Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) campaigned with Ned Lamont and State Rep. Peter Tercyak this afternoon in front of an enthusiastic assembled crowd in the rain in New Britain, before going on to knock on doors with supporters in the neighborhood. In between numerous car and truck horns honking in approval, Rep. Kaptur talked briefly about her reasons for coming up and campaigning with Ned, including restoring a sensible foreign policy for America, promoting trade agreements that don't send our jobs overseas, and working towards universal healthcare, all issues that she asserted Sen. Lieberman has worked against.

Here, roughly transcribed, are some of her words on why she has taken the very courageous step of being the first Representative or Senator - along with Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) - to come up to Connecticut to campaign for Ned in the primary (CTBlogger should have video up shortly):

"I think that each of us at this point in our country has to be an American first.... The challenges we are facing, the war in Iraq, the situation in the Middle East, demand that we have people in Washington who will have a policy of multilateral engagement... and people in our Congress, in our senate, who believe that jobs in America are a priority and that we have to take care of the industrial, agricultural, and service base of this nation. We need new energy. We need new ideas. We need people like Ned Lamont who has spent his life in business and understand that America's economic prowess is waning."

Amazingly, it seems the local press doesn't appreciate being played for complete fools by Sean Smith and Marion Steinfels, as evidenced by this reaction in today's Connecticut Post (hat tip Sue at MLN):

Thumbs down to U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn., and his campaign. The senator's campaign staff recently released several ads critizing Lieberman's Democratic primary opponent, anti-war businessman Ned Lamont, for owning shares of Halliburton, a company the government has awarded billions of dollars in Iraq war contracts to. Lieberman told the Connecticut Post editorial board last week that, "It's important that apeople know where you get your income from." Lieberman should have taken his own advice. According to a news report in the Post Friday, it turns out the senator also owns shares in Halliburton. While his staff says that Lieberman was unaware he owned any Halliburton stock, it seems questionable that his campaign never raised the Halliburton issue without first checking Lieberman's own stock holdings. Hopefully the senator's campaign will exercise better discretion in the future.

Of course, that's not stopping Steinfels from continuing to jerk around local reporters, as she did to Ted Mann of the New London Day (among others) yesterday:

Steinfels also accused Lamont of being “misleading” and “lying to the public” about the nature of his ownership of stock in Halliburton, the multinational conglomerate once led by Vice President Dick Cheney, a company that has received billions in federal contracts for its services in Iraq.

This was a day after the campaign acknowledged that Lieberman owned Halliburton stock. Yet they're still pushing their hypocritical line, because to focus on the real issues would be the death of their campaign.

But treating the local press like garbage is par for the course for their campaign. Campaign manager Sean Smith once threatened a local TV reporter with the words “If you distort the truth and report that we are running a negative campaign and Ned is not, I will not forget it.”

They've slapped the local press in the face more times than can be counted. And they continue to do so. No wonder the press is slapping back.

Teamsters Local 559:

Teamster Local 559 is located in South Windsor, CT. We represent members in the Construction Industry, Food and Energy Suppliers, Ambulance Paramedics, Laundry Drivers and others. We are excited to endorse Ned Lamont because we believe he will do his best to represent working families. His positions on healthcare, education, and free trade (outsourcing) make sense to us as working people. Personally, I was very happy to see the Machinists (IAM) endorse Ned at the state level and I’m proud our Local saw fit to do the same. We’re all working hard for Ned and we will be working hard again when the primary’s over and the major campaign begins.

As a member of Connecticut Working Families also, I had the opportunity to meet Ned when he interviewed for the ACORN endorsement in Hartford. It’s been my experience when meeting a politician that I normally walk a way less than impressed. I’m happy to say that wasn’t the case with Lamont. I found him very down to earth, thoughtful, and enthusiastic about what he was doing. I believe my local, Teamsters Local 559, did the right thing in endorsing Ned Lamont.

And Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) will be with Ned in CT today:

I’m not going to Connecticut as a traditional Democrat. I’m not going to support the man that we supported to run as the Vice President of the United States of America. I’m not going to say that simply because you’re an incumbent, I’m here to support you. I’m supporting Ned Lamont!.

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) will be endorsing Ned Lamont tomorrow at noon in New Britain, as well as canvassing the neighborhood with Ned. Spazeboy has the details.

Here's some pics of Ned campaigning (and later rocking out) in Willimantic yesterday, from the official blog:

"Those are probably my voters."

- Sen. Lieberman at the Thomaston Town Clerk's office recently, speaking about registered Republicans who were too late to switch party affiliations.

(From a surprisingly sober article on the Lieberman campaign in TNR, aka Joe Lieberman Weekly).

Runner-up quote from Lieberman stalwart Lanny Davis in the same article:

"He's not depressed, he's not sad, he's not down--he is furious."

Genghis Conn has the must-read post of the day, describing in detail the huge canyon that has opened up between Sen. Lieberman and Connecticut over the past eight years, from impeachment, to the make-nice VP debate with Cheney, to his decision to hedge his bets and possibly cost Senate Democrats a seat in 2000, to being MIA in the state for the last six years, to becoming the leading Bush cheerleader on Fox News, to Iraq, to running a horrible campaign, to finally deciding to abandon Connecticut Democrats by forming his own vanity party.

I'd only add that while this has really kicked in since his 2000 VP run, this actually all started way before 1998 and impeachment. You can go back to Joe's fight against universal healthcare, his deceit on Clarence Thomas' nomination, his wishy-washyness on affirmative action, his sanctimonious moralizing about Hollywood with Bill Bennett and company, and his ties to right-wing figures like William F. Buckley that got him off the ground vs. Weicker in the first place.

Lieberman's "Connecticut Problem" has been years in the making.

According to the Stamford Advocate, 82% of Joe Lieberman's second quarter campaign contributions came from out-of-state. Those out-of-state contributions include $500 from neoconservative luminary Bill Kristol, as well as even larger amounts from pharmaceutical industry and energy industry interests:

The Lamont campaign has accused Lieberman of being too closely allied with Republicans. One name that appears on Lieberman's donor list is neo-conservative William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, who donated $500....

Contributions of $2,100 came from Karen Katen, director of government relations for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Inc....

Paul Koonce, chief executive officer of Dominion electric and gas, gave Lieberman $2,000. A PAC that includes nuclear plant builder Areva Cogema donated $1,000.

Kristol has recently called for American military action against Iran, arguing that Iranians would embrace regime change.

Even more interestingly, this is apparently the first significant contribution Bill Kristol has made to a political candidate - Republican or Democrat - since 1998. So over the last decade, of all the neoconservative candidates to whom Kristol could have contributed, Joe Lieberman has proved most worthy of his financial support. Telling.

Lieberman's full FEC second quarter report is available as a PDF here.

The dumping on Schlesinger continues. Is Rell's plan to leave the GOP slot empty so as to help Joe in November? Kevin Rennie reports as much:

Any Republican hopeful will have to overcome a Lieberman boomlet. Advisors close to Republican governor Jodi Rell, who tried to get Schlesinger off the ticket last week, are scheming to give Lieberman a safe harbor on the GOP line in exchange for adding his drawing power to what they hope will be Rell’s. The potent combination would help three Republican congressmen, constitutional office candidates and some legislative hopefuls. State Central Committee would likely resist. Monday’s visit to Waterbury by former President Bill Clinton to rescue Lieberman’s primary campaign will be a bitter reminder at the wrong time that Lieberman is very much a Democrat. Lieberman pal John McCain, wildly popular among Connecticut GOP, might be able to smooth the path to a fusion ticket.

While Lieberman has ruled out accepting the GOP line (he has, right?), nothing can stop Rell and Lieberman from agreeing to an empty GOP line and an informal endorsement. A "fusion ticket" would severely hurt all Democrats in the state in November. Perhaps Bill Clinton will help convince Joe of this when he comes to the state on Monday.

• Sean Hannity suggested yesterday that his "pal" Joe leave the Democratic party:
  

  Anyway, so Lamont is up because of these viscious attacks against the one guy that we say, the one type of person we say we want in Washington. The guy that goes along, gets along, works hard....
  
  Ya know what he ought to do? He oughta bolt - he oughta get re-elected and then ya know what? He’ll be more fiercely independent than ever.

  
  As always, Joe Lieberman has chosen to listen to Sean Hannity's advice instead of, say, Bill Clinton's.


• Ned Lamont released a proposal for universal healthcare yesterday:
  

  Lamont’s outline calls for protecting and expanding existing coverage with an employer mandate, paired with the ability of employers to purchase insurance from larger pools, including the one used by members of Congress. The plan would also make health care affordable for everyone, by creating a sliding-scale system for people who can’t buy health insurance through their jobs, and reduce costs and improve the quality of health care by, largely by lowering costs and substantially leveraging the government’s bulk purchasing and regulatory power.
  
  “We don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” Lamont said. “We have the tools we need to build on our current health care system and cover everyone.”
  
  Lamont notes that a growing number of bills pending in Congress address the need for a national guarantee of health care for all Americans. “I am ready to support viable plans that can move us forward in both the short and the long term,” Lamont said.

  
  As Tom Swan notes in the link above, Sen. Lieberman has been one of the chief Democratic opponents of universal healthcare ever since the early 90s. This is one issue among many where Sen. Lamont will make a huge difference for Connecticut.


• Spazeboy reports that the New Britain DTC unanimously endorsed Ned Lamont last night. The Hampton DTC also passed a resolution condemning Lieberman's indy run.

Harry Reid said back in December 2005 that "even Republicans don’t agree with Joe" on Iraq. And as the civil war there rages on (albeit on the second and third pages of newspapers around the world these days), even Republicans seem to be waking up to the reality of the situation:

Rep. Christopher Shays (Conn.) is using his House Government Reform subcommittee on national security to vent criticism of the White House's war strategy and new estimates of the monetary cost of the war. Rep. Gil Gutknecht (Minn.), once a strong supporter of the war, returned from Iraq this week declaring that conditions in Baghdad were far worse "than we'd been led to believe" and urging that troop withdrawals begin immediately....

Said Gutknecht: "Essentially what the White House is saying is 'Stay the course, stay the course.' I don't think that course is politically sustainable."

Republicans are speaking out against the war. But Joe? He "lost the plot" a long time ago, and shows no signs of finding it. He continues to insist that progress is being made, all evidence to the contrary.

Never mind that the civil war in Iraq is raging as bad as ever, at a cost of over 100 civilians per day in June, according to a recent UN report:

United Nations officials said Tuesday that the number of violent deaths had climbed steadily since at least last summer. During the first six months of this year, the civilian death toll jumped more than 77 percent, from 1,778 in January to 3,149 in June, the organization said.

This sharp upward trend reflected the dire security situation in Iraq as sectarian violence has worsened and Iraqi and American government forces have been unable to stop it.

In its report, the United Nations said that 14,338 civilians had died violently in Iraq in the first six months of the year.

Harry Reid is now calling the conflict in Iraq what it is - a civil war - and says he plans to re-introduce a debate on Iraq in the senate in the coming days:

Democratic leaders say they do not yet know what kind of resolution or resolutions they plan to offer, but they hope to come up with what Reid called "lots of" Iraq-related measures the last week of July, when the Senate debates the defense appropriations bill....

A part of their strategy appears to be challenging Republicans, especially those facing tough re-election campaigns, on whether they will remain squarely behind the president, as they were during June's debate.

Sen. Lieberman, of course, was also squarely behind the president during June's debate, literally leading off for the Republicans as they defeated a Democratic attempt at consensus on this issue.

The last week of July. I wonder if Sen. Reid asked Sen. Lieberman if he appreciated the timing of this? Reid, of course, knew back in December that Lieberman was "...out there alone. I mean, literally alone" on Iraq. Eight months later, nothing has changed.

Iraq will be an issue in August. It will be an issue in November. It will be an issue in New Hampshire in late 2007. It will be an issue in November 2008. It will be an issue in 2012. It needs to be debated. And being dead wrong "on principle" is not acceptable.

Time to find the plot.

If this is true, wow:

Now it turns out that Lieberman was playing Mark Davis for a fool, and he himself holds Halliburton stock. It is the third largest holding, in fact, in his "Victory Fund" mutual fund (PDF of Lieberman’s 2005 Personal Finance Disclosure Statement, p. 7, line 7).

Remember this from way back at the beginning of this week?

"...[Ned Lamont] has stock in 'Halliburton,' and he has stock in, more stock in some of the big oil companies. That's something for everybody to judge," says Joe Lieberman, (D) Connecticut.

"That would be a crime?" asks Mark Davis.

"Oh no, this is just public right to know."

Lieberman is the top Senate recipient of defense industry campaign contributions from either party, including, as the New York Times reported earlier today, companies receiving contracts in Iraq like Bechtel and Fluor International.

Well, that's quite the blow to Joe. It'll be great to see Sen. and Mr. Clinton campaigning for Ned Lamont (D-CT) vs. Joe Lieberman (Lieberman-CT) after August 8th!

Jay Carson, a spokesman for President Clinton, said that the former president and his wife share the same position. "President Clinton is looking forward to campaigning with Senator Lieberman on Monday and will work hard to help ensure he wins the primary, but he respects the primary process and will support the candidate that wins the Democratic primary."

Here's the Metro-North schedule, Bill... don't miss the train!

Update: It's clear that both Clintons have more respect for the Democratic voters of Connecticut than Joe Lieberman does. Tom Swan hopes it will rub off (via FDL):

...We hope the President convinces Joe to respect the will of Democratic voters. We look forward to having him come back and campaign for us in the fall.

A few more interesting bits from today's dead-heat Quinnipiac poll:

• Lieberman's job approval/disapproval among all voters is continuing a steady downward trend, from 63/25 in February to 55/35 now. Among registered Democrats (not likely voters), it now stands at a very precarious 47/44.


• Lieberman's favorability rating is also at an all-time low among all voters, at 45%. The more voters see of him, the less they like him personally. Independents also track very close with Democrats on Lieberman's favorability, at 42% to Democrats' 40%. It's not just Democrats who are turning against Joe.


• About 50% of all CT voters now know enough about Ned Lamont to have an opinion about him, up from about 25% in June and 10% in May. And the more Democrats see of him, the more they like him - he's now at 26%/10% favorable/unfavorable among registered Democrats.


• Lamont (D-CT) is quickly closing the gap in the November three-way race, too. He has gone from 18% in June to 27% in July. Lieberman (Lieberman-CT) is also sinking in the three-way race, down 5 points since June.


• It's clear Alan Schlesinger will not be a factor in November. But his weakness may help Joe, who maintains high approval ratings among Republicans.

From all accounts, the Lieberman campaign is polling this race extensively and knew these sinking numbers well in advance, which probably explains why he bolted the party on July 3rd. It also probably explains why he was desperate enough to convince Bill Clinton to campaign for him on Monday in Waterbury (assuming Metro-North has a more accurate train schedule for him than Amtrak did for Sen. Biden... remember to switch trains in Bridgeport, Bubba!).

But Bill will have to answer some tough questions, especially if he agrees with Sen. Clinton about the need to support the decision that Connecticut Democrats will make on August 8th.

Update: Wonkette gets the headline right ("Joe Lieberman to Accept Endorsement From Noted Moral Degenerate"), and quotes Joe's feelings about Clinton back in the day:

But the truth is, after much reflection, my feelings of disappointment and anger have not dissipated. Except now these feelings have gone beyond my personal dismay to a larger, graver sense of loss for our country, a reckoning of the damage that the President’s conduct has done to the proud legacy of his presidency, and ultimately an accounting of the impact of his actions on our democracy and its moral foundations.

So, Joe... come crawling back, eh?

Lamont is over 50% in the latest Quinnipiac Poll.

Anti-war Connecticut U.S. Senate candidate Ned Lamont has surged to a razor-thin 51 - 47 percent lead over incumbent Sen. Joseph Lieberman among likely Democratic primary voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

This compares to a 55 - 40 percent lead for Sen. Lieberman among likely Democratic primary voters in a June 8 poll by the independent Quinnipiac.

The margin of error of this poll is +/- 3.8, which means technically this is now a dead heat. But even with the large sample size, their LV model is unproven. And this means Lieberman is now going to dump every dirty trick and negative ad - probably $5 million worth - into desperately trying to save his political career, because he knows if he loses the primary, that downward momentum will carry into November. There are two and a half very long weeks to go. This is no time to rest.

Volunteer | Family, Friends, and Neighbors

The New York Times digs a little into Lieberman's campaign contributors and unsurprisingly finds that Republican donors - including recipients of Iraq contracts like Bechtel - are in large part funding his $10 million+ campaign so far:

Anyone looking for evidence of Mr. Lieberman’s bipartisan appeal can find it in his roster of recent contributors, which includes organizations that traditionally give more to Republicans. They include engineering and construction firms, some with contracts in Iraq. Those firms include Bechtel, Fluor International and Siemens, which support Republicans 64 to 70 percent of the time, according to data compiled by PoliticalMoneyLine, which tracks campaign and lobbying activities....

Florida Power and Light, which supports Republicans 84 percent of the time, gave $5,000 to Mr. Lieberman. Areva Cogema, a builder of nuclear power plants that gives 70 percent of its contributions to Republicans, contributed $1,000.

An Ohio law firm that directs 80 percent of its donations to Republicans gave $1,000. SRA International, a technology consultant that favors Republicans 66 percent of the time, gave $1,000. America’s Health Insurance Plans, representing health insurers, gives to Republicans 71 percent of the time and donated $2,000 to Mr. Lieberman.

It's unsurprising tht Joe would have contributors like a Republican, beause he votes like a Republican when it counts. Sean Smith doesn't seem to think this is an issue, though:

“It doesn’t mean much to us,” said Sean Smith, Mr. Lieberman’s campaign manager. “If people give us money because they support us, that’s great. But Joe Lieberman is under no obligation to support them. We’re just trying to keep up with the money machine that Lamont is.”

The "money machine that Lamont is" challenged Sean Smith to a spending cap two months ago, and will end up spending millions of dollars less on this campaign than Lieberman will.

From a diary at MLN, the full text of the unanimously passed Norwalk DTC resolution censuring Sen. Lieberman for abandoning the Democratic Party:

July 17, 2006

RESOLUTION

Whereas Senator Joseph Lieberman sought and won the endorsement of the Connecticut Democratic Party for reelection to the office of United States Senator at its Convention in May, and

Whereas Joe Lieberman and Ned Lamont are engaged in a primary contest to be the Connecticut Democratic Party’s nominee for United States Senator, and

Whereas Ned Lamont has repeatedly stated that he would accept the decision of Democratic voters in the primary election, so that if Joe Lieberman were to prevail in the primary he would immediately endorse Senator Lieberman’s candidacy, and

Whereas Senator Lieberman has refused to abide by the decision of the Democratic voters in the upcoming primary and he has instead taken the necessary steps to run as an independent candidate, and

Whereas this action would constitute a repudiation of the will expressed by Connecticut’s Democratic voters in a primary election, and

Whereas Joe Lieberman nevertheless continues to ask for unqualified support of his candidacy from Democratic Party institutions, including the Norwalk Democratic Town Committee,

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Norwalk Democratic Town and City Committee hereby expresses its abhorrence of the intended action by Joe Lieberman to run against the Democratic nominee for United States Senator, if that nominee is not Joe Lieberman, and

FURTHERMORE, THAT it urges each enrolled member of the Democratic Party in Norwalk to contact Joe Lieberman and demand that he either withdraw from the Democratic primary contest forthwith or accept in advance and without qualification the democratically expressed wishes of the Democratic Party which has supported his long and successful political career.

The Lieberman campaign responds:

[Lieberman spokeswoman Marion] Steinfels said that Lieberman would "absolutely not" run on the GOP line. She added: "He has said he's always been a Democrat, and he'll always be a Democrat."

Asked if he'd rule out accepting the line, Steinfels said: "Joe Lieberman will never run as a Republican. Never."

This morning, Election Central posed the question in a phone call to campaign deputy press secretary Noah Kores. He said the campaign would get back to us, and we said we'd let you know when (or if) the campaign did.

Why this wasn't a no-brainer immediate response is a mystery. (Update: As Maura points out, though, Lieberman also said he would remain a Democrat while simultaneously running on the Lieberman Party line against the Democratic nominee, so can we really take him at his word about not running on the Republican line?)

Meanwhile, some state Republicans are apparently hoping that Joe will change his mind:

Others think offering the [Republican] spot to Lieberman on a ticket headed by popular governor Jodi Rell (for whom Lieberman has had much praise) would give a powerful boost to the rest of the ticket.

(Photo of Ned Lamont meeting voters in New Haven last night by CTBlogger. Ned will be in Bridgeport tonight and Willimantic tomorrow.)

As of 5:15pm today, Ned has received 490 contributions for a total of $33,125 ($66,250 including the matched funds.) Keep it going, and sign up for family, friends, and neighbors.

Greg Sargent at TPM Cafe asked the Lieberman campaign whether he would rule out running on the Republican line in November. Amazingly, Joe's spokesman refused to answer:

Will Lieberman or will he not rule out running on the GOP line if he loses to Lamont in August and it's offered to him?

This is fairly straightforward: Yes, or no? Which is it?

The question has been posed to Lieberman campaign deputy press secretary Noah Kores, and the campaign is mulling it.

Election Central will let you know when -- or if -- we get an answer. Don't touch that dial.

This is the same evasion that Lieberman pulled in the run-up to his July 3rd announcement that he was going to run as an Independent.

Update: Commenter "blogswarm" at MyDD puts it succinctly:

If you are Deputy Press Secretary (Noah Kores) and somebody asks if you'll run as a Republican, you should be fired if you don't immediately answer, "HELL NO!"

If you are "mulling" it over because the candidate would actually consider running as a Republican after losing the Democratic Primary then the candidate needs to be fired.

As Colin McEnroe once again so sharply points out, the faltering Lieberman campaign erred greatly in thinking their main obstacle was Joe's "blogger problem" when in fact it was always his "Connecticut problem":

The haplessness of this Lieberman operation has been an x-factor for which no one else was really prepared. I still kind of expect him to eke out a victory in the primary, but I would not be surprised if he loses. No one, at this point, would be terribly surprised. If it is true that success has many parents and failure is an orphan, the Lieberman campaign may become a kind of a Wild Boy of Aveyron or Kaspar Hauser, a creature of no parentage at all. The day may come when Sherry Brown, Carter Eskew, Roy Occhiogrosso and Lanny Davis all insist they spent the summer of 2006 in the south of France.

How did this happen? I find myself wondering if the Lieberman inner circle and Joe himself went from underestimating the blogs to over-reacting to them....

I think the Lieberman retinue has been collectively freaked out by the way their internet opponents express displeasure. I think that has kicked them all into a very paranoid mode. Paranoid people make bad decisions.

You could see it in the ridiculous "bear cub" ad, you can read it in the blog-bashing statements of right-wing Lieberman surrogates like Marshall Wittmann and Sean Hannity - they've been irrational in fighting the wrong battles, and they've been losing them. They haven't addressed the real reasons for Lieberman's weakness, minor things like being wrong on the issues and MIA in the state for years.

Joe is weak because of Joe. Or as one Connecticut voter recently put it, "Sen. Lieberman changed my feelings about Sen. Lieberman." On "blogosphere day," it's a good point to keep in mind.

"We're doing the Lord's work in the devil's city."

- Current Lieberman supporter and then-Christian Coalition legislative director Marshall Wittmann back in 1993, describing the rise of Ralph Reed's Christian Right organization in D.C (via Atrios). Reed lost his GOP primary for Lt. Gov. in Georgia last night.

(Don't forget about blogosphere day.)

• It's "blogosphere day" today. On July 19, 2004, the blogosphere rallied to raise tens of thousands of dollars in a matter of hours for Ginny Schrader in PA, when her incumbent opponent suddenly dropped out. On July 19, 2005, Paul Hackett was able to raise $140,000 over 4 days, jump-starting his campaign that gained so much national attention. On July 19, 2006, Blogosphere Day is all about Ned Lamont. What can you do? If you live in CT, the most important thing to do is take advantage of the very cool Family, Friends, and Neighbors tool. Also, you can volunteer to phone bank for a few hours. And Ned will personally match all online contributions dollar-for-dollar starting today, amplifying the voice of the grassroots.


• The Stamford Advocate reports that the Norwalk DTC unanimously passed a resolution denouncing Lieberman's plans to create his own vanity "Lieberman Party":
  

  The resolution urges each Democrat in Norwalk to contact Lieberman and demand that he either withdraw from the primary contest "or accept in advance and without qualification the democratically expressed wishes of the Democratic Party."...
  
  "A lot of people feel the Democratic Party has backed him for his long and successful career," [Norwalk DTC Chair Galen] Wells said. "It is really offensive to think if another person beats him in the Democratic primary . . . he will defy that and run as an independent."

  
  
  Incidentally, Wells supported Lieberman at the convention.
  
  And he may very well run as an independent, but Lieberman still hasn't clearly stated whether he will rule out a run on the Republican line.


• Michael Winship has some words of warning for Joe, based on his memory of the Javits-D'Amato 1980 Republican senate race in New York:
  

  Say it ain't so, Joe. If Lamont wins the Democratic nod, accept defeat with grace. Don't make the same mistake liberal New Yorkers and their candidates made in 1970 and repeated in 1980. As Troy Schneider of the nonpartisan New America Foundation wrote in Sunday's New York Times, "If Mr. Lieberman, with all the benefits of major-party incumbency, can't persuade Democratic primary voters to nominate him over Mr. Lamont, he should have the decency to accept that verdict. Any other response reveals a sense of entitlement and arrogance that's disdainful of both his party and the public."
  
  In other words, Senator Lieberman, be a mensch.

  
  
• David Sirota writes about some huge new problems emerging with the Oman Free Trade Agreement, which Sen. Lieberman voted for a few weeks ago:
  

  In an explosive report tonight, top House Democrats discovered provisions in the controversial Oman Free Trade Agreement that would permit foreign ownership of U.S. ports and other key national security assets. Three Democrats and one Republican held an emergency press conference today to expose the provisions just before the House is scheduled to vote on the Oman pact on Thursday. As Reuters reports, "Rep. John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat who serves on the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee, said the pact would allow companies such as Dubai Ports World to acquire U.S. port operations by establishing a shell company in Oman."



• Ari Melber writes about the huge right-wing rush to support Sen. Lieberman (Lieberman-CT), including Sean Hannity, who continues to strongly support his "pal" while trying to tar the progressive blogosphere.

Will Sen. Lieberman rule out running on the Republican ballot line in November?

Has he ever made a clear statement ruling out such a move?

Update: Firedoglake asks the same question. Given recent statements and events, Sen. Lieberman needs to make a clear statement on this.

Three new ads are out today, all featuring "man on the street" interviews. They're killer. Joe hasn't been here for his state and he's wrong on the issues. And these ads make that case as clear as day.

Apparently Joe is sneaking back into the state today. The public never receives any notice of his campaign events. CTBob wonders why:

Then I checked into Joe Lieberman's website. I couldn't find a thing. Not one single publicized event where he'd be appearing. It seems that Joe is running a stealth campaign; where all his appearances are closely held secrets until after the fact. Joe seems to think he works much better in sound bites than when actually having to think and respond to honest questions.

And that makes sense, in a way...why would Joe want to hear from actual Democrats who may question his actions, such as his intent to flee the Democratic Party should they choose someone other than himself on August 8th?

According to CTBlogger, he's even been secretly collecting signatures for his new Lieberman Party in private, hiding from the public (who's going to be funding this new party, anyway?):

I guess his new political party will be private also. Petitioning for signatures in private speaks volumes about how strong his independent option is among your average everyday voter in this state.

And as Jane notes, Joe's stealth campaigning extends to secretly planning an outsourced smear campaign against Ned Lamont (Swift Boat much?):

Rep. John Larson convened a secret meeting on Saturday attended by CT-AFL/CIO’s John Olson (not-so-affectionately known locally as "Jimy Olson, Cub Labor Leader" for his diminutive stature) to go really, really sleazy and desperate on Ned Lamont. Lieberman has evidently tapped local Democrats to come together on behalf of his "Kiss My Ring" party so the smear won’t look like it’s coming from him.

Afraid to appear in public. Afraid to collect signatures for his new party in public. Afraid to stand behind his own smear campaign. All signs of a very confident candidate.

(Graphic from CTBob.)

Three weeks to go until the primary.

• MikeCT rounds up three new examples of Republicans defending or outright endorsing Joe Lieberman: Rush Limbaugh, Chris Shays, and potential Schlesinger replacement Jack Orchulli, who thinks running a GOP candidate at all may be a "quixotic adventure":
  

  [Limbaugh:] "You know, what's happening with Lieberman is that the Democratic base is trying to run him out of the United States Senate, and they've got this media tycoon who has literally no political experience whatsoever..."
  
  [Shays spokesman:] "Chris is going to vote for Sen. Lieberman. That’s all it is."
  
  [Orchulli:] "And there is sentiment among Republicans that Lieberman's not a bad guy.... Put that together and one's hard-pressed to spend another million on a quixotic adventure."



• Atrios columnizes on the race at the LA Times:
  

  Some time after having lunch in Iraq with the junior senator from Connecticut, Time magazine Baghdad bureau chief Michael Ware told an interviewer, "Either Sen. Lieberman is so divorced from reality that he's completely lost the plot, or he knows he's spinning a line."
  
  Although Ware was referring specifically to Joe Lieberman's observations about Iraq, his characterization perfectly summarizes the former vice presidential candidate's whole political approach, and it explains why so many Democrats are eager to see him lose in a primary election next month.



• Speaking of "losing the plot," this is indicative of the grasp on reality that Lieberman and his supporters have regarding Iraq:
  

  Lieberman's campaign captain in Torrington, Bill Battle, set up Monday's visit and feels Lieberman is more in line with the Democratic party than those promoting Lamont....
  
  "There is no statistical data implying that all Democrats are against the war," Battle said.

  
  It's true, I haven't seen a poll where 100% of Democrats say they are against the war. It's more like 85%.


• Ned will be in West Hartford today, Bridgeport tomorrow, and Willimantic on Thursday. There are a bunch of other events scheduled this week, too.


• The Stamford Advocate goes through the 2Q numbers and finds that 70% of Ned Lamont's contributions come from out of state. According to Opensecrets.com, Joe's got him beat: 74% of his contributions came from out of state as of April. The difference is, Ned's are mainly small donations from tens of thousands of concerned individual citizens. Joe's are mainly big bundled contributions from CEOs and corporate interests.

More diversion from Joe tonight:

"...[Lamont] has stock in 'Halliburton,' and he has stock in, more stock in some of the big oil companies. That's something for everybody to judge," says Joe Lieberman, (D) Connecticut.

"That would be a crime?" asks Mark Davis.

[Lieberman:] "Oh no, this is just public right to know."

In 2000, Joe thought talking about your opponent's personal finances was "wrong." In 2006, it's the "public right to know."

OK. Well, it's also the public's right to know the truth. So let's have a go at it.

Joe Lieberman wants to talk about war profiteering? He is the top Senate recipient of defense industry contributions this cycle - in either party. He strongly supports the disastrous Bush-Cheney Iraq policy which has enriched said contributors. Ned owned a few shares in defense industry stocks, without his knowledge. He is stridently opposed to the Bush-Cheney Iraq policy. Who is the one being bought off here?

Joe Lieberman wants to talk about being in bed with Big Oil? This is the man who voted for the Cheney energy bill that gave Big Oil obscene tax breaks, and has raked in tens of thousands of dollars this cycle, and at least one private jet flight, from a company that California's Attorney General called "Enron's twin brother." More on Joe's cozy relationship with Sempra Energy here. Again, who is the one being bought off here?

More Karl Rove tactics from Lieberman, trying to tar his opponent with his own weaknesses. Unfortunately for Connecticut voters during the next three weeks, Lieberman has a lot of weaknesses, $4.3 million in the bank, and no interest in talking about real issues like Iraq.

Update: Speaking of Halliburton, an emailer writes in reminding us about the jocular and congratulatory words Joe Lieberman for the recently retired CEO of Halliburton regarding the fortune he had already amassed back in October 2000:

LIEBERMAN: ...I think if you asked most people in America today that famous question that Ronald Reagan asked, "Are you better off today than you were eight years ago?" Most people would say yes. I'm pleased to see, Dick, from the newspapers that you're better off than you were eight years ago, too.

CHENEY: I can tell you, Joe, the government had absolutely nothing to do with it. (LAUGHTER) (APPLAUSE)...

LIEBERMAN: I can see my wife and I think she's saying, "I think he should go out into the private sector."

CHENEY: I'll help you do that, Joe.

LIEBERMAN: I think you've done so well there, I want to keep you there. (LAUGHTER)

The Lamont campaign today released a detailed breakdown of his 2Q campaign contributiors, a list which included the great Connecticut Democrat Paul Newman, and which didn't include any money from Washington lobbyists. But Sen. Lieberman, whose campaign has been focused like a laser beam on attacking Ned Lamont's personal finances, has yet to release such a breakdown so we can know who's been paying for his $5 million-and-counting campaign:

Lamont's campaign released a breakdown of contributions Monday; Lieberman's campaign has released totals but not yet provided details about who gave what.

Update: Again...

There is nothing wrong with going after your opponent’s voting record or any other evidence of negligence in his public life, but digging into his bank account ... when these things have nothing to do with the performance of his public duties - past, present, or future - is wrong.

That was Joe Lieberman, in his 2000 book, In Praise of Public Life.

Tim Tagaris spells out the difference between the issues both campaigns are running on right now:

There's a war(s) going on outside, 45 million Americans go to bed each night without health care, and gas prices are approaching $4 a gallon in some places. But to Senator Lieberman, there is no greater issue than Ned Lamont releasing his taxes. Why? Well, because they have nothing. He's wrong on the issues people of CT and the country care about and that's why voters are changing their minds. Does anyone really want to re-elect someone that thinks things are actually getting better in Iraq?

The New London Day proposes a debate that would actually serve Connecticut voters, one I'm sure that Sen. Lieberman, who has been frightened of engaging in any meaningful discussion of Iraq since the beginning of this race, will refuse:

The Democrats who will vote in next month's primary need to hear a substantive debate between Sen. Lieberman and Mr. Lamont on [Iraq], which is at the heart of Mr. Lamont's challenge and driving the increasing public support Mr. Lamont enjoys. Unfortunately, as of today, Sen. Lieberman, who has had only one debate with his opponent, has expressed no interest in taking part in another debate with Mr. Lamont.

Sen. Lieberman does the public in his state and a watchful nation a disservice by not debating this matter one-on-one with Mr. Lamont. A skilled debater, Sen. Lieberman ought to have no trouble articulating his own point of view on Iraq and defending it. An earnest debate focused on substance would not only help Democrats choose between the two candidates, but help everyone who views it better understand the complexities of this troubling national dilemma.

Meanwhile, in the midst of the other violence engulfing the region, things in Iraq aren't exactly getting better, either.

Sen. Lieberman owes his constituents a serious debate on the issues that matter to them, no matter what party affiliation he wants to put after his name. Instead, he's failing Connecticut as a senator in this capacity, as he has in so many others.

Genghis Conn has a sneak preview of the script for "Swift Greenwich Republicans for Truth":

VOICE: Ned Lamont claims to be a liberal. But is he really? These Republicans tell the story.

(Cut to several well-dressed WASPs sitting in one room of a cavernous mansion)

MRS. PENNYWINKE-SMYTHE: (she is draped with two tons of pearls) Oh, yes, I served tea and crumpets at the meetings of the Greenwich Board of Selectmen back in those days. Mr. Lamont often talked about how much he hated things like the library, and school children.

VOICE: It got worse.

DUDLEY COVINGTON-ARCHIBALD: (in a top hat) Yes, quite, when we Republicans drew up plans to keep the rabble from (shudders) Norwalk, ugh, off of our pristine beaches, dear old Neddy used to cackle with an evil sort of glee. I must say, I found it quite becoming.

• Spazeboy uploads and then comprehensively rips to shreds Lieberman's latest attack ad. Joe has been spewing outright lies in his ads and mailers since day one (remember that fake bumper sticker ad, that mailer about Ned's campaign manager being an ex-Republican, and that one about Ned planning to spend $100 million on this race?), so it's no surprise he continues to mischaracterize and mislead. He's already spent $5 million and he has at least $5 million left to spend, raked in from his Washington lobbyist friends. So we're sure to see even more garbage like this.
  
  Anyway, read Spazeboy's take.


• Apparently, Attorney General Dick Blumenthal (D-CT) suddenly had to run before Sen. Lieberman (Lieberman-CT) arrived at the AFL-CIO picnic yesterday. But The Float was there, to the great chagrin of the assembled LieberYouth.


• Add the Lamont campaign as a MySpace friend. As the official blog notes, this is more than just a gimmick, it's all about family, friends, and neighbors (online and offline):
  

  Here’s how our MySpace effort is different than other campaigns who have used it unsuccessfully or solely for free media. MySpace and FF&N are basically based upon the same premise … keeping in contact with your friends. Add to that the fact that most MySpace users have a number of friends who live in similar geographies. If we can get 250 people total using FF&N on MySpace, each sending a personal postcard via snail mail (on our dime!) to 20 people, and then you follow-up and get them to the polls voting for Ned … that could be as much as 2% of the vote we need to win on August 8. And in what will be a close election, 2% from MySpace is a big deal, and could be what puts us over the top. Imagine if we could get even more people using MySpace to participate in FF&N!

  
  Use this graphic to promote and link to Family, Friends, and Neighbors online:
  


• Robert Novak - yes, that Robert Novak - attacks Lieberman for his support of earmarks.


• Kevin Rennie:
  

  Lieberman is learning a lesson inflicted here on George III: mercenaries are no match for passionate volunteers. Lieberman is having to pay for what Lamont gets for free: troops. They are calling friends and neighbors in phone banks around the state that the campaign has no trouble filling. In many ways, it's an old fashioned campaign.
  
  Connecticut politicians love lawn signs. And they are everywhere for Lamont. The Lieberman campaign woke up recently to find itself badly behind in the anecdotal war over how many signs each side could plant. His campaign had to deploy majordomo and longtime aide Sherry Brown to gin up the lawn sign effort. It was a sign of the parlous state of his campaign that Brown made calls and delivered individual signs to supporters. Picture Susan Estrich stopping at your house in 1988 to stick a Dukakis sign in the grass. Dire is the word that comes to mind.
  
  Luckily, the last week of the primary campaign will see a boost in Lieberman volunteers. Friends and former staffers and friends from Washington plan to invade the state to tell Connecticut Democrats that they should not turn their backs on saintly Joe Lieberman. That always goes down well with the natives. Lanny Davis and the Washington establishment providing pious testimonials for their man, what a week it will be. Maybe Sean Hannity will pitch in with some encomiums. At least Imus, a registered Republican, does it with humor and lives here on the weekends.
  
  If that's the best Lieberman can do it explains why he looks so forlorn at the snootful of democracy he's getting.

Sen. Lieberman (Lieberman-CT) has a new negative ad up calling Ned Lamont a "flip-flopper":

CT: Lieberman is up with a new ad that hits Lamont as a "flip-flopper." The ad notes his past support for Republicans, his decision not to release his tax returns and his pledge not to run negative ads. The visuals for the ad are very simple with just a photo of Lamont shifting left and right with the words the announcer saying be typed on screen using a very techy font. Are negative ads what really what Lieberman needs right now? Aren't voters looking for a reason to come back to Lieberman?

Joe really thinks it's two years ago, and he's George W. Bush running against John Kerry.

Update: Here's the ad (w/ YouTube). Spazeboy takes it apart.

• Colin McEnroe blogs about the Times article and Joe's "Connecticut Problem":
  

  I live in Connecticut. I report here and talk to politicians here. Let me assure the New York Times that this sentiment has been building for years. What was always sad was the timidity and fatalism of more mainstream polticians who would speak quietly about the desirability of challenging Lieberman and then -- like mice who want to hang a bell around the neck of the housecat -- admit they could not imagine pulling off such a thing.



• Lamont 2Q numbers: in the last two months the campaign raised about $830,000 from over 15,000 contributors. (In comparison, Lieberman raised $1.3 million.) Ned has personally kicked in $1.1 million in the two month period for a total of $2.5 million since the beginning of the campaign.


• The Register-Citizen was in Goshen in the 5th CD yesterday for a well-attended meet-and-greet with Ned. As was a TV crew from a Tokyo morning show. This race is now an international story.


• Out in California, the San Jose Mercury News reports that Sen. Boxer is catching a large amount of flak for her decision to campaign for Joe. Like Sen. Biden, though, she still hasn't shown up...


• Jane Hamsher has a great round-up of recent events at the Huffington Post. About the lawn sign battle, I've heard this line too:
  

  Lieberman is definitely losing. Overheard at an event recently, "If this boils down to a competition over the most lawn signs, it'll be Ned vs. Coldwell Banker."