pledging to spend $500,000 of his own money to jump-start his campaign, which would be up against Lieberman's war chest of more than $4 million.
  
  "Our budget is $3 million," Schlesinger said. "I'm going to be matching the first $500,000 dollar for dollar."

  All the millions in the world won't do any good when your stated "pet issue" is privatizing social security.


• The first-quarter campaign finance report from the Lamont camp is due out today. In CT-04, Diane Farrell outraised Chris Shays $514,595 to $372,000 in the first quarter, a great showing. Laura Bush is coming to Connecticut to raise money for Shays's faltering campaign later this month.


• The Town Times reports on Ned Lamont's visit to Middlefield on Tuesday:
  

  Lamont seemed to already have support among those who had come to see him speak. "Joe Lieberman has changed," Clay Howe of Durham commented, "He is no longer the Joe Lieberman who once represented New Haven.



• The conservative NY Sun weighs in on Lieberman's threat to cut and run from the Democratic party in an op-ed entitled "Cannibalizing Lieberman." Setting aside the fact that, once again, Lieberman's only defenders come from the right side of the political spectrum, it's clear that the Democratic party is not "cannibalizing" anyone by having a discussion on important issues in a primary with the minor demand that an 18-year incumbent abide by the results of that primary. When's the next time Joe goes on Hannity's show?


• David Ignatius fuels the Lieberman-to-DOD rumors in a WaPo op-ed:
  

  Rumsfeld's replacement should be someone who can help restore a bipartisan consensus for a sensible Iraq policy. One obvious candidate would be the centrist Democrat Sen. Joe Lieberman.

  
  If this happens, this will be exactly how the establishment media will play it. And it is complete bullshit. Joe Lieberman cannot "help restore a bipartisan consensus" on Iraq any more than Dick Cheney or Donald Rumsfeld could, because he's a pure neoconservative ideologue on defense who has never been interested in doing so. He has toed the Bush-Cheney line and refused to ask tough questions every step of the way. For the sake of the country, we really need a non-ideologue like Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense, no matter what party affiliation. Joe Lieberman would just be more of the same failure, with a "Democratic" face.

CTBlogger has the details. Finish your taxes and head over!

Lamont will also be at SCSU on Monday afternoon, and up in Boston (Brookline and Jamaica Plain, I believe) on Tuesday, trying to win over the Red Sox fan vote, I guess. The official site's calendar is regularly updated with events like these.

Maybe Ned will mention the new poll numbers that find that 54% of Americans think the Bush Administration will make "the wrong decision" on Iran, a decision which could mean $200 a barrel oil, complete chaos in Iraq, a widespread regional war in the middle east, terrorist reprisals against Israel and American troops and citizens... and that's just the first few days.

Will Sen. Lieberman stand up for a sane policy on Iran, or will he once again blindly support the insane zealots inside the White House?

(Update: Make that five... or six.)

Maj. Gen. John Batiste, a recently retired general who commanded troops in Iraq, is just the latest military officer to call for Donald Rumsfeld's resignation:

"I believe we need a fresh start in the Pentagon. We need a leader who understands teamwork, a leader who knows how to build teams, a leader that does it without intimidation," Maj. Gen. John Batiste, who commanded the Germany-based 1st Infantry Division in Iraq, said in an interview on CNN.

In recent weeks, retired Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold, Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton and Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni all spoke out against Rumsfeld. This comes as opinion polls show eroding public support for the 3-year-old war in which about 2,360 U.S. troops have died.

"You know, it speaks volumes that guys like me are speaking out from retirement about the leadership climate in the Department of Defense," Batiste said.

"But when decisions are made without taking into account sound military recommendations, sound military decision making, sound planning, then we're bound to make mistakes."

According to James Forsyth at Foreign Policy, Lieberman's name, which had been floated back in December 2005, is still in the mix as a possible replacement as Bush's Secretary of Defense:

Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) has been tipped for the job more times than I have had hot dinners.

Why: Brownie points for bipartisanship. Chattering classes will commend Bush for "reaching out" and some moderates would be reassured that Bush is putting victory before politics. The Senate would go easy on one of their own.

Why not: No war-fighting or managerial experience. There’s also the question of whether he’d say yes and leave the cause of Democratic hawkishness much reduced. Also, can the administration afford to loose one of its few remaining Democratic Senate allies on Iraq?

Forsyth makes a very insightful point about the possible timing of any resignation, which is that Sen. John Warner (R-VA) is term-limited as chairman of the Armed Services Committee, to be replaced by either John McCain or a Democrat if the Dems are able to take back the Senate in Janurary 2007. If the current pressure doesn't break Rumsfeld, come January 2007 it probably will.

Lieberman has always been super-ambitious, and his foreign policy is and always has been a carbon coby of the neoconservatives in the administration. By choosing him, depending on the political environment, Bush would get credit for "bipartisanship" while not actually changing his policy at all.

All of this is hypothetical, but if he's still in the senate in January 2007, I don't think he'd think twice about leaving the senate to take the Secretary of Defense job, and leaving (probably) Gov. Rell to appoint a Republican to the seat.

More National Guard troops are headed to Iraq:

About 110 more Connecticut troops are being mobilized in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. About 70 members of the 143rd Forward Support Battalion of Waterbury and 40 from the Headquarters Detachment of the 192ndEngineer Battalion of Stratford will be mobilized for up to 18 months . It will bring the number of Connecticut National Guard soldiers mobilized and deployed in the Global War on Terror to more than a thousand.

33 American troops have been killed in Iraq in just the last 12 days.

Joe Lieberman thinks Connecticut troops should stay in Iraq for at least three more years. He still believes that "a lot of very good things can happen in [the next] three years in Iraq."

Ned Lamont wants to start bringing our troops home.

What is going on here?

Sen. Chris Dodd won't unequivocally commit to supporting his party's candidate on election day in November.

State Party Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo won't unequivocally commit to supporting her party's candidate on election day in November, and dubiously claims to speak for the entire state party in endorsing Lieberman.

Both of the above individuals, as well as the DSCC, are actively supporting a candidate who won't unequivocally commit to being a Democrat for the rest of the year.

What is any Democrat - much less the state and national leadership - doing supporting a candidate who by his own admission may may take the money and run to the other side of the aisle before November?

Contact Dodd, DiNardo, and the DSCC. Tell them you won't support them if they continue to support a candidate who might cut and run from the party:

Sen. Christopher Dodd
Washington Office: (202) 224-2823
Connecticut Office: (860) 258-6940

CT Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo
Email: NDiNardo@ctdems.org
Phone: (860) 560-1775
Fax: (860) 560-1522

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Commitee
Email: info@dscc.org
Phone: (202) 224-2447
Fax: (202) 969-0354

Chris Dodd will supposedly be on Colin McEnroe's show on WTIC radio today, sometime between 3 and 6. You can call in at (800) 966-9842.

Update: DNC chair Howard Dean states flat-out that he will support the Democratic nominee in November. Amazingly, the DNC chair will actually stand up for the Democratic party. Will Dodd, DiNardo, and the DSCC follow suit?

He has been rejecting the Democratic party label for his entire career. From an article in the New York Times ("Connecticut Senator Blurs the Party Line") on March 18th, 1991:

"Democrats have continued to have this idea that what we have to do is throw money at problems and any help to the private sector is a giveaway to the rich," Mr. Lieberman observed during a chat in his office the other day. "Republicans, on the other hand, have given a message that they don't care much about meeting social needs."

And where does that leave Joe Lieberman?

He reflects only a moment. "I am an amalgam of various opinions," he said. "I'm conservative on foreign policy and the crime thing. If you insist, I reject all labels and say I'm independent." But he will, he says, accept "eclectic."

The list of Republicans who are outwardly critical of the failed Bush-Lieberman policy on Iraq continues to grow:

Newt Gingrich, the former Republican Speaker of the House, told students and faculty at the University of South Dakota Monday that the United States should pull out of Iraq and leave a small force there, just as it did post-war in Korea and Germany.

"It was an enormous mistake for us to try to occupy that country after June of 2003," Gingrich said during a question-and-answer session at the school. "We have to pull back, and we have to recognize it."

Newt Gingrich speaks more for the people of Connecticut on this issue than Joe Lieberman does. Sad.

For 18 years, my opponent has gotten away with saying he's a maverick.... Well, it's about time the people really understood what a maverick is. It means you're not ultimately accountable to anybody.

You don't even have to make commitments, even to the voters you represent. You just do whatever suits you personally whenever you want to do it. I look at his record and see a pattern of incredible inconsistency.

- Joe Lieberman debating Sen. Lowell Weicker in September 1988.

The AP gets Joe's clearest statement to date on whether he will leave the Democratic party:

"I have not foreclosed the option," Lieberman said at a news conference at the Capitol. "If I wanted to run as an independent, I would. I'm running as a Democrat. I've been a Democrat all my life."

He's "been a Democrat all his life," but considers the opinion of Democratic voters meaningless. And he's now courting these same voters.

Loyalty is not a one-way street, Joe.

Tell the DSCC that you will not support them if they support a candidate who would rather bolt the party than support a fellow Democrat in November:

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Phone (202) 224-2447
Fax (202) 969-0354

Evan Derkacz at Alternet highlights something about Lieberman's abdication of his Democratic party membership which many have overlooked:

Joe Lieberman refuses to do something even turncoat Zell Miller did explicitly: commit to the Democratic Party. Having consistently letting Democrats down, siding with Republicans, and putting a bipartisan face on onerous legislation, he faces an increasingly dangerous-looking primary from Ned Lamont.

Zell Miller is viewed as the ultimate turncoat in recent political history, and rightly so. His crazed "spitball" speech to the RNC, and subsequent challenge of Chris Matthews to a duel, justify it. Yet for all he said and did, he never left the Democratic party. Joe Lieberman, a former vice-presidential candidate, refuses to even give his party the nominal partisan loyalty shown by Zell Miller.

Do a Google Blog Search for Lieberman, and you'll see many right-wing bloggers backing him up. This is still a Democratic primary, and the fact that the radical right cares so deeply about Joe, without a single viable GOP candidate in the race, is telling in and of itself. But what confounds me is their inability to understand and empathize with the frustration of rank-and-file party members across the ideological spectrum at such a statement of disloyalty.

Put the shoe on the other foot, in the state next door. Lincoln Chafee is up for re-election in Rhode Island, and facing a primary challenge based mainly on his lack of party loyalty (hey, the guy didn't vote for Bush in 2004, they have a point). There has long been talk of Chafee, whose family goes way back in the GOP, running as an independent.

But unlike the right wing's rabid support of Lieberman, I haven't heard a single Democrat in support of Chafee. Strategically, most Democrats would probably prefer a win by his challenger (Steve Laffey), since it would make a Democratic pickup that much easier in November. But in general, most Democrats could care less. At this point, it's an internal party matter. As the Connecticut primary should be.

Why do so many Republicans care so deeply about keeping Joe Lieberman in the Senate? It's a question worth asking.

• Lost in the hubub surrounding Lieberman yesterday was Ned Lamont's appearance on Face the State. Ned Lamont Resource has it uploaded.


• Speaking of yesterday, Christine Stuart has a report on Lieberman's "shocking" statement that he would throw away his 36 year career as a Democrat and disregard the opinion of Democratic voters in a primary in a desperate attempt to keep his job:
  

  Al Simon, a Democrat on the Windsor Town Council, said he was “shocked” by Lieberman’s response to a question from 17-year-old Joe Lalli, who had asked about the possibility of Lieberman running on his own if the Democrats opted not to endorse his nomination.
  
  “I think a lot of Democrats will be shocked” that Lieberman would consider a running as an Independent after being a Democratic for more than 35 years, Simon said....
  
  Lucky for Lieberman, Lalli won't turn 18 in time to vote in November.



• Chris Andersen, Matt Stoller, and Howie Klein all have insightful takes on yesterday, too. And once again, right-wing bloggers are the only pro-Lieberman voices in the blogosphere on this.


• Ned's at the Pine Point School in Stonington for a fundraiser today. Joe's in Hartford for a press conference on Global Warming this morning. Wonder if he'll get any other questions?

Leading the Fox-61 News at 10 tonight (RealVideo):

LIEBERMAN: "I'm very confident about the primary. But, you know, ultimately I want to give all the voters in the state a chance to say whether they want me to continue to serve Connecticut. If I wanted to run as an Independent, I'd do it today. I'm a Democrat, I want to run as a Democrat."

REPORTER: "So is that, pretty much, as a last resort?"

LIEBERMAN: "Well, call it what you will, but I don't think we're gonna get to that point."

Does that sound like a "very confident" man? Weak and cowardly is more like it. Preparing, like Tom DeLay, to cut and run rather than face his constituents in an election he might lose.

Joe Lieberman's strongest support has always been among those who hate the Democratic party the most. It should come as no surprise that, when the shit finally hit the fan, he would choose to spit in the face of the Democratic party and run to his right-wing base, either as an (I) or an (R).

Joe Lieberman is no Democrat.

This is a transcript from audio of the meeting today in Windsor, provided by ctblogger:

17-YEAR-OLD KID IN AUDIENCE: Ned Lamont has already stated he will support you if you won the Democratic nomination. And Zell Miller once stated that he would always be a member of the Democratic party. Can you make similar promises?

LIEBERMAN: Will I always be a member of the Democratic party? I hope there's not a primary. I'm confident if there is one, I'll win it. But I'm not going to rule out any other options now, because I feel so strongly that I can do better for the state of Connecticut for the next six years in the United States Senate that I want to give all the voters a chance to make that decision on Election Day in November. I want to do it as Democrat. If I didn't want to do it as a Democrat, I would choose to run in some other party, trust me. But I want to do it as a Democrat because I believe in the Democratic party. So really the choice is up to my fellow Democrats.

The tone of his voice says more than his words ever could. Head over to ConnecticutBlog for the audio.

Joe believes the Democratic party should be fucking honored that he would grace it with his presence. He expects to be treated like fucking royalty, and if he isn't, it is now beyond obvious he will cut and run from the party.

Joe Lieberman is no Democrat.

BranfordBoy at My Left Nutmeg has the scoop on Lieberman's appearance in Windsor this morning:

Joe Lieberman will not rule out an independent run for the Senate in November, according to initial reports from his appearance in Windsor today.

According to a DTC member who was present, "It came right out of his mouth. He said, 'I'll wait and see how the primary comes out.' But he would not rule out running as an independent. 'I feel I have a lot to offer the state,' he said. And this after talking about what a great Democrat he was. I was shocked."

This is at least the third or fourth time Lieberman has refused to rule out running as an Independent, including the instance where Lieberman's camp specifically refuted Walter Shaprio's claim in a Salon article that he indeed had ruled out such a move.

Ned Lamont has clearly stated he will not run as an Independent and will support the Democrat in the general election in November.

Joe Lieberman has now clearly stated he cares more about his own personal career than he does about the opinion of Democratic voters in his state.

There is now clearly only one real Democrat in this race.

Call the DSCC and tell them you will not support them if they support Lieberman - a man who has repeatedly suggested he will bolt the party - in this Democratic primary:

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Phone (202) 224-2447
Fax (202) 969-0354

Update: Atrios compares Democrats supporting a possible Lieberman (I) run to the party supporting a Bernie Sanders (I) in VT. I don't even think they are worth comparing. One is the only independent in Congress whose views and loyalties are well-known, and is running in a general election. The other is a life-long Democrat who suddenly won't commit to remaining in his party, and is running in a Democratic primary. Apples and oranges.

(Update 2: To any flummoxed Eschatonians: Perhaps I should have made myself clearer. I completely understood Atrios' post. He and I are in complete agreement. However, he did compare the two races. My argument was that they're not even comparable.)

Also, BranfordBoy has these updates on the story at MLN:

UPDATE: Just spoke to ctblogger who is on the way home with audio of Joe. It should be up on ConnecticutBlog later today. He says it's screamingly obvious to him that Joe isn't even going to bother with a primary. Check his blog for his take on Joe's imminent departure from the Democratic party.

UPDATE 2: Fox 61 was all over this story and buttonholed Joe later at Newington. Watch the evening news!

Today, Lieberman appears at Windsor Town Hall at 11:30am, Suffield Town Hall at 1pm, and Newington Knights of Columbus Hall at 2pm. The local press is expecting him to take a beating:

NEWINGTON -- Sen. Joseph Lieberman, seeking a fourth term in the U.S. enate, may face some difficult questions at a meeting today at the Knights of Columbus Hall....

Lieberman has faced increasing criticismfrom what many in the Democratic party see as tendencies that are too Republican and too supportive of President George W. Bush.

Included in that group is New Britain’s Democratic town chairman, John McNamara, who said his personal opinion and sense is that "a significant portion of New Britain’s 31 delegates will support Lamont as I will do."

Tomorrow, the senator appears at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford for a 9am press conference on Global Warming and Climate Change in Room 2C on second floor (directions).

Any of these events would be a great place for someone to ask these questions, or any others that come to mind:

Will Sen. Lieberman support the Democratic candidate for senate in November?

Does Sen. Lieberman rule out leaving the Democratic party before November?

Has Sen. Lieberman been informed of any Bush administration plans for airstrikes on Iran?

As for Ned Lamont, he's on Face the State on WFSB at 11am this morning. Visit the official website for a list of other events this week around the state.