Joe Lieberman Rebuked into Run-off for Democratic Nomination for His Own Senate Seat
Lieberman's challenger, Ned Lamont, needed only 15% of the 1,509 caucus votes at the Connecticut State Democratic Convention Saturday to force Lieberman into an August 8 run-off. Lamont scored a whopping 505 votes, 33.4% of the entire state caucus.
For much of the last five years under the Bush Administration, Joe Lieberman has soundly alienated many Democratic party loyalists with his wholehearted support of the Iraq War and his lack of partisan loyalty on a number of issues including the Iraq War, national security issues, judicial and other presidential nominatons, and Constitutional privacy concerns.
For details, see my article, The Unknown Joe Lieberman: 20 Surprising Facts about the Democrat Who Angers Democrats.
Lamont, a successful 20-year entrepreneur and community leader with degrees from Harvard and Yale universities, is far more liberal than Senator Lieberman. Per the Stamford Advocate newspaper, "Lamont has been an outspoken critic of Lieberman for his support of the Iraq war and his voting record on such issues as judicial appointments and intelligence-gathering techniques."
The magnitude of state party frustration with Senator Lieberman was shocking only to the Lieberman camp which reportedly seemed stunned when town after town after Connecticut town cast votes for Mr. Lamont rather than for the 18-year senator.
But it was the "least shocking" shocker to many of us because the liberal blogosphere strongly supported the Lamont candidacy from the time of his declaration to run just two months ago. Leading liberal blog communties DailyKos , MyDD and many others campaigned for Lamont, and urged fellow bloggers to support him with time and contributions.
The liberal blogosphere is jubilant over this stinging rebuke to ultra-centrist Senator Joe Lieberman....
From blogger Bergs of MyDD: " This was one of the most exciting nights I have had! My throat still kills me from screaming...Tonight sent a message. All Democratic politicians should beware, that we are going to take our party back, and the days of doing whatever they want is over ! (Look out Hillary!)" .....
From blogger howardparks at MyDD: "Connecticut is the right place, Lamont is the right messenger and this is the right time to make a stand within the Democratic Party. Nothing will strike more fear inside the Dem. establishment then the fight brewing in Connecticut. They will be talking about this one in the cloakroom, the green rooms and in the most exclusive club in the world....Senator Lamont? Why not? A change is going to come."
And from Lamont blog: "Tonight was a stunning victory for Ned Lamont. The mood at the convention center is elation and celebration for Lamont supporters. The campaign is psyched. Lieberman supporters are walking away completely dejected. Anyone who thought this campaign wasn't for real... now it's for real."
Oh, in case anyone thinks the Lamont campaign is a one-shot New England fluke ..... Ned Lamont made a joint appearance this Sunday evening at a New Haven book signing for Markos Moulitsas Zúniga's and Jerome Armstrong's "Crashing the Gate." (Markos is founder and owner of DailyKos. Jerome is founder and owner of MyDD.)
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For more insider accounts and photos of the Connecticut 2006 State Democratic convention, peruse these live blogs: My Left Nutmeg, Lamontblog, CT Convention, Ned Lamont blog (the candidate's official site, which has a video) , La Resistance, Without a Purpose, CT Bob (with a pic from tonight with Lamont, Markos and Jerome) and Connecticutblog.
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An archive of my article and blog posts about Senator Joe Lieberman can be found here at Joe Lieberman, Unleashed and Unplugged.
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CLICK HERE for more information about "Crashing the Gates" by Moulitsas Zúniga and Jerome Armstrong.
Comments
Let’s hope Joe goes down to defeat. I’d love to see Artilley Hillary lose too.
I hope this sends a loud & clear message to the party establishment that Dems won’t get far by pandering to Repubs and ignoring party stalwarts. And I hope that they actually HEAR that message.
Good for Ned Lamont, good for the people of Connecticut!!!
The point of democracy is to have a choice; I believe that the lack of discernable choice keeps people away from the polls.
Lieberman’s up about 40 points among dems. Lamont gets 19% of dems. Try to find someone who can’t get 20% in a primary, and you’ll fail. This is an utter waste of time and money that should be spent fighting republicans.
By the way, in a two party system, the party with the most people wins and gets the power. Chasing out moderates is about the stupidest political strategy you can pursue. Typical of the so called left.
If this is what you call a victory, I’m trully sorry for you.