Hot gossip from today's debate: Alan Schlesinger pwned Loser Joe again. Hard. Drew blood. Stephen Colbert, please have him on your show. I asked you once nicely. Don't make me get nasty!
Joe kept going over his alotted time, so much so that CBS moderator Bob Schieffer had to cut him off abruptly. Joe also tried to beef up his GOP credentials by calling for. . . wait for it. . . regime change in Iran. As if one FUBAR war of choice were not enough. The man is criminally, homicidally insane. To make the case for his reelection to DC's status quo club, Joe kept harping on all the pork he says he can bring to the state, though my sources say the audience didn't react very well to that sales pitch.
But here's the best part:
Schlesinger ripped into Joe up, down, left and right over his record, calling him an out and out failure, and refusing to allow Joe to make the case for the Republican votes he so craves. At one point, Schlesinger began an exchange that went something like this:
Schlesinger: If you had someone doing a job for eighteen years, and after eighteen years, their record was one of complete failure, what would you do? What do you think should happen with that person?. . . Ned, you're a businessman: what would you say about someone like that?
Lamont: I'd say, "It's time to go, Joe!"
Alan Schlesinger is a real character, a regular Republican guy's guy with nothing to lose, who likes horses, the casinos and the ladies, and is willing to stand up for Joe sixpack, who doesn't want Holy Joe Lieberman sniffing into the working man's online porn.
Folks, we have a new media personality in Alan Schlesinger on our hands, and a totally new race in Connecticut. You can bet the whiny incumbocrat diva Miss Holy Joe is not at all pleased today. Pass the popcorn.
UPDATE: Stoller has some backstage video from a monitor.
Related posts:
- Semi-liveblog Of The Debate To Allow Debate To Begin In The Senate
- GOP Introduces Resolution to Censure Grayson – Debate at 2pm
- When Wilson Defines Debate, Democrats Squander Chance to Set Record Straight
- To COIN or Not To COIN: Afghanistan-Pakistan Policy Needs Public Debate, Consensus
- Health Care Debate Misfocused on Insurance Exchanges
Spotlight
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Firedoglake
Advanced search
Jane!
I’m guessing it would be a little unseemly for FDL to link to Schlesinger’s money site?
More than any other race, nationally, this is the one where the good guy must win. For me anyway.
Stan Greenberg at The TPM Cafe … This is a good one folks :
For Democrats, Time To Seize The Moment
http://tpmcafe.com/blog/specia…..the_moment
Ned and Alan are tag teaming? Whodathunkit.
But what about Ned, Jane? How did he do?
No arguments with everything you said here, but perhaps you should drop the “Miss” part as an insult?
Alan Schlesinger is a real character, a regular Republican guy’s guy with nothing to lose, who likes horses, the casinos and the ladies, and is willing to stand up for Joe sixpack who doesn’t want Holy Joe Lieberman sniffing into the working man’s online porn.
Ugh! Wait is he that guy at the bar that offered me $100 to go the races with him? Just kidding.I don’t know whether to nickname Alan Schles Gambling man/Gamboling man/or Dancing man. But I likey the way he talks to Joe.
Good for Schlesinger. He knows he’s going down, but he’s going to get back at the Repubs who supported Lieberman instead of him. Great Lamont comeback. I hope the rest of the debate was this good.
epu’ed from last thread….
matt has a first quick post on ned’s debate:
Yessssss!!!!!
I had heard a Schlesinger interview several months ago on Hardball. He had gone to the Republican Party honchos to see why he was getting the shaft.
He was articulate and funny with Chris Matthews. Then CT Bob did his great video interview. Alan kept saying – all he needed were Republicans to see him in the debates – and he would be off to the races.
I love that Ned & Alan are tag teaming. Love it, love it, love it.
God I hate Lieberman.
Whiney Joe has to go!!!!!
I am loving RG Joe getting b-slapped by a ReTHUGlican.
BWAAAAAAAAAAAHAHHAHAHAHA
Couldn’t happen to a better disgusting troll than RG Joe.
Oh, thank you , thank you. With the CT press blackout of a live debate, this tidbit is great. Can’t wait to see the whole thing tomorrow night. I’m so happy Alan is sticking it to the Republicans. Kind of guy I’d have a bear with but not vote for.
pwn3d!
I love it when useful idiots are useful.
So the new Joe meme will be: “Ned made Alan be mean to me.”?
Also, Joe reiterated a call for regime change in Iran.
What an idiot!
Good to see Schlesinger wasn’t a one-trick pony!
Alan Schlesinger’s political future is bright if he can pull over 25% in this election.
Schlesinger can change the entire trajectory of his life to an asymptotic upward slope if he outperforms expectations in this election.
And Alan Schlesinger knows it.
Brilliant!
UptownNYChick @ 13
I blame Clinton.
While all this footsie with Schlesinger is fine, as long as it maintains a two-front war for the Republic(an) of Joe…Alan’s still a GOPer.
In the words of Winston Wolf… ‘Let’s not start s*cking each others’ d**ks just yet’.
Pach, I was on the river when you posted the first one and I missed it. Brill! And this, too.
A very interesting race indeed…
Dr. Bong @ 12
(scrathing head) Huh? My age is showing. Translation, please.
11gchaucer2:
Kind of guy I’d have a bear with but not vote for.
??
Isn’t that little ricky’s line?
:-)
Alan reminds me of Ross Perot, not only in his comic bluntness, but in the effect he’s going to have on Joe. Such held Bush’s ol man to one term.
My inquiring mind awaits more word from the debate.
GL
Mommybrain #20
pwn3d
:-)
Dr. Bong @ 21
darkblack @ 18
I understand your point. To tell you the truth, if it were a choice between Joe and Alan, I’d not vote.
I do think, however, it is just nice to be able to agree on some things and disagree without screaming about being mean.
So, how does Joe like all the bipartisanship from Ned and Alan, eh?
darkblack,
Schlesinger cannot win this thing – he can only mortally wound Lieberman. Unfortunately (for him) Schlesinger has too much of a shady past.
Lieberman was dominating and suffocating the discourse – trying to make CT residents feel guilty for being mean enough to question whether or not he should go back to Washington.
This has totally changed the conversation. This isn’t about Lamont saying Joe sucks. This is about a Republican saying it too (and I’m assuming all the other party candidate at this debate, as well).
Residents of CT – take another look at Holy Joe. Do you really want him to represent you?
Ned seems to have lost steam. Are those Democratic “strategists” dragging him down, diluting his message? The same milquetoast losers who cost us in 2000 and 2004? The same losers who urged Kerry not to fight back?
Alan Schlesinger is a real character, a regular Republican guy’s guy with nothing to lose, who likes horses, the casinos and the ladies, and is willing to stand up for Joe sixpack who doesn’t want Holy Joe Lieberman sniffing into the working man’s online porn.
Ah, but I ask you, where is the candidate to protect the postgraduate’s porn?
imm:
Father Bong always said: “Measure twice, cut once.
My fingers were faster than my memory, which, considering my moniker, shouldn’t surprise anyone here…
:-)
Dr Bong @21 — Yikes! — well, I guess the bear could have a beer with Al and me. You’re welcome to join us. Thanks.
less is more
Schlesinger is s’more anger
Biggus–maybe.
But let’s just hope he wins, since Lieberman is so odious.
Right, Biggus? You agree, right?
kemo @ 26
Wow – I hadn’t even thought about that one. All sorts of subliminal stuff going on there.
It would be great if some enterprising reporter would do an article about Ned & Alan – you, know, the Dem & Rep candidates…
Poor, poor pitiful Joe.
time for an actblue account for schlessinger. we need to send him $500k by tomorrow morning. sometimes a point of relief crosses party lines. and this certainly qualifies. schlessinger wants to take down joey “D” as much as we do for many of the same reasons. ned will be the beneficiary. pull out the visa and get going.
Biggus Diggus @ 28
This is what drives me crazy. My own beloved candidate, Charlie Brown, has a new ad out that makes me cry. It’s a negative ad about John Doolittle, and it is so very typical. Bleah.
kemo@26 Thanks for the belly laugh. Perfect.
Biggus Diggus @ 28
What are you talking about? Please visit Ned’s website. You have no idea what he’s been saying or doing in CT. Just because he hasn’t been covered by the national media. You should know what you’re talking about before you make statements like that.
immanentize at 2:03 pm
We have a winner.
“Poor, poor pitiful Joe”
Methinks Warren Zevon is owed an apology. ;-)
Dr. Bong @ 29
That quote-a-comment box thingy hs tripped me up more than once. Preview would be my friend if I ever used it….
:~)
Hey Biggus, you agree that Lieberman is odious, sanctimonious, mealy-mouthed and hateful, right?
Right Biggus? I mean, you do know that, right?
(totally troll-baiting here, but I’m in the mood)
dab from CT @ 36
Dab’s right! I’ve been out to CT to volunteer and the enthusiasm for Ned is electric.
pach – were you at the debate? can you give more info/context of the bit tag-team bit you quote? thanks!
*xyz @ 41
i’ll second that!
selise @ 42
I wasn’t there, but a little bird just landed on my windowsill and began singing to me. I don’t have anything more for now, but there may be more news later.
I can’t wait to see all that bipartisan debate action!
I guess I read BD’s question differently. I too get nervous about the consultant class Democrats coming in and utterly blocking a good candidate’s forward motion. Am I a conspiracy nut to wonder why Ned’s campaign seemed to lose air right after he went up to kiss Hillary’s ring?
who doesn’t love the song birds!
The debate has to be over, doesn’t it? There’s gotta be something coming for the 6 o’clock news, right?
That Schlesinger-Ned tag team is fascinating. If Schlesinger were actually trying to win, I don’t think he’d do it that way. Bringing up the businessman bit actually is a big and unnecessary plus for Ned when that sound bite gets replayed. When has one candidate in any debate teed up a ball like that for another?
Sounds like Schlesinger hates Joe as much as we do.
It’s so weird there isn’t even a stream of the debate.
interesting tidbit at DKos:
kirby was at the debate and calls in to ctbob who reports. here’s a bit….
Wow – I hadn’t even thought about that one. All sorts of subliminal stuff going on there.
Yes – Ned and Alan give Joe a spoonful of his own bipartisan bs!!! Just beautiful!
Kirby covered the debate for our blog and I just spoke to her 10 minutes ago. She managed to take a lot of notes and there’s a very minute chance that she might have also unintentionally neglected to heed WFSB’s warning about shutting off recording devices. I’m just sayin’…
We’re going to have a detailed report up sometime after 7PM EDT tonight, so check in for lots of fun facts. Apparently Joe took another beating today. And Kirby got an exclusive interview with Alan Schlesinger immediately after the debate.
I can’t wait.
UptownNYChick @ 1:57 pm (#14)
No doubt, Alan Schlessinger is a mole of the vast liberal media conspiracy, and has just received his wake-up from
Ted KennedyHillary Clinton’s office.OT: The Rude One
O’lielly interviews Fartacus
[…]
Watching O’Reilly interview Bush is like watching a horny mongoose hump a steering wheel.
[snip]
Selise, you beat me to me! LOL
LindaR @ 46
I understand where you’re coming from. I’m fed up to here with Bob Shrum and his cohorts, too.
But Ned hasn’t changed his message. He is saying the same thing he said during the primary – certainly about Bush and the war in Iraq. He has just expanded his focus to covered other issues – which he touched upon in the primary – and which he must cover for the general election.
Ned is not a firebrand. He is a soft spoken, unassuming guy. He became the focus of international interest because he deep sixed Lieberman. But he is who he is, and I admire him for that.
Now, the person who I think has been muzzled, is Tom Swan. It’s my impression that he’s great for a CT streetfight, but perhaps not for prime time. However, I’d like to see more of the CT streetfighter the last three weeks of the campaign.
Ned is his own man and he knows how to talk to a wide spectrum of the CT population. Now that the log jam has broken in terms of “Negative Ned” – and everyone can see how pathetic that is – perhaps they will open their ears to what he is saying.
UptownNYChick @ 25
dab from CT @ 27
I don’t mean to ‘harsh the buzz’, but I’m well past the point of being able to trust the motivations of politicians, especially anyone with an (R) after their name.
If Schlesinger wants to put a thumb in Lieberman’s eye (and by extension, Rove’s as well) by playing a reverse Nader all the way to election day…’I’ll have butter on my popcorn please’.
After all, as kemo mentioned above…that is a form of bipartisanship, and if Joe doesn’t like the way that kool-aid tastes, well…
;>)
UptownNYChick @ 14
707!
Connecticut Bob @
54
Perfect! Kirby and CT Bob rock!
punaise @ 51
I’m so glad. The work Howie has done has been awesome.
I have recommended ActBlue to everyone I know who has wanted to contribute to worthy progressive candidates.
Connecticut Bob @ 57
i’ve been dying to hear about the debate, and madly refreshing the few sites i thought might have a report… thanks so much for feeding my ned addiction!
Re Loserman the Torturer, check out this diary at talkleft
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/10/18/133235/81
big billboards on CT interstates, tying Joe to the Repugs and Voting for Torture
Priceless!
It’s time for Ned and Alan to take the debate show on the road around CT. Without Joe but perhaps with the kiss float.
Call it the bipartisan debate the issues (not the man) tour ‘06, or something like that. Invite Joe, he wont accept and if he does all the better.
the problem in this race has not been that ned hasn’t done enough, it’s that joe has been out there playing all sides passing himself off as both a democrat AND a republican and sucking up votes on both sides. at this point i don’t know that ned can woo that many more voters over to the progressive side, but schlesinger can certainly siphon off the gop votes that joe has been out courting. every vote for the actual republican is one less vote for joe.
was Joe positioned between Ned and Alan this time?
another Ore-ho cookie: a
creamysmarmy bittersweetsubstance of ill repute squeezed between two crunchy wayfarersI LIKE Schlesinger too!
And there’s something I don’t get. He was thrown out of a casino for card-counting. But that makes him a compulsive gambler? Hell, in my book, it makes him a successful gambler! And it is debatable whether card-counting constitutes gambling at all. It involves careful calculations rather than reliance on a streak of good luck.
The Bush administration is full of gamblers, hoping and praying for a streak of best outcomes, rather than calculating the likely results of their actions. We could use some more card-counters, eh?
kemo @ 26
From the rooftops!
I’d love to have someone ask Joementia “Hows that Bi-partisan soup taste now ?”
A DAY WHICH WILL LIVE IN INFAMY — The Bush Administration celebrates the signing of the Military Commissions Act.
President Bush took the Constitution and tore it into little pieces.
And Joe Lieberman, former “freedom rider” and civil rights advocate, voted for this morally obscene bill! A law that abolishes habeas corpus and allows imprisonment and torture for anyone, terrorist or innocent American citizen, at the President’s discretion?!
(Face it, Bush is a guy who as a kid blew up innocent frogs and as a Yalie branded fraternity mates’ asses with hot coat hangers. Think he’s grown out of it? The guy’s a born bully and a smirking sadist.)
And now they’ve ganged up to torture our Constitution! How can anyone in their right mind vote for Joe “Torture Boy” LIEberman? He’s Bush’s smirking, suck-up, kissing cousin.
Eureka Springs, AR @ 65
Can I post this suggestion on the Lamont blog? I love it.
dab from CT – Of course! I know there is litle time left but what a great way to spend it!
Did whiny-titty-baby Joe piss his pants, or just stutter and pout?
Hey guys BlueAmerica is at $24,679. If we hit $25,000 we’ve got another Had Enough blitz—Angie Paccione? Howie, you out there?
Lets get going!
FIGHT BACK!!!
kemo @ 26
Brilliant. The Republican and the Democrat teaming up against the fool. Finally, bi-partisanship that might actually accomplish something.
Dumbo @ 2:29 pm (#68)
Not sure whether I like him or not, but being thrown out of a casino for card counting doesn’t sound like a black mark to me. If you’re smart enough to remember all the cards that have been dealt, more power to you.
pictures from today’s debate from matt stoller here.
EllenG @ 74
karma’s a bitch, Joe
Some of the smartest engineers I’ve ever worked with were card counters. To be successful at card counting takes not only math and memory, it takes the ability to read the table and the people at it and get out the door before the house figures you out. Kinda like politics.
Joe kept going over his allotted time, so much so that CBS moderator Bob Schieffer had to cut him off abruptly.
AGAIN? He pulled this crap in the first debate. Slow learner.
Joe also tried to beef up his GOP credentials by calling for. . . wait for it. . . regime change in Iran. As if one FUBAR war of choice were not enough.
N e o c o n, what’s good for I***** is good for the United States. NOT necessarily.
punaise @ 76
Q: Both of your opponents display an extreme willingness to reach across the aisle to address a cental issue, wouldn’t you agree Senator?
I don’t see how Joe survives this.
OT: St. McCain on Hardball just now:
Do these guys even realize they don’t make sense? These statements have no logical consistency. And he wants to be president of the United States.
BTW, this show is being taped in front of a college audience, and maybe it’s me, but it feels like the audience isn’t buying this crap.
Dr. Bong @ 28
Yeah, and I’m teaching my kids fairness– “one divides and the other decides….”
I have to say, given a choice, if Ned didn’t win, I’d rather see Schlesinger win than Lieberman. At least you know where that guy stands; Lieberman would (will?) be the guy knifing us in the back for the next six years.
Not that I live in CT, but I’m encouraging CT voters to vote for Lamont.
Fortunately, with the latest developments, looks like Lamont could pull this one out.
McCain keeps up that kind of talk HE’S going to have to run as an independent.
Maybe he can ask Joe to be his veep.
kristinejoy @ 81
to heck with that: heads I win, tails you lose. :~)
http://www.theinvisibleamerican.com has a slide-show video up on American casualties and funerals from the Iraq war.
In the middle of it is a clip of George Bush joking about not finding WMD in Iraq at a black tie event, the clip shows Lieberman in the audience laughing heartily along with the rest of the audience – YOU KNOW WHAT this would make a great Lamont TV Ad. Can’t you see it – somber piano music- Iraq war dead & wounded statics scroll slowly down a black screen accompanied by a James- Earl-Jones-like voice over – CUT TO – bush making WMD joke – CUT TO Lieberman dressed in tuxedo laughing with the rest of the tony audience. This ad would be short, as a result cheap, and COMPLETLEY DEVASTING.
Link to youtube version – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuLK9ofo9D4
Check out this guys other videos at http://www.youtube.com/profile…..leamerican
marksb @ 78
good point! you reminded me of an engineer i worked with in the mid ’80s (in a previous engineering life) who was wicked smart… iirc, he helped put himself through school (mit, as i recall) with trips to alantic city after he taught himself to count cards reliability. by the mid ’80s he said there was no way he could get away with it anymore.
dab from CT @ 58
Myself, as well. In my opinion, the electorate wants to cashier the Grieviously Offensive Party, but they want to vote for someone/something, too – Candidates with passion, vision, and a desire to serve the people…Not just some cool, glib careerist who wants to triangulate their way to office. Sell the sizzle and the steak.
‘Rules? In a knife fight? No rules.’
LindaR @ 2:45 pm (#82)
What I get out of that is “You can pretend you’re married if you like, you just can’t get married”. But then again, it could mean even less than that…
from the salon.com article:
chisholm @ 85
They have already discussed it. That’s all the talk about “Unity ‘08″
Jane,
You are absolutely righ. Colbert has to invite Schlesinger in his show. Schlesinger is the rising star in The Connecticut senate race.
hi, Pach!
Linda R – I remember Mondays post debate thread and think you could be a speech writer for Ned. *s*
more from the salon.com article:
Eureka Springs, AR @ 94
Thanks — I think?
Oh, McCain just clarified he does NOT think gay marriage should be legal — big BOO from the audience.
I am curious if the independent or third party guys took issue with Joe. He worked damn hard to keep third partys out of the debate in 2000.
OK, just one more:
Joe, Joe, Joe…where to begin
Maybe we need an IQ test for political office (riffing on card counting here). I know there are issues with inequality based on educational access and that sort of thing, but it would be so fun to be able to look up all the IQ’s of congressmorons. Cross-tabulate with voting record and see what the smart guys are supporting.
Not that smart=good, mind you, (think W vs. Cheney), I would totally sort it in a spreadsheet and derive amusement from it.
kristinejoy: “one divides and the other decides….”
I like that, I’ll be using that fairly soon (1yr and 3yr olds). Thanks.
I made a comment that day in response to one of yours. thought you had his sound down pat. yw
Howie Klein upstairs, gang!
Dr. Bong @
56
Now easy on the mongoose mon!
When do the financial disclosures for the time after the primary come out? I am VERY curious to see who is on Joe’s list.
Joe got owned!
Blue Wind @
93
Jane who?
Primordial Ooze @ 100
It works great…. but when your kids use it outside of home, old druggies look at them strangely. :)
pnuaise @ 100 –
OMG – he actually says he’s not happy to have them support the party nominee 0 the winner of the primary…
What an asshat!!! He really doesn’t understand democracy – at all. No wonder he and Bush & Cheney are so chummy. Dictatorship, anyone?
I hope someone is making a compendium of Lieberman’s speeches, interviews and statements. Unbelievable. And every word out of his mouth makes the Dem party look ridiculous for not slapping him down in August. How dare there be tacit support of someone who is NOT the official Dem candidate. Right, Schumer?
kristinejoy…
707!
Joe called for regime change in Iran? WTF
Isn’t that alone enough to scare the bejesus out of voters?
Okay, so Schlesinger ripped Joe a new one, but how did Ned do?
Was he less nervous? He’s a novice at this type of debate, but he has the great fortune to be on the podium when someone with serious skill is going after his main opponent.
How’d he hold up?
There’s a website set up by some Schlesinger supporters that has some pretty fun print-’em-yourself flyers.
http://www.whosesideareyouon.org
DID HE TALK ABOU IRAQ??????
Pachacutec @ 108
Oh Pach, don’t be churlish — certainly parts of your post above bear a striking resemblance to Jane at 9 last thread:
So I am sure you can understand the confusion.
:~)
immanentize @
117
I was just playin’. It’s the ultimate compliment when people confuse my writing for Jane’s.
more info from the debate from tim…. great news is that c-span will be broadcasting the debate tomorrow night!
I actually know a guy who Alan reminds me of a lot — an arkansas politician with almost exactly Alan’s politics and also his love of the casinos (where I met him). Whoever said he’d be great to have a beer with but not to vote for, that’s exactly the deal with this other guy I know.
It makes perfect sense that Alan would tag-team with Ned to put Ned in office. He volunteered to do a thankless job for the Republican Party, to be the sacrificial goat running against Lieberman. When Lieberman exited Schlesinger had every expectation of suddenly being a viable candidate, not having his party yank the chair out from under him and use it to prop up the guy he was supposed to be running against.
Alan does indeed have nothing to lose; he’s not a bigshot No self-respecting bigshot would have entered expecting to face Joe in the general election. He had no expectation of seeing a Republican CT senator anyway, so it probably seems perfectly fair to him to twist the knife on the people who stabbed him first. I would expect him to do everything in his power to get Ned elected — which we are seeing is quite a lot — and to laugh out loud and slap Ned on the back when they succeed.
And in all honesty if it was Alan vs. Joe, after what we’ve seen of both men, I’d probably vote for Alan despite the (R). He might be crazy but he’d at least be fun to have around.
Pachacutec,
Sorry, for some reason I thought that Jane wrote that. I usually think of her when I see a post related to Connecticut. Anyway, hopefully Schlesinger will gain momentum and collect votes, so Lieberliar will lose at the end. Ned Lamont should be the next senator from Conencticut. And I think he will.
I think this is one more example of Rove’s bad judgement. If the GOP had supported Alan, they might have had an outright victory as Ned and Joe split Dems and Indies.
HungChad @ 5
I get your intent, but I think it misses here. If I really thought it was sexist, I would complain, too. I think the ‘diva’ part is the crux of the insult, not the ‘Miss’. I think ‘Miss’ is only here as it goes with the gender specific ‘diva’. I’m a woman and I’m not insulted because I’m not a diva.
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA (gasp)
Ned and Al tag teaming Joe…..
How’s that for bi-partisanship, YOU BASTARD!
P.S. Saw the snippet of Ned’s closing speech. It melted even my hard heart. I’m a little verklempt here.
aipac will do everything possible to keep joementum in the senate. he is their pocket pal.
jarotra- Your comment just made my night!
Pach, a quibble – the man’s criminally, homicidally narcissistic and just this side of insane.
I bring it up cuz we don’t want Joe’s lawyer pleading him out on a nutso defense when his time comes in front of one of those tribunal thingies.
Has there been any word of Al Gore campaigning for Lamont? If he’s not going to, why not? Leiberman supports everything Gore opposes. Now would be a great time for the new “not as cautious” Al Gore to show up.
I’m a Connecticut Republican and my wife is a Democrat. She and I will both be voting for Sen. Lieberman this year (this will be my first vote for a Democrat in a federal election since I voted for Jimmy Carter in 1976). In fact, in my little town, I don’t know anyone who’s voting for Schlesinger. Among the folks I know, all of the Republicans and Independents are voting for Lieberman as are a majority of the Democrats.
Truth is, 15% of the registered voters voted in the August primary and slightly over half of them voted for Lamont. In other words, Lamont got the votes of about 8% of the state’s registered voters. He hasn’t increased his support much beyond that. The Independents, in particular, who are close to a majority in the state, really do not give two hoots about whether or not Sen. Lieberman is “stepping on” the Democratic Party message. The Independents are non-partisan, and all Lamont has offered them is a partisan message.
To add icing to the cake, it seems like the only way the Democrats could possibly gain control of the Senate would be with Sen. Lieberman’s vote, which would make him the most powerful person in the Senate. Wouldn’t that be sublime!