Readers of this site know I've always had a soft spot for Lieberman. I was ambivalent about the primary race, didn't have a horse in it, I think I said. And it only became a simple matter for me after Lamont won. He's the Democratic candidate. End of story. Not because I felt differently about Lieberman necessarily. But I think all Democrats, all progressives, liberals, whatever, should support the Democratic candidate. And that's Ned Lamont. That and tell Lieberman to get out of the race.
But now Lieberman is not only running as the de facto Republican in the race, he's running as the worst sort of Republican, going on the trail claiming that any serious questioning of our policy in Iraq is a victory for the terrorists, even pulling in yesterday's terror plot take-down into his angle against Lamont. With Lamont, those guys might have blown up the plane. Leaving Iraq is a win for the terrorists. A Lamont win is a win for the terrorists. That was after Wednesday when Joe pledged to save the Democratic party from the extremists he seems to think make up the entire Democratic party. Except for Joe.
So questioning the president's policy on Iraq is a win for the terrorists. The Democratic party is outside the mainstream of American politics. I can go to Republicans for that, right?
So it's not just about the independent candidacy any more. It's about him. Enough. Just leave.
Joe Lieberman is an unhinged irrelevant, de facto Republican and it's tine for him to exit. His smear against the Democratic Party Wednesday is the last straw and those Democrats who support him should should be held accountable.
Aviation critic Michael Boyd details flaws in new airport security rules; highlights incompetence in The Department of Homeland Security
Remember that little clip from Keith Olbermann I posted on airport insecurity and the complete incompetence of the Department of Homeland Security?
Well, let me introduce you to aviation consultant Michael Boyd. This expert has been a long critic of the Department of Homeland Security to I was pleasently surprised when I checked my Tivo yesterday and found out that I recorded this interview.
Boyd was on MSNBC and he carefully detailed the absolute stupidity regarding the new airport carry-on rules while rightfully blasting Bush Administration, Transportation Security Administration, and the Department of Homeland Security.
It's amazing that almost five years after 9-11, where still having to deal with these huge holes in security. After you hear what Boyd has to say, you'll be really piss you off at the Bush administration (because it's all true).
...and don't forget Joe Lieberman's role with the Department of Homeland Security.
Olbermann exposes the Republican/Lieberman fear card
Oh, this is good. Keith Olbermann does it again and this time, he exposes the shamelessness of Republicans and Joe Lieberman as they both exploit terror to their politican advantage.
I had the chance to debate Ann Coulter today on CNBC's Kudlow and Company - and wow, for one of the GOP's top icons, she was truly unimpressive.
[...]
I cited a bunch of facts that Coulter never bothered to even address, much less refute.
[...]
Go check out the whole thing - frankly, if this is the best the Republicans have, Democrats are going to really carry election day come November. We are watching the very public implosion of the GOP - and boy is it fun to watch.
Watch as Ann shows her true colors (Sorry for the delay).
Here's what people are saying across the state about Millionaire Joe Lieberman. Stamford Advocate
Watching the election results Tuesday night, two things were very apparent:
Mayor Dan Malloy is a class individual. After a hard-fought, sometimes bitter campaign, Mayor Malloy was absolutely gracious in defeat. It had to be the hardest thing for him to do after more than two years of hard work and trying times to go before the cameras and the media, congratulate his opponent and offer his help in his battle against Gov. M. Jodi Rell.
Malloy is a class act.
On the other hand, U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman showed little statesmanship by announcing he will run as an independent against primary winner Ned Lamont.
The Democrats in the state have said "no" to Joe. Obviously, Joe does not care what his party rank-and-file want, as he is not giving up his position.
His campaign also showed little regard to certain city ordinances, as "Vote Joe" lawn signs were illegally placed on just about every piece of city property throughout Stamford. I have never seen such a total disregard for rules and regulations. The senator and his people should be embarrassed and ashamed.
I, for one, will be voting for Lamont, and I look forward to seeing him raise his arms in victory on Nov. 7.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman needs to start acting like an adult instead of a 5-year old petulant child. For the second time he is asking the voters of Connecticut to change the rules just so that he may keep his job.
First we were asked to put him on our ballots twice in 2000, a disrespectful and disgusting display of egotism. Now the voters are asked to "Vote for Joe" as he makes his own political party.
Yes, Sen. Lieberman, we noticed the lack of political party on your signs.
The Democratic voters have stated that we no longer require or desire his form of leadership. He patronizes us by stating he is doing this for the good of Connecticut and the party, instead of being a gracious loser like Dan Malloy. Sen. Lieberman, your ploy to keep your job is good for no one but you.
I respectfully request that we, as Connecticut residents, vote Republican or Democrat, as our choice may be. As adults it is our duty to ignore this temper tantrum from someone who does not know how to lose. After all, that is how children no matter what their, age learn what acceptable behavior is and what is not.
Joe Lieberman just doesn’t get it. He doesn't understand how smug and self-righteous he is. He doesn’t seem to realize how poor his constituent services have been, probably because he and his staff have been concentrating on making him a national figure.
Finally, his self-importance is epitomized by his running under the "Connecticut for Lieberman" designation. Do we need further evidence as to why Connecticut (and Washington) needs a fresh face, not a sore loser?
First let me say, this election has restored my faith in the democratic process.
After watching the presidential election stolen outright - twice - then watching the man who did the stealing grab my favorite Republican (Democratic Sen, Joe Lieberman) with both hands and kiss him like he had just received one of his kidneys, I was certain that whatever it took to commandeer this election - be it having the dead appear on the voter registration lists and then vote; have faulty voting machines that would secretly cast your ballot for the opposing candidate or just some updated version of the hanging chad - I was positive it would be done.
Yet somehow the people's voice was heard, except by Sen. Lieberman, whose refusal to display any integrity at all by bowing out gracefully only shows his contempt for the people he claims to serve.
Say it ain't so, Joe. Respect the will of the people of the state of Connecticut.
I'm writing to express my disappointment in Sen. Joseph Lieberman's decision to press forward with his bid for re-election, and to urge him to reconsider. Sen. Lieberman has said he wishes to give a wider pool of Connecticut voters the chance to vote for him.
Is he implying that our traditional nominating process is unfair? The Republicans have chosen their nominee. The Democrats have chosen theirs. Thousands of previously unaffiliated voters joined the Democratic Party in order to make their voices heard.
I believe Sen. Lieberman is sincere when he says he believes he is a better candidate than Ned Lamont. However, the people of Connecticut have told him they disagree. History will remember Sen. Lieberman more kindly if he respects their decision.
In his concession speech Tuesday night, Sen. Joe Lieberman claimed the status of "independent Democrat." The truth is that he is neither. Joe Lieberman is really an embarrassed Republican, and he will be running as such for the U.S. Senate this November.
He cannot bring himself to accept the label of Republican because in his mind he believes himself a populist - a man of the people. Again he is mistaken. He does not really represent "the people" and he obviously does represent Democrats in Connecticut. What he cares about most is himself and staying in the power halls of Congress. This he has demonstrated by always positioning himself politically in ways that would allow him to keep his seat in the Senate. He did this when running as a candidate for vice president, and he is doing it again now with this "independent Democrat" demagoguery. This is not indicative of a man of the people; this is symptomatic of a megalomaniac.
If Republicans in this state would like such a man to represent them in Washington DC, they are welcome to support him. I think that for Joe Lieberman this is a shameful way to end a successful career. He should either accept the popular decision of his party, or become a bona fide Republican. The integrity of the party is more important than one person.
Ned Lamont won fair and square, and whatever his shortcomings, he is more than qualified to represent Connecticut in the Senate. Joe Lieberman had his tenure, and a successful one, but it is time to move on.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman lost the Democratic primary to Ned Lamont in a fair election. Sen. Lieberman was ungracious in defeat and, in his concession speech, said he would go ahead with his plan to run as an independent and would serve as an "independent Democrat."
Independent candidacies are meant for those who are not aligned with either of the major parties - those who wish to offer an alternative to both. They are not meant for the candidate who cannot make it in his own party. It may be legal for Sen. Lieberman to run as an independent, but is it ethical?
We have voted for Sen. Lieberman in the past, but will not vote for him in 2006.
If you like to leave a message for Joe Lieberman and have it posted on this blog, please email me at ctblogger@yahoo.com (type message for Joe in the subject line). ConnecticutBLOG will have a new section just for messages to Joe. Hopefully, he'll get the point and stop his indy bid for the good of the Congressional Democratic candidates and John DeStefano who are running in the general election in November.
Remember, a vote for Joe is a vote against the Democratic Party.
John Olsen hints that AFL-CIO might "sit out the fall election"
The line of people running away from Millionaire Joe "Mr. Irrelevant" Lieberman continues to grow at an epic rate with AFL-CIO president John Olsen being the latest to exit stage left.
The president of the Connecticut A.F.L.-C.I.O., which had endorsed Mr. Lieberman through the primary, also disclosed yesterday that it may sit out the fall election.
"There's no blood oath binding him not to run as an independent," Edward Koch told NewsMax.
[...] Like President Bush, Joe Lieberman understands that we are involved in "a war between civilizations" in which the enemy, Islamic fascists, wants to kill us, Koch said.
Koch is no stranger to bolting from his party's choices. In 2004 Koch backed George Bush over his party nominee, John Kerry.
[...]
"I believe that the most important issue facing the world is international terrorism, and it is my current intention to vote for George W. Bush for re-election."
Good grief. Is this the best Joe "Mr. irrelevant" Lieberman can find nowadays? This fossil is so out of touch with reality, he couldn't win an election for dog-catcher let alone run a city. Koch should stick to something he's actually good at like making those cheesy "I Love NY" tourism commercials and leave politics to those who don't have a disgraced background and don't wear diapers.
For Cheney - and other Republicans like GOP National Chairman Ken Mehlman - to suggest that those Americans are encouraging terrorism is reprehensible.
Cheney's comments came out a day before British intelligence officials announced they had thwarted a major terrorist attack. Surely Cheney was aware of the plot and the work to thwart it, and was no doubt aware of the timing of yesterday's announcement.
To exploit a very real terror threat that could have led to major casualties, and to even indirectly implicate Americans who were exercising their democratic right by going to the polls and making a choice borders on the criminal, to say nothing of the insane.
Has Cheney completely lost it?
[...]
The immoral and ridiculous claims coming out of the Bush administration's reign of error could ultimately be responsible for the kind of casualties that al Qaeda can only dream of.
Democrats assailed the Republicans Friday for e-mailing a fundraising appeal mentioning the war on terror hours after British authorities disclosed they had disrupted a plot to blow up aircraft headed to the United States.
"In the middle of a war on terror, we need to remain focused on furthering Republican ideas more than ever before," former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani said in a letter that asked for donations to the Republican National Committee .
The RNC blamed a low-level staffer for distributing the fundraising appeal, which the party said had been scheduled for release before news of the plot broke.
"Once the RNC learned of this error we ceased distribution of the e-mail," said Tracey Schmitt, a party spokeswoman.
Democrats didn't accept the explanation.
"The defeat of the London plot is a warning that we should redouble our efforts to defeat terrorism. It shouldn't be used as a political defibrillator by Republicans on electoral life support," said Phil Singer, a spokesman for the Senate Democrats' campaign committee.
Low level staffer...yeah, got'cha. I'm sure Tony Snow has a perfect explanation for his well-timed rant yesterday as well as the increasingly irrelevant Joe Lieberman with his pinheaded Rove-inspired attempt to use the terror plot in England against Ned Lamont.
Let's not forget the ultimate in shame Nancy Johnson using 9-11 for political points going as low as being a reenactment of a WTC victim funeral in her political commercial.
Ugh, I'll dig into the shamelessness of those who use fear for their own purposes later. I’m to disgusted to continue this post.
Remember to leave a comment after reading what he had to say about Joe "Mr. Hyde" Lieberman.
This guy should have a political talk show on television as he's that good (as long as he stays awake). A weekly show on CT-N would be great (hint, hint).
I congratulate Ned Lamont on a great grassroots campaign, and wish him success in November. I and our PAC, Forward Together, will be supporting the Lamont campaign. Connecticut Democrats are mirroring the frustrations most Americans feel with this President's failed foreign policy and mishandled war. I also commend Senator Lieberman for his remarkable record of public service.
Republican wishful thinking notwithstanding, Tuesday's vote was anything but a Democratic party repudiation of a robust and determined defense of this nation’s security. To the contrary, it is a call for a return to an American foreign policy that unites our friends and divides our enemies-and a call that will inevitably sweep through November's elections.
I wish we had more people like Warner in Connecticut.
Speaker of the House James A. Amann on Thursday said he is not prepared to support Democratic primary winner Ned Lamont over his old friend, U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman.
Amann, D-Milford, who was conspicuously missing from a "unity" rally of major state Democrats on the morning after Tuesday's primary, said that Lieberman came through for him early in his political career and he will not forget it.
The speaker said he will announce either today or Monday whether he will withdraw his support of the three-term incumbent.
"I have not made a decision yet," Amann said. "I have not had a chance to sit down with Sen. Lieberman personally."
"Sen. Lieberman is a very old, dear friend of mine, someone that early in my career came out, took a personal flight to do a 30-second commercial in my first election that he never had to do and I won by 49 votes," Amann said. "I at least owe Joe Lieberman, as a friend - as many of his friends stood up with Lamont yesterday and they are friends and they have their positions - but for me personally, I need to talk with Joe one-on-one."
Although I respect his point, this decision should be a no-brainer given his important position in Connecticut. How can someone as important as the Speaker of the House be allowed to say something like this?
As Senator Chris Dodd and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro stated, the loyalty to the Democratic Party trumps everything else and if these two die-hard friends of Lieberman can back Lamont, so should Amann.
Again, HE'S THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE and he should do the right thing. Although Lamont beat Lieberman by about 10,000 votes, Amann had no problem picking up the phone and throw his support behind John DeStefano who barely beat Dan Malloy (by aprox. 4,000 votes). This clearly shows that Amann problem is personal and this has nothing to do with politics. This is as bad (if not worse) than Lieberman choosing not to respect the outcome of the primary because Amann has seemed to forgotten the politics is not personal.
Why is this a problem for the party brass to understand? The people have spoken and Amann can no longer call the primary a result of the far left "weirdos" since there was a record turnout of voters.
At this point, with three Congressional races on the line, EVERY Democrat in the state should be behind Ned Lamont no questions asked. A vote for Lieberman is a vote against the Democratic Party and if people like James Amann, Rep. Pat Dillon, and State Sen. Bill Finch can't over the fact that their man lost. They should respect the fact that the people have spoken and support the nominee.
This is no time for dissent. This is no time for personal feelings get in the way of what’s right for the The people have spoken and the voters should demand that their officials respect the outcome of the election.
Demand that your Democratic Party officials support the Democratic nominee and the will of the record amount of registered Democrats who voted in the primary.
The final numbers from Rasmussen, after surveying 550 "likely voters on August 9 & 10 (i.e. post-primary):
Lieberman 46% Lamont 41% Schlessinger 6%
That's more than the 3% spread they teased. Other highlights:
Very unfavorable: 18% Lieberman vs. 23% Lamont Very favorable: 31% Lieberman vs. 19% Lamont
Rell beats DeStefano 57% to 35%
Voters trust Lieberman over Lamont on the "War on Terror" 55% to 31%.
Most important issues are theconomy (37%), Iraq (23%), and national security (16%).
They claim a MOE of + or - 4% with a 95% level of certainty.
Although I think it's quite silly being that it's August and this poll is based on such a small asmple (550, good grief) but lets take a small look at the details.
1. Since the last Rasmussen 3-way poll was 40-40-13, Ned is at +1, Joe is at +6, and Mr. Card is at -7. Basically, this is just GOP movement.
2. This poll was taken right after the primary and now we’re in day two of the GOP using the fear card (the only card they have left to use).
3. A sample of 550 is just too small for my taste when you consider how many people could vote in November.
4. Team Joementum went through millions of dollars and all they could muster was 48 percent of the vote. That's it folks. Now, do you think Alan Card is going to pull single digits in the general? Also, do you think all those who voted for Joe in the primary will vote for selfish indy Joe in the general? I've talked to many politicians and although many backed Joe in the primary, there is no way they'll back Joe in the general
5. Money will be hard to come by for Joe while Ned will have the D.C. brass (and everything that comes with it) behind him.
6. Never forget this: as more people learn about Lamont, Ned's number has ALWAYS gone up while Joe's numbers has ALWAYS gone down.
Now, that's not to say there isn't work to be done but this was always expected. Still, if you take a look at the last Q-poll, which did a three-way race, you'll see that Joe had a huge lead over Ned. How times have changed (although, I still don't put much stock in a small sample poll done right after a primary AND with the smear machine playing the fear card).
Well I didn't think it was possible, but Nancy Johnson has reached a new low. In her new TV ad, Johnson attempts to use the tragic events of September 11th for her own political advantage. The commercial features a woman who lost her son on 9/11 explaining how Nancy Johnson was there for her and "really cares." The most despicable part of the ad, however, comes when Johnson recreates the memorial service in order to show herself comforting the grieving woman.
No shame.
Make no mistake; my heart goes out to anyone who lost loved ones on 9/11. But Nancy Johnson taking advantage of someone else's loss for political purposes is the worst form of exploitation and pandering. How does Nancy Johnson's conscience allow her to ask a grieving mother to recreate her son's memorial service so that it may be used for a television commercial?
Rasmussen Reports began polling the Ned Lamont-Joe Lieberman general election match-up last night. After 375 interviews, preliminary numbers show Lieberman ahead of Lamont by 3 percentage points. Republican candidate Alan Schlesinger is a non-factor in the single digits.
The last Rasmussen survey of a three way general election found Lamont and Lieberman tied at 40% with Schlesinger at 13%. It appears Lieberman is gaining ground primarily among GOP voters.
Rasmussen will be back in the field tonight to complete the survey and hopes to post final data on their website before midnight.
Now, you can better understand why Joe's taking his marching orders from the White House today. Just take a listen to the Right-wing noise machine and they're all ralling behind their favorite Democrat and for good reason...it's general election season and the GOP wants to rally their base to vote for Lieberman.
In other words, Joe Lieberman is running a whisper Republican campaign.
Oh man, I'm beginning to understand the madness behind WTNH's Mark "plain talking" Davis. It's not that he's right-winged or liberal minded, he's just out of his fucking mind.
UPDATE:Davis explains the reason behind the madness and I have to say, I think he has a very good point regarding Joe Lieberman and his team controlling the press on primary night (I think I just heard Mark fall out of his chair).
On Primary night we had been reliably informed that Senator Lieberman would make his speech at approximately 11PM and would formally announce his independent bid to run in November despite the outcome of the Primary. His "campaign handlers" informed us there would be no interviews despite the fact that we had requested after speech interviews for days.
This meant that Senator Lieberman would have total control of the WTNH Channel 8 broadcast franchise for 15 or more minutes to send his message to viewers at a time when the largest number of news viewers would be watching. Total control of the public airwaves without being challenged in any way!
Every other television reporter, both local and network and cable channel, was tethered by wires and cables to the area that Senator Lieberman's handlers had selected. Keeping them all at a distance of at least 100 feet from him. The WTNH technical staff had made me the only reporter in the nation to be totally wireless with the ability to go where I needed to go and ask the questions that needed to be asked on behalf of the owners of WTNH, the viewers.
A record and historic number of Connecticut registered Democrats had just gone to the polls and rejected Senator Lieberman as their candidate in favor of Ned Lamont by a margin of 10-thousand votes. I felt I had an obligation to ask him how he could proceed now that it was certain he would be abandoned by the Democratic Party establishment and that he had been rejected by the members of his own party. He answered by saying he wanted all the voters to decide.
Okay, you have a point Mark but you're still nuts.
Statement from Ned Lamont regarding UK terror arrests
Just received this Ned Lamont press release:
The United States needs to strengthen its national security and improve its ability to fight terrorism. Both have suffered under President Bush.
With a force of 132,000 troops and a cost of $8 billion per month, we are currently refereeing a civil war in Iraq with no signs of progress and no credible exit strategy. Our force readiness to face another threat elsewhere in the world has been diminished because of our preoccupation with Iraq. Both anger at America around the world and the number of terrorists seeking to do us harm have increased. We are not stronger and safer because of Iraq; just the opposite is unfortunately true. Potential attacks like the one that appears to have been foiled today are clear and present dangers. Al-Qaeda continues to have operational capacity to threaten air traffic around the world, including into and out of the United States. Thank goodness the British were able to prevent this attack from moving beyond the planning stage.
We need to focus on our security, on apprehending Osama Bin Laden and other terrorist leaders and on building a credible, effective foreign policy with our allies. In the United States Senate, I will support policies to make us safer and stronger, and attentive to our true priorities. We need to change course, and that means standing up to this administration and fighting for our security in a rational, serious way rather than being bogged down in a war than is harmful to our security.
Latest Liebercrat: Waterbury Mayor Michael Jarjura
No surprise here. The pathetic mayor of one of the most historically corrupted cities in Connecticut turns his back on the Democratic Party (again).
Waterbury gave Lieberman 60 percent of its Democratic vote in the primary, though the three-term senator lost the statewide count to anti-war businessman Ned Lamont. The gritty factory town also has a history with independents winning office: Mayor Michael Jarjura was re-elected as a write-in candidate last year after he lost the Democratic primary.
"Mayor Mike is an inspiration to me now," Lieberman said.
Jarjura, who was among about three dozen supporters who met Lieberman, predicted the senator would win in November.
"Unfortunately, here in Connecticut, the Democratic Party has shifted, I think wrongly, too far to the left and that limited audience does not reflect the majority view of the people of the state of Connecticut," he said. "That was very evident in my election, and I think it will be extremely evident in Joe Lieberman's re-election in November."
Funny how Jarjura isn't doing more constructive with his time like doing something about the high property taxes in Waterbury or instead of being so cozy with developers.
Remember that screenshot I posted from GOP.com ealier today. Well, take a close look at Howard Dean.
Do you see something odd? Maybe it's that Hitler moustache they placed on Dean's face. Think I'm kidding...click on the image to enlarge it and see for yourseld.
Depenable Renegade has the details and gives a very detailed analysis which will remove all doubt from your mind that this might have been a mistake.
Caught red-handed. Wow, this is really messed up.
Where's that Drudge siren...
Remember that screenshot I posted from GOP.com ealier today. Well, take a close look at Howard Dean.
Do you see something odd? Maybe it's that Hitler moustache they placed on Dean's face. Think I'm kidding...click on the image to enlarge it and see for yourseld.
Depenable Renegade has the details and gives a very detailed analysis which will remove all doubt from your mind that this might have been a mistake.
Joe Lieberman should accept the results of his party's primary. He lost.
He should reconsider his bid to run as an independent candidate and get out of the race.
For an 18-year-incumbent who was the Democrats' 2000 vice presidential candidate, his margin of defeat to Ned Lamont, a political unknown until a few months ago, was significant. Lamont even carried Lieberman's home town of New Haven.
Lieberman says he is still a Democrat, but his campaign will divide the party that rejected him.
As an independent candidate, he can only hope to win if he holds onto a significant percentage of those Democrats who voted for him in the primary, and picks up sizeable votes from both independents and Republicans.
Somehow, the irony of a general election strategy that relies on Republican votes to win seems to have eluded a politician who touted his Democratic credentials during the campaign. It merely supports Lamont supporters' charge that Lieberman is a closet Republican.
By running as a third-party candidate, Lieberman has left himself open to the charge that he is not only a spoiler but that he cares more about himself than the party to which he still claims allegiance.
The primary vote should have told Lieberman that he was out of touch with the state that he had taken too much for granted. Until almost the closing days of the election, he seemed unable to gauge the deep anger of Democrats over the war in Iraq and his support for it.
He is mistaken if he believes that this disquiet is shared only by Connecticut Democrats. By primary day, 14,505 unaffiliated voters had switched their registration to Democrats to vote in the primary. Another 14,380 new voters registered as Democrats. It is a safe bet that most of these voters wanted to vote against Lieberman; his loyalists were already signed up.
The editorial goes with a subtle smearing of Lamont (I guess they couldn't help themselves) but the main point is that a heavily conservative editoral board gave the thumbs down to Lieberman idy bid.
On Tuesday night, Connecticut voters went with a fresh political face, an engaging, intelligent and seemingly kind-hearted Democrat named Ned Lamont, who ran essentially a one-issue campaign with clarity of purpose, with respect to his opponent, and with plenty of state and national support.
Most every newspaper in the state endorsed your re-election, Joe, including this one. So did a lot of Democratic voters -- 135,000 of them, to be exact. But it wasn't enough. Lamont gathered 10,000 more votes than you did from an amalgam of people who dislike President Bush, feel your career has run its course, and who are convinced the war in Iraq is a mistake that we will never be able to rectify.
Your position, senator, is that you will continue your quest for re-election by running as a third-party candidate, hoping to pick off enough unaffiliated and Republican voters -- and hold onto your Democratic backers -- to eke out a November victory over Lamont and Republican Alan Schlesinger. Ironically, you may in fact win this way if you push onward. But you shouldn't continue.
If you are successful, Joe, your next term would be difficult to say the least. You have said you will caucus as a Democrat, which means siding with the party whose voters just chose your opponent in your home state. You would meet regularly with Democratic colleagues and leaders who today are asking you to reconsider an independent candidacy, and who publicly and repeatedly will support Lamont between now and November.
You could, in fact, owe your re-election to Connecticut Republicans -- people who largely support the president and his decision to invade Iraq. Yet, Connecticut Democrats rejected you Tuesday night because they feel just the opposite -- they want out of Iraq, and they are angry at the man who put our troops in harm's way there. It would be an untenable fourth term, an ignoble swan song for a senator who has earned a reputation over 18 years as a man of principle and integrity.
There are other mountains to climb, Joe Lieberman, and we have no doubt you will scale them. Please put your party, your state and your country before your career and step aside. Lamont won the primary, he has an opponent, and we'd learn soon enough whether one of them can fill your shoes.
Karl Rove, a close advisor to the President, has expressed interest in assisting Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman in retaining his seat, despite a loss in the Democratic Primary last night, ABC News has reported.
Rove was, according to the report, acting on behalf of President Bush.
George Stephanopoulos, writing for the World Newser blog at ABC, wrote that a Lieberman aide had shared with the news agency a message from the White House: "The boss wants to help. Whatever we can do, we will do."
[...]
The White House might help Lieberman by putting the kibosh on any move to replace the weak Republican candidate, Alan Schlesinger, with a stronger candidate.
And it might be able to convince Schlesinger to drop out of the race and endorse Lieberman in the final week or two, when it's too late for another candidate to fill the GOP slot. A quiet White House effort to steer some money in Lieberman's direction is another possibility.
If you think Lieberman and the Republicans aren't working together, you're fooling yourself. You know Lieberman approved the following messages...
At breakfast time, Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman was in Cleveland, decrying "an unfortunate embrace of isolationism, defeatism, and a blame- America-first attitude by national Democratic leaders at a time when retreating from the world is particularly dangerous." In early afternoon, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow told reporters in Crawford, Tex.: "It's a defining moment for the Democratic Party, whose national leaders now have made it clear that if you disagree with the extreme left in their party they're going to come after you." And an hour or so later, Vice President Cheney told wire-service reporters in a conference call: "It's an unfortunate development, I think, from the standpoint of the Democratic Party to see a man like Lieberman pushed aside because of his willingness to support an aggressive posture in terms of our national security strategy."
Will someone please tell me why the media prints this garbage without challenging the messenger? I mean really, printing a string of GOP talking points is outrageous and insulting to the record number of people who came out to vote and give Joe Lieberman is pink slip on Tuesday. After years of Republicans misleading the public with the assistance of certain media outlets (FOXNews, NBC), reporters (Judith Miller) and pundits (Armstrong Williams), you would think the mainstream media would have the courage to set the record straight regarding Lieberman.
Mike Allen should be ashamed of himself. He should know better than drinking the kool-aid from Rove and Melhman and writing such a obvious smear piece on Democrats. Unlike Allen, Democrats in Connecticut proved Tuesday that they aren't fools and won't fall for these silly Rove tactics.
What's really sad is that the nexus of national press and political operative bigwigs really needs to get over itself a bit here. Because once they do, they may actually be able to get over Joe Lieberman.
Joe Lieberman is not a world-historical figure.
He's not fighting some long twilight struggle.
He thinks he's both. But he's not.
I really don't think the Missouri senate race is going to turn on Jim Talent challenging Claire McCaskill on whether she'll endorse Ned Lamont and abandon Joe Lieberman. I don't think most voters around the country really know or care that much about Joe Lieberman. And to the extent that they know who he is, outside of the committed partisans on both sides, they don't realize or think or imagine (as the Russert/Kristol/Matalin/Broder axis does) that he's this symbolically resonant figure on whom the fate of the nation may alas rest.
The heart of the matter here is that everyone knows Joe in DC. They like him. They think he's a nice guy, which he is. His staff likes him, which also makes him seem like a nice guy. He's schmoozed the city for two decades.
But really he's just a pol who ignored his constituents, went into serious denial about a major foreign policy disaster, was more lockstep with the president's non-policy than many Republicans, and got bounced by his constituents.
That's politics. And that's accountability. And, really? It's not that big a deal.
Many Americans are not comfortable with the idea of just pulling out of Iraq. But the war is really unpopular. I think most Americans realize that the president thinks his Iraq policy is a rousing success and most Democrats don't. They get that. They see it. They understand it. If Republicans think the Martyrdom of Joe is going to be their killer issue, let them have at it. They're trying to knock the Dems off their stride but they're showing their desperation. The whole thing is, in both the most serious and frivolous senses of the word, a joke.
NOTE to GOP (that includes you Joe): You should be afraid of Lamont. He's going to lead the charge and help Democrats take back control of Congress and finally hold the Bush administration and the GOP accountable for their years of mismanaging the nation and lying to the public.
Thanks for visiting Connecticut, now leave (and take your smiles with you). Lieberman said that he fired his campaign manager and spokesman, and asked for the resignations of his campaign staff.
State Sen. William Finch, D-Bridgeport, said he's going to talk to Lieberman about whether it's in their mutual best interest for him to support the senator as an independent.
"I think that there's a risk and everybody has to assess that risk for their own district," said Finch, who said he's leaning toward backing Lieberman, whom he considers a friend.
Ah, what?
Okay, after a primary where a record number of people turned out to vote, this is clearly unacceptable behavior from a Democrat.
When does loyalty to the Democratic Party trump personal loyalty? Senator Finch is making a move that places the Democratic Party in jeopardy and the voters need to send a clear signal that this will not be tolerated as there is simply too much on the line with three Congressional races and the governor's seat up for grabs.
Please go to Senator Finch's website and tell him to respect the will of the voters in Connecticut. If he doesn't respect the will of the voters, why should voters respect him when it's his turn for re-election?
Tell your Democratic politicians to respect the will of the voters
Look, it's over.
No one can claim that the left-wing weirdos hi-jacked the election as the turnout was off the charts.
The people made their choice and Ned Lamont is the Democratic nominee for senate.
It's over.
Those who were on the fence, should do the right thing now. People like State Rep. Pat Dillon, State Sen. Bill Finch, Speaker of the House James Amann should think long and hard before jumping on the Lieberman indy bandwagon.
It's simple folks, the primary is over and the Democratic Party is in a great position to take three Congressional seats, which are very important if the Democratic Party is ever to have a chance in regaining the Majority status in the House of Representatives.
What's more important? Personal loyalty or the loyalty a politician should have towards the Democratic Party? Based on the record turnout yesterday, the voters of Connecticut deserve an answer from those individuals who STILL refuse to answer "the simple question." There is simply no time for disloyalty and any behavior that places the Democratic Party in danger can not and (will not) be tolerated. Not from any State Rep. and definitely not from a person who our Speaker of the House who once called those who support Ned Lamont “shriekers” and “weirdos”
This is not time for friendships to get in the way of the ultimate goal, which is to energize the Democratic Party, take over Control of Congress, and finally be in a position hold President Bush accountable for his years of gross mismanagement.
Rosa DeLauro showed true courage and grace today with her endorsement of Ned Lamont today and she has my ultimate respect since she’s from Lieberman’s home city of New Haven. It’s time for others should follow suit (and the sooner the better).
Your silence speaks volumes and the voters of Connecticut are listening. Please do the right thing.
Call or email your Democratic leaders and tell them to please support Ned Lamont as the elected Democratic nominee for Senate. Time is of the essence and you have the power. Please email me any responses you receive.
Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) issued the following statement after the results of Connecticut's Democratic primary were announced.
Senate Race
"Joe Lieberman is a very close friend of our family and we are sorry Connecticut Democrats did not support him.He is a person of integrity who has fought so many good fights for people.I am proud to have worked side-by-side with him in this primary.
"Connecticut Democrats have selected Ned Lamont.I will be supporting and working for his election in November."
Governor's Race
"John DeStefano has the energy, the drive and determination to be Connecticut's governor.I congratulate him on winning the Democratic primary and look forward to continuing to support him and to working for his election in November."
This is a tough time for Lieberman and his supporters. As I stated on several times before, this eleciton was about the future of the Democratic Party and unity is the key. I said I would support Joe Lieberman is he won the primary because in the end, what matters most is the Democratic Party and the importance of staying united during these critical times.
I only hope more Democrats who supported Lieberman would follow suit. I'll proudly add her to "the simple question" list because someone like her to throw her support behind Lamont (although she's good friends of Joe Lieberman) speaks volumes about her dedication to the Democratic Party.
I'll like to take everyone back to yesterday when I voted in Danbury. I casted my vote over at Broadview school and had a chance to interview several people there. I was looking to talk to people from the Malloy, DeStefano, Lieberman, and Lamont campaigns and I traveled to the school three times (9:30, 2:00, and 6:30). Each time I stopped by the school, I only saw Lamont supporters handing out cards. Now that's not to say reps from the other campaigns didn't stow up, it's just that I didn't see them when I arrived on the scene.
I felt this was really strange the no one was around but Lamont supporters as I stopped by at 6:30 because that would have been the peaked time to vote but I was told that supporters were making rounds to all the other polls. Due to the fact that I had to travel to Meriden to cover the Lamont/Lieberman race, I didn’t' have enough time to get everywhere in Danbury which sucks.
In any case, I was able to conduct an interview with two Lamont volunteers who worked at the school all day (I saw them each time I arrived at the school). Since they hung out there all day, I felt it would only be right to talk to them, find out their views on the turnout, and ask them why they support Lamont.
If anyone has a primary day story, please email me and I'll post it to the blog. Danbury had a great turnout and it's great to see all Democrats use their right to vote. No matter whom you voted for yesterday, the point is THAT YOU VOTED and in the end, that’s the only thing that really matters.
Imagine what would happen if those same Democrats come out to support the Party in next years election.
Joe's row just got a lot tougher to hoe. Statement by Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer (via e-mail):
"The Democratic voters of Connecticut have spoken and chosen Ned Lamont as their nominee. Both we and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) fully support Mr. Lamont's candidacy. Congratulations to Ned on his victory and on a race well run.
"Joe Lieberman has been an effective Democratic Senator for Connecticut and for America. But the perception was that he was too close to George Bush and this election was, in many respects, a referendum on the President more than anything else. The results bode well for Democratic victories in November and our efforts to take the country in a new direction."
Howard Dean just came out in support of Lamont also.
Oh man, am I exhausted. Trying to live blog and cover the politial race of the year was close to impossible. Also, struggling to get a good spot to videotape was insane which was why my blogging from the Lamont location was so hard (if not impossible). CtBob did an amazing job last night and I encourage you to check his site out. ALso, Connecticut Local Politics was all over the stories so give them a peek.
For me, I'm about to pass out but there is much to talk about so lets begin.
1. The DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE is NED LAMONT
It's time to see which politicians support the party and which ones jump ship with Joe Lieberman. I've heard that at least one Democrat is sticking with team Joementum but I'm not releasing any information until I can confirm.
2. Oh yeah, that OTHER primary race.
WTF!?!
Scott Slifka, lost to Malloy's running mate, Mary Glassman by 57%-43% while DeStefano beat Malloy by a about 4,000 votes? It's obvious the the union help DeStefano over the top but I never Slifka losing doesn't make a much sense. These are strange days.
3. Where do we go from here?
There will be a Democratic unity conference today in Hartford at 11 AM. I'll be on the scene and report on anything that happens. I'll get everyone a complete list of the numbers (town by town) later today. I have to get moving if I'm going to make it to Hartord in time.
Two posts down it's clear that Lieberman's website isn't suffering from a Denial of Service attack.
But now I have the definitive answer as to why Lieberman's site went down.
They are paying $15/month for hosting at a place called MyHostCamp, with a bandwidth limit of 10GB. MyHostCamp is currently down, along with all their clients.
Here's the deal -- you get what you pay for. My hosting bill is now over $7K per month. A smaller site doesn't need that much bandwidth, but if you're paying $15 because your $12 million campaign is too freakin' cheap to pay for quality hosting, then don't go blaming your opponent when your shitty service goes out.
For their part, the Lamont campaign has offered its technical expertise to get Lieberman's site back up (which could be done in an hour by a competent sysadmin), and has added a link to the googlecached version of Lieberman's site at the top of their blog.
One side is acting mature, the other is running around making baseless accusations.
Update: Dan Gerstein, Lieberman spokesperson, admits they have no evidence Lamont's campaign or his supporters are behind their website woes.
I'm telling you, it's down because they were too cheap to pay for quality hosting. That's a lesson to all of you campaigns skimping on hosting. $15 won't cut it.
Update II: Joe's site shares one server with 73 other sites. They pay $15/month for an overcrowded server, and then they blame others when it goes down? Full list of sites on Joe's server on the flip.
DoS attacks don't affect particular accounts on a server. They bring down the whole server. The attack site is up, their campaign site is down. This isn't a DoS attack.
Will the Lieberman campaign reimburse state and federal investigators wasting resources to confirm that the site went down because the campaign was too cheap to hire a quality hosting provider?
Now that the alleged Hacking story has been 100% debunked the next question is whether Sean Smith, Joe Lieberman's campaign manager, will be held accountable for filing complaints with the Connecticut Attorney General and Chief State's Attorney's offices. Connecticut's Penal Code includes:
Sec. 53a-180c. Falsely reporting an incident in the second degree: Class A misdemeanor. (a) A person is guilty of falsely reporting an incident in the second degree when, knowing the information reported, conveyed or circulated to be false or baseless, such person gratuitously reports to a law enforcement officer or agency (1) the alleged occurrence of an offense or incident which did not in fact occur, (2) an allegedly impending occurrence of an offense or incident which in fact is not about to occur, or (3) false information relating to an actual offense or incident or to the alleged implication of some person therein.
(b) Falsely reporting an incident in the second degree is a class A misdemeanor.
Not only did the Lieberman campaign lie to the press, but it appears they may have violated the law.
Oh, how I would like for the man to put the bracelets on Smith.
6:15 P.M.:Joe Lieberman running as an indy "a done deal" according to reports, the decision to go the indy route was sealed when the last poll showing Lamont only up by 6 percent came out.
5:55 P.M.: From the ConnecticutBLOG vault, here's an oldie but goodie I've posted a couple of times before. Since most are new to this site, I thought you might get a kick out watching this.
From the anti-war rally in Hartford back in March 2006, here is the activist-based theater group HeartBeat Ensemble preforming "Jeopardy: The Bush Administration Edition featuring George's favorite Democrat"
Enjoy!
It involves goofing on Joe Lieberman so I know eveyone will get a kick out of it.
5:50 P.M.: Since team Joementum is whining about their crappy website, I thought we could get to the bottom of the mystery by doing a little poll. Everyone join in the fun!
UPDATE: Other readers offer their views on the Lieberman hack.
Remember when Carl Rove accused his opponent of bugging his office when he himself did it?
This sounds like the same thing!
Sounds like the same to me also.
Here's another comment.
hi there ctblogger -
given the fact that it is bizarre that the lieberman site was as vulnerable as it was, i wonder if this is a stunt being pulled by the libernasties in order to generate negative buzz against ned lamont ("he's an evil hacker?! doesn't that make him a terrorist?"). remember, joe still has his senate website and you can surely contact the campaign through his senate email server. so, i think that this is a ruse. i wouldn't put it past joe's people - and joe himself - to do something this down low and dirty.
Oh, I think you're on to something there...my spidey sense is tingling.
5:20 P.M.: I thought since it seems like the entire planet is reading this site, that it would be cool to entertain everyone with some of my best Lamont videos.
Since I am really known introducing everyone to the concept of videoblogging, I should show everyone my skills.
The following videoclip is an interview I conducted with Rev. Jesse Jackson and he offered his views on why he supports Ned Lamont.
I'll bring you other video clips throughout the day as I do some reporting.
Enjoy.
UPDATE: Here's anohter video clip from the campaign trail. Rep Maxine Waters and Marcy Kaptur both came to Connecticut recently and I was able to talk to them about why they support Lamont. Also interviewed was State Rep. Peter Tercyak who had no problem offering his opinion on George Bush's favorite Democrat.
Watch and enjoy.
5:10 P.M.: Man, the emails are coming in at a fast pace. Keep them coming!
I just got back from canvassing in the outskirts of New Haven. The latest rumour in the office is that Joe has cancelled the rest of his events for the day. I haven't been able to confirm this, but maybe someone can do some investigative work.
Also, spirits are high here, but New Haven is the kickass office, so who knows how well the rest of the state is doing. Turnout is through the roof in their targetted districts.
And as a side note, all of New Haven has been on the fritz because there was a massive spill on 95 north that closed the northbound lanes for 8 hours. Ned's in the office looking as cool as a cucumber, so it doesn't like the mayhem has fased him.
5:05 P.M.: Just heard that Tim Tagaris, Internet Communications Director for Ned Lamont's campaign, went off on the radio and gave the "Chicago" smackdown on team Joementum over the bullshit hacker non-story. He had a few words for aholes Sean Smith and Dan Gerstein as well.
Attaboy Tim, take the gloves off!
Tune in to 1080 WTIC or click here to hear the local angle on this race online.
5:00: Another report from a volunteer
I volunteered with the Lamont campaign to stand outside of Guilford's 2nd District polling place (Calvin Leete Elementary School). I arrived about 8:30 and left about 4:00 when another volunteer arrived to take my place.
During that time there was no sign of any Lieberman volunteers. Turnout was very heavy in the morning and remained fairly steady throughout the day. I am sure that turnout for the day will be very high. In general my impressions were that the district was going heavily for Lamont. Of course, I have no firm empirical basis for this assertion, but the number of thumbs-up, and other overt signs of support, plus the number of people who outright told me they would be voting for Ned, leads me to believe that a 70-30 split to Ned's advantage might be a reasonable guess for the 2nd District in Guilford.
I also was impressed by the energy of the voters. Several informed me that they had switched from independent to Democrat just to vote for Ned. A number of people also expressed their hope that Connecticut would be able to send a message to the rest of the country about our disatisfaction with the current direction of national politics with a strong Ned win today.
After showing the flag for Ned, I headed over to my own (3rd District) polling place to cast my ballot. Turnout there also appeared to be high. I waited in line for longer than I did in the 2004 Presidential election, at four in the afternoon! This is a testament to the number of people voting, and not a slur on the election officials operating that polling place, who were courteous and efficient
Overall I am extremely confident about Ned's chances in Guilford and think that nice weather and high turnout are working very much to Ned's benefit and Lieberman's detriment. Even though some unknown malcontent stole my Lamont sign from my front lawn last night (and possibly other local lawns given numerous voter comments to me that we, the Lamont campaign, didn't have very many signs in town) justice will prevail in the end!
Thanks! That was a wonderful report.
COME ON GUYS! Keep those voter stories coming. Email me with your experience...the whole country is watching.
4:50 P.M.: Dang! I forgot to tell everyone, you can listen to the local talk show Bruce and Colin as they'll provide you with all the primary information from Connecticut. Turn off that national news and listen to the local opinion.
Just got back from pollstanding in Waterbury. Hot sun, friendly people. Voting is really a civic event in neighborhoods like this. People take their kids, old acquaintances see each other for the first time in a year or two.
The three Lieberman volunteers - young teenagers - at the polling place were dropped off by a van, and spent most of the afternoon sitting underneath a tree talking on their cellphones, ignoring the voters. I wish I had brought my camera. They must have enjoyed the paycheck.
Oh, that T-Party is a witty one indeed.
BTW: Since this stupid Lieberman site hacking thing is becomming a story on the shameless news, a couple of questions.
1. Shouldn't the Lieberman campaign have a complete back-up of thier site?
2. Just how long should it take to get a site back online? They were able to change the text on the site several times so shouldn't they be able to get the site up and running? It's been over 12 hours?
If any techie wants to chime in, please email me and I'll post your response.
I'm a web developer, not an actual sys admin, but I can tell you this much: the Lieberman campaign SHOULD have a full backup of the site, the database, redundant servers and power supplies. They SHOULD have several alternate domain names to redirect the primary domain towards, and each of those domains should be set up on a different server with at least a "bare bones" version of the website (the static stuff at least).
For that matter, I'm a bit stunned that a campaign as large and expensive as this one is doesn't have their web server in-house in the first place (instead of using an external 3rd-party hosting company). That's the sort of thing I'd expect from someone running for state house or city council, not the United States Senate (especially an incumbant!). I have no idea whether the Lamont campaign site is hosted in-house or not but I'd be pretty surprised if it isn't.
The bulk of the Lieberman campaign's static content (positions, photos, media files, etc) should have already been hosted on at least one backup site, hosted separately, at (for example) lieberman2006.com or something like that. In that situation, all they would have to do would be to change the name servers to repoint towards the alternate site--or, at worst, put a "this site has moved HERE" link on joe2006.com, just like you'd see on the simplest mom & pop site.
None of this is meant to forgive whoever took it down, but it shows a stunningly sloppy IT team at the Lieberman camp IMHO.
Genghis offers his two cents on the matter and his views on the race.
In the end, I don't think the hacking of Lieberman's website is going to matter either way.
I did just get word that Lieberman has cancelled his last two events of the day, which were supposed to be in Waterbury and Bristol.
There are reports of pretty decent turnout coming in from all over the state. Could be as high as 30% by the end of the day, or higher.
Genghis will be live blogging from Lieberman HQ later today.
4:15 P.M: Email are coming in now (thanks to all). Keep emailing me your voting stories and I'll post them on the blog!
Received this email a while ago.
Susan Bysiewicz is calling for a very heavy turnout today from reports she's receiving. She predicted 40% or more but now thinks that it'll be even higher. That's kind of startling. I thought 30-35% would be a huge turnout.
Well, that's news to me since I haven't seen a large turnout yet in Danbury but I'll have a better picture of things later today when I can spend more time on the road.
Another person chimes in from Stamford:
I am at stamford polling station. One voter claimed that most stamford residents hate joe because he's never here. Stamford feels neglected by joe. I did come across hard-core joe supporters...my my sense is that ned will win here.
Nice!
A reader from Brookfield sets the record straight about the what happened earlier today.
If you saw all the construction going on at the High School and Huckleberry (our two normal polling places), you'd probably understand why they needed to move the locations. In our town, no one walks to the polls (well, less than a handful), so it shouldn't make a major difference that they moved all polling to Center School. We sure don't have a ton of Democrats here anyway (only three houses on my block had registered Democrats on the list when I looked today, and that’s up one since 2004). We've been seeing signs about the location change for at least a week or so. I really don’t see any conspiracy involved here. There are times things just happen.
I'm a Lamont voter too.
In retrospect, I should have thought about the construction. Thanks for you email and clearing everything up!
A reader from Plainville gives us the run-down.
Voted today in Plainville, CT at 12:15ish. Turnout seemed low, especially for the lunch-break time of day. I walked into the school and was second in line to vote. Voting went smoothly. Walked out to find a Lamont supporter kid hanging out and asked him to give me a sticker. :) Didn't see any Lieberman folks at all outside of the school.
Thanks for the info everyone.
See, isn't this fun! Come on, give me your emails and photos and help keep the country informed and get the real story out there.
Another reader emailed me some photos of from Lamont's Bridgeport headquarters.
4:00: Just came back from checking out the polling places in Danbury. The turnout at one site is rather light but the turnout should pick up after 4:00. There were two volunteers from the Lamont campaign who I saw earlier in the day and I asked them about how things were going. Actually, I was able to get a video interview and I'll have that posted later today.
Interesting things:
1. Do Malloy or DeStefano lawn signs or visibility whatsoever. Very strange.
2. Absolutely NO Lieberman visibility. I was told the a couple of people from the Lieberman campaingn came and held a sign for about a hour and took off.
3. As I did my interviews, I counted five people who passed by me and each said they were voting for Lamont. I was able to conduct an interview with one voter who had no problem expressing her views regarding Lieberman.
I'll be back on the road as soon. Wow, what a day!
I am in West Hartford, and let me tell you folks - West Hartford is for Ned! I was working at one polling location and it was easily 50+ votes for Ned and maybe 3 for Joe during the time I was there. And people were pumped up. They would give me thumbs up or come talk to me for a while. People are motivated.
As for that vaunted Lieberman army, I haven't seen them yet. There were only Lamont workers at the polls I visited including one in an African-American neighborhood in Hartford. While at the West Hartford campaign offfice, I overheard telephone conversations where the staff member was asking if Lieberman people were out at other polls and, to their surprise, there were none. Same report I got from a Malloy volunteer who supported Lamont from another poll where he had been. Granted, this is all annecdotal, but its the best we can do right now. West Hartford is only one town, but it is fairly decent sized and it votes. They expect 50% turnout today, which is huge in a primary. I had heard there were already 1000 absentee ballots turned in from West Hartford alone. There is still a lot of day left, but I feel really good so far. People are out in force and they want change. Keep up the hard work fellow Nutmeggers! We can win this one today! Share your stories below!
I going to hit the streets and check out the polling places. I'll be back with a report soon (and hopefully some video).
1:40: Sean Smith spreading lies again.
STATEMENT FROM SEAN SMITH:
"For the past 24 hours the Friends for Joe Lieberman’s website and email has been totally disrupted and disabled, we believe that this is the result of a coordinated attack by our political opponents. The campaign has notified the US Attorney and the Connecticut Chief State's Attorney and the campaign will be filing a formal complaint reflecting our concerns. The campaign has also notified the State Attorney General Dick Blumenthal for his review."
"We call on Ned Lamont to make an unqualified statement denouncing this kind of dirty campaign trick and to demand whoever is responsible to cease and desist immediately. Any attempt to suppress voter participation and undermine the voting process on Election Day is deplorable and has no place in our democracy."
Without any evidence, Smith has the nerve to say that Lamont supporters are hacking into Joe Lieberman's site.
Hey Sean, PROVE IT! Prove to the world that Joe Lieberman's site was attacked ny a pro-Lamont supporter.
I dare you.
While you're at it, why don't you appoligize for the incident at Ted's last week when Richard Goodstein and the LieberKidz not only verbally assulted Ned Lamont, but created a dangerous situation for everyone at the place (didn't someone get hurt Sean? Wasn't the whole thing reported on in the local paper Sean?)
I'm still waiting for a apology from you for your race-baiting flyers placed in the African-American communities claiming that Ned Lamont didn't care about race relations until he entered the senate race (I guess a guy from Greenwich who volunteers his time teach in a inner city school in Bridgeport means nothing).
Fucking asshole, I can't wait for Smith to get his pink slip tomorrow...hopefully, he'll never get a job as a Democratic campaign manager ever again (now I have a better understanding about why Kerry lost).
Apparently the Lieberman campaign is pushing a story that we have coordinated an attack against their website. Not a chance. Here's the unqualified statement Sean Smith has called for.
If Senator Lieberman's website was indeed hacked, we had absolutely no part in it, denounce the action, and urge whoever is responsible cease and desist immediately. It is our sincerest wish that everyone planning to vote for Ned Lamont or Joe Lieberman does so today.
Tim Tagaris Internet Communications Director Ned Lamont for U.S. Senate
Hacking is not cool and NO blogger would do something like that. Joe's site sucked anyway. No information on his "public events", no inforamtion on any of the issues that placed him in this primary in the first place (funny how there was no statement about Iraq on his site). In short, I could care less about that crappy site and I'm sure all the other bloggers feel the same way.
Dan Geary, do you have any evidence that the site was attacked by a Lamont supporter? I'm sure you reading my site since we talked to each other in a earlier thread so could you email me and get back to me please. If you have no proof, you should come out with a statement denouncing Smith's statement. What Smith said was wrong and he shouldn't be allowed to spread stuff like this on television. Since you maintain the site, it's only right that you come out with a statement of your own. It's not right for Smith to accuse Lamont supporters of something that can't be proven.
All I know, someone from Lieberman's team or a pro-Lieberman person hacked the site for the sole purpose of allowing the Lieberman team to accuse Lamont supporters/blog of bringing down the site.
Very Karl Rove-like and since I've seen worst from team Joementum, I wouldn't be surprise if they were really behind the whole thing.
District 1: Pleasant Valley School, 591 Ellington Road. District 2: Eli Terry School, 569 Griffin Road. District 3: South Windsor High School, 161 Nevers Road. District 4: Philip R. Smith School, 949 Avery St. District 5: Timothy Edwards Middle School, 100 Arnold Way.
1:00: Here are some reports from people out at the polls.
(Remember, please email me your voting experiences today).
First report from the ground: just got back from pollstanding in Newtown this morning. A very receptive and nice crowd, though quite low-key. The highlight, though, was when we went to vote...
We left pollstanding around 9:30 and went to our polling place to vote. While there, I saw a man come out of the booth with a baby. As they were walking out, the man took the baby's hand and said, "Say bye-bye Joe!" It was so awesome.
50 as of 11:30 in Hamden's 6th. I spoke with my town councilman and he said that's high for this district, which has a historical anti-incumbent lean and he predicted a big margin for Ned in Hamden. I had a lot of thumbs up and only two guys who told me they were for Joe (Lexus for Lieberman).
A registrar came by and had me remove the lawn sign from school property. I complied but don't remember the campaign saying anything about this. I seem to recall our Dem registrar is a woman, so the gentleman must have been the Republican. But I can still carry my rally card, and with no LieberKidz showing up I don't really care about the lawn sign.
the only LieberKid I saw here at my Hartford Westend polling place was one kid waving a Lieberman sign as if his life depended on it, but he soon got tired of jumping up and down.
all in all, everything here is very very orderly & calm, but this is also heavy lamont country here.
I voted a straight B line, ie, I also voted for DeStefano; those malloy attack ads against DeStefano were gross, and I wanted to punish malloy for that.
Just back from four-plus hours of poll watching duty in Branford's fourth district and I am much more hopeful than I was after grumping through the third and (thank God!) final Blogger central gathering last night.
Overall, turnout seemed light, which conventional wisdom says is good for Lamont. I was surprised that they have alloted less space and fewer voting booths than I'm used to here.
Poll watcher turnout was also light. I was the sole Lamont representative there until I was relived just after ten and I was surprised (quite pleasantly) that there was zero Lieberman presence. I had expected paid LieberYouth to be hurling imprecations at me. Perhaps those rumors of Joe scaling back his GOTV efforts were true.
[...]
Poll watching, for those who don't know, is a pretty simple, even brainless activity. Your "job" is to be a smiling, cheerful presence for the campaign. You can't approach closer than 75 feet from the door to the polling station and you cannot accost people of press campaign literature on them. To keep the poll workers inside happy, Evon and I carefully instructed voters to remove any buttons and hide any campaign flyers before entering the polling place.
I waved to people and said helpful things like, "Hope you vote for Ned." I also ahd fun passing out Kiss buttons, generously supplied by Ctkeith. I also made it a point to call out to people leaving the polls, "Thank you for voting, sir!" If they said, "I didn't vote for your guy" (a few did) I'd say "The important thing is you voted."
[...]
If people stopped by to chat (and a few did) we chatted. One independent who wasn't voting asked why I was supporting Lamont. She said that to be a politician you need to know how to wheel and deal and engage in back room politics and she wanted to know how neophyte Lamont could do that. I told her I disagreed with her on her basic premise, but urged her to seek out Lamont on the campaign trail where she could ask the question directly to him and get an honest answer.
Another gentlemen stopped by to say he had switched from Unaffiliated to vote for Lamont. Still another fellow told us he has personally gotten 20 friends to register. One lady couldn't vote because she didn't realize she was registered Unaffiliated. I got her name and she'll be a Democrat by week's end.
[...]
Although I made no attempt to do any formal exit polling, the impression I got from positive comments and the number of people who gladly accepted Kiss buttons, the fourth distruct in Branford is going for Lamont by at least 60/40, maybe more.
But you can't extrapolate state-wide from a single precinct and the polls will be open until 8 tonight. So please don't relax your efforts. If you haven't voted yet, do. And bring friends with you.
If you have voted, get on the phone and harrass your friends to do likewise.
If you have the time, volunteer. If push comes to shove, just show up at a polling place and get put to work.
Here are some images from today in New Haven:
11:30: Hearing reports of strange things happening in various cities. Here's a report from WTNH about voting problems in New Haven.
Voters hoping to cast their ballot first thing in the morning found the voting machines closed and locked at one New Haven location.
The polls opened statewide at 6:00 a.m., but not at the Davis Street Magnet School in New Haven.
The problem was a combination of workers showing up late and moderators not being prepared to unlock the machines.
"I found no tables and the voting booths were closed ," Dr. Herbert Sacks told News Channel 8. "At 6:00 a.m. they're not prepared to go. I find this utterly weird because this election has been touted as a very important bellwether of what's happening in our state and in our country."
"There were no official workers," election moderator Marilyn Rey said, "so unless I have a worker to verify what I was doing with the machines I would not pop the seal."
In the end a councilperson came and helped Rey out and the polls were opened just before 6:30, but six people turned around and left without casting their vote.
"It's a shame that in America we are disenfranchising people who are trying to vote and given the rates of voting I don't think that is a very smart thing to be doing," Robert Schoenberger
One voter who left said this was his only chance of the day to cast his ballot.
If anyone has a problem voting today, please email me. I heard of strange things happening in Brookfield (person is a good friend of mine so his word is gold) and in other areas so please keep me informed.
UPDATE: Entry was updated with links and grammar fixes.
10:00 AM: Hello America. Welcome to ConnecticutBLOG. I'm your host, ctblogger and I'll be your guide for today. Everything that happens today will be in this one post. If you want to learn about my first encounter with Ned Lamont and (what some consider) the birth of videoblogging as we know it today, go here.
Throughout the day, I'll post videos from the last eight months and give you a feeling of what it was like to be in Connecticut following the senate and governor's races. Although there are two important primary races happening today, my main focus has been following Ned Lamont but I will update everyone on what’s happening between Dan Malloy and John DeStefano also.
So lets begin...
I just voted today.
I woke up bright and early, watch the news and did a couple of posts. Afterwards, I kissed my wife goodbye and made my way to my voting area. I arrived at the school nervous about waht I would see and it my delight, every person I saw was a Lamont supporter and I could tell because they either had Lamont bumper stickers on their car and/or had a Lamont button attached to them. Now, there were only about ten people there but at least I was in good company.
I went inside the school, showed my ID, walked into the voting booth and pulled the handle, which closed the curtain behind me.
I looked at the choices. 3A, Joe Lieberman and 3B, Ned Lamont. I didn't see anything else, just those two names and a million thoughts ran through my mind.
I recalled the first time meeting Ned in New Haven when I introduced myself and told him that he'll be seeing a lot of me pointing a camera in his face. I recalled his first appearance in Southbury and how that town was so impressed with him, that they gave all their delegate votes for him at the convention. I recalled seeing the repeated pattern of witnessing people who had idea who Ned Lamont was turn into believers after they heard the man speak. I remember when Ned stunned everyone in the state (except those who followed him) when he won over 30 percent of the delegate vote at the State Convention and saying to myself, "he's going to win this thing."
I recall meeting CTkeith and TrueBlueCT for the first time and Keith handing me my first "The Kiss" button and saying to myself "oh, I'm in good company" and traveled with these guys and produced some of the best reporting I've done to date (i.e. capturing Joe's first "independent" comment in audio, anti-war rally in Hartford, the birth of dad's "The Kiss" float and watching it pissed Lieberman off as it traveled everywhere Joe went).
Finally, I remember the lies of Joe Lieberman and his campaign. I recalled the arrogance of a man who felt entitled to his senate seat and pulled every dirty trick to hold on to that seat. "Lieberman did all he could to avoid talking about the issues," I said to myself. "He truly doesn't care about anyone but himself and I witnessed it all with my own eyes. I didn't need the media telling me anything because I saw it and recorded everything with my camera. I can't be fooled.
In the end, it all comes down this so I pressed that 3B button as hard as I could and whispered, "this is for Ned."
I looked at the choices for governor and felt like flipping a coin. In the end, no one could tell the difference between Malloy and DeStefano and no matter what they say now, they're more alike than different. I feel like I could support any of those guys against Gov. Rell so I'm not even going to say who picked because I don't think it makes much of a difference. I interviewed both candidates and in the end, I like both of the guys.
I can't say that about Joe Lieberman.
So I walk out the school and I see more people showing up to vote. No Lieberman visibility to be seen and plenty of love for Lamont. I talked to a Lamont volunteer who's a lawyer and is in the National Guard. He's the guy who soldiers go towards when they need information on wills before taking off to Iraq. I'm not going to get into what he said because it's too damn depressing but in the end, he said "what in the hell are we doing over there" and he's pissed that Joe Lieberman refuses to hold the President accountable for anything including this God-awful war which is costing us lives.
I proudly shook his hand and said "hopefully today is the start of a change."
I voted today and damnit, it feels good. I only wish everyone could share this feeling.
No matter what happens, it's a great day to be in Connecticut.
