Sunday, October 29, 2006
This email I received from the Lamont people puts the entire Lamont effort in about as straightforward a manner as possible:
A vote for Joe Lieberman is a vote for more war.
By contrast, ten minutes from you today is ten minutes towards bringing our brave men and women home from Iraq.
Short and sweet, here's the ask: please click any of the links in this email; use the tool to find family, friends and neighbors you know in Connecticut; type out a short note explaining why you support Ned Lamont ... and you're done...
...Your participation this afternoon will go a long way towards doing something Joe Lieberman refuses to: hold our elected officials responsible for the quagmire in Iraq.
Joe sponsored the original regime change resolution in the Senate, has voted against every serious bill attempting to change the course, and even bragged about President Bush actually enforcing his policy in Iraq.
And now Joe's gotta go...
Democrats simply aren't serious about national security or the war on terror. Here in crunch time it's time to hammer your best point, and Lamont's one issue...face it, Iraq is it...isn't going to be enough to carry a general election. They've even got Wes Clark making a TV ad for Ned...all about Iraq...but did anyone notice what a disappointment Clark's own run was? Perhaps he's not really a very appealing character to much of anyone, and maybe not the guy you want staring people in the face on TV on behalf of your candidate a week before the election.
If Lamont goes on to lose, one of the stories of this campaign is going to be the fact that the Lamont people were never able to shift gears into a speed suitable for winning in a general race. Instead, they've been busy running a primary race that's already over. Like a bad General, they've been busy fighting the last war.
The Iraq-obsessed Left isn't going to vote for Lieberman no how. Ordinarily, that would mean they should put them in their pocket and go on out to broaden their appeal a bit. One reason I can see that they haven't is that they feel that Schlesinger's going to take enough of the vote that might otherwise have been Lieberman's that they can refrain from bothering to broaden out...instead, stay with the fringe that brung 'em, add a little negative campaigning and hope it's enough. This is tantalizing low-hanging fruit, and the safe and easy path...no one can claim later it was an outright screw-up...but will it be enough?
Marginalia:
· Not surprisingly, the New York Times has endorsed Ned Lamont, and excoriates Lieberman for not turning on the Administration when political hay could have been made out of it like the rest of his party. Reason enough to vote Lieberman.
· The Providence Journal has endorsed Lieberman, as has Democratic Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, and The Hartford Courant has "re-endorsed" Joe, and the New Haven Register has done it for the first time.
· The Lamont Blog is touting the results of a new Rasmussen poll:
Lieberman (Lieberman) 48% (50)
Lamont (Dem.) 40% (40)
Schlesinger (Rep.) 9% (6)
...certainly striking distance, and enough to get the Lamont folks highly motivated (and keeping after that low-hanging fruit (see above)...and even thinking in devious ways, as this commenter is:
...Stop at Lamont office nearest you. Get a roll of Lamont Stickers.
On Halloween night, stick those onto your candy bars you are handing out.
Buy a Case of small Poland Spring or other Mineral water bottles. Put Lamont stickers on those.
Hand them out to whomever, wherever...
Aw geez...leave the kids out of it.
[The Lieberman/Lamont Notebook is part of my ongoing coverage of the race for Pajamas Media.]
