Lamont energizes supporters in New Haven

click on image to enlargeThe Ned Lamont express made a stop in New Haven yesterday as a packed crowd of over 100 filled Naples Restaurant on Wall Street to hear a few words from their man.

The event, organized by Democracy for America, was a success as Lamont not only fired up the crowd with his speech, but was on top of his game answering a wide range of questions ranging from his views on Israel, to his views on health care, energy conservation and the Bush administration’s handling of the war on terror.

The on-line media was out in full force as myself, Spazeboy from LaResistance, and BrandfordBoy and other writers from My Left Nutmeg made the trek to New Haven and witnessed Ned to his thing.

Editor Paul Bass from the New Haven Independent was also on the scene and offered his impressions on Lamont’s performance.

At Naples, Lamont spoke passionately about the war -- but he spoke mostly about a wide range of other issues, from the environment to health care.


And he was loose.

He told the crowd his original call to arms at campaign appearances: "We are gonna rock the boat, because the boat needs rockin'!"

Now he has a new message: "We're gonna win. People want a primary. They want a change... Start rockin' the boat!"

To put it simple, Ned was on fire and gave the best presentation I’ve seen to date.

The most noticeable change in Ned was how he effectively explained his position on several issues and how his positions differ from Lieberman. This is a different Lamont from the person who came to New Haven at the start of his campaign. Ned shows that he's listened to the people as he traveled across the state and that experience is now paying off as he clearly articulated his dissatisfaction with Lieberman and explained in great detail how he would handle things differently if elected to the senate.

click on image to enlargeIt's clear that Lamont is not an one-issue candidate and after watching the video clips, I think you’ll agree that the audience received Ned's message loud and clear and Joe might have some reason for concern.

Unlike most of my videos, these series of video clips are pretty long in length. If you experience any playback problems, hit pause and allow your computer to download the file (a couple of minutes should do the trick). MAJOR hat tip goes to Spazeboy with helping me with the video coverage and photography. Check out his site for more Lamont videos and audio clips.

Video clip 1: Ned stump speech (part 1)

Video clip 2: Stump speech (part 2)

Video clip 3: Q&A session (1 of 3)

Video clip 4: Q&A session (2 of 3)

Video clip 5: Q&A wrap-up