Ned Lamont Q&A from New Haven (VIDEO)

As you well know, Ned Lamont visited New Haven yesterday on his "listening tour" and fielded a number of questions from the audience ranging from his opinions on Judge Samuel Alito to his views regarding the loss of jobs in Connecticut.

The turnout to the event was quite impressive (see below) considering Lamont hasn't "officially" announced that he's challenging Lieberman yet. What was also impressive was the show of support from Democratic Town Committee members from different towns (most notably Westport and Fairfield) including DTC member Mitchell Fuchs of Fairfield who recounted a not-so-pleasent encounter with Senator Lieberman which left the audience speechless.


Observations:

Lamont is still finding his voice. You have to give the person a break considering this is his second time out of his tour but on the other hand, time is not on his side. Lamont will need to fine tune his message in the coming weeks if he is going to challenge a seasoned pro like Lieberman (who will definitely fight tooth and nail to keep his job). Lamont needs to bring his "A" game in order to challenge a seasoned pro like Lieberman (who will pull out all the tricks to take Lamont down). If Lamont finds three or four issues (besides the obvious Iraq War) to talk about in future speeches and appearances (they'll have to be issues that he can criticize Lieberman), he could connect with people and give Lieberman a serious reason for concern



One thing is for certain, Lamont has the like-ability factor won by a landslide. His honesty and integrity comes out as soon as he starts speaking and he has the ability to connect with people naturally which is not only a campaign manager's dream come true, but "a gift" when it comes to someone running for public office for the first time.

Enough of my rambling, you want to see Lamont in action so here it is.

First, thinking the event started at 10:30 and not 10:00, I arrived at the place about 15 minutes late (UGH!) so I don't have Lamont's stump speech. Actually, it's a god thing because I didn't come to hear the speech, I wanted to see how he answered questions and like I said, for his second time out, he was impressive.

Second, I'm only providing the lo-res versions of the video clips at this time. Once my hi-res files are verified at video.google, I'll provide the URLs for the clips.

If you really need the hi-res version of the clip (or if you want a hi-res version of any of the photos), just send me an email and I'll get it to you. All I ask you credit me for any images you use on your blog.

It's also better if you right click on the links below and save the files to your desktop so you an enlarge the video clip (but you can just click on it and view it in the browser also).

VIDEO CLIPS (they'll take a moment to load so be patient):

1. Ned Lamont views on Judge Alito.

2. Ned Lamont's views on how the high cost of health care contributes to job lossed in Connecticut. Comments regarding financing higher education in Connecticut.

3. Ned Lamont's concerns regarding security and terrorism including his views on The Patriot Act and warrant-less wiretapping Americans.

4. DTC member Mitchell Fuchs of Fairfield leaves the audience speechless in describing "an encounter" he had with Senator Lieberman (MUST SEE)!!!
(NOTE: There are many public officials in the state (a.k.a those important people on Democratic Town Committees) who, like Fuchs, are unhappy with Lieberman but can't publicly come out and say so because doing that would be political suicide.

5. Lamont comments further on job creation and the tax burden on small businesses.

6. Lamont comments on job outsourcing and the rising cost of health care cost to employers.

7. Lamont comments on the energy bill and the need for energy conservation (sorry for the timestamp).

To view all of my photos from the event, just click here.