Super Tuesday & a “where are they now” story: Ned Lamont
Lots of news out of California helping us track the run-up to Super Tuesday there. But what about in a state 3000 miles from California that is multiple times tinier?
In Connecticut, we find netroots darling and Democratic primary winner for the 2006 U.S. Senate race in Connecticut, Ned Lamont toiling for Barack Obama.
Though Lamont failed to beat Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent, in the general election, after that race ended he used his antiwar cachet to campaign for a handful of New England Democrats. He also campaigned for Sen. Chris Dodd until his withdrawal from the presidential race a few weeks ago.
That’s when Lamont threw his support to Sen. Barack Obama, and became his campaign cochairman in Connecticut, which goes to the polls on Feb. 5. This past Tuesday morning, Lamont played Obama in a mock debate he’d organized at Central Connecticut State University, where he is an adjunct professor. Tonight, Lamont will host Michelle Obama at a fundraising reception at a Greenwich home.
“I’ve fallen for him,” said Lamont of Obama. “I like the fact that he brings a fresh perspective to Washington. I love the idea he gives us a fresh start around the world,” he said. “He just seems to be able to bring people together.”
Reports say that Lamont’s former campaign staff are split between Hillary Clinton, Obama and Edwards (who has withdrawn since the reports were published), much the way Connecticut’s elected officials are.
The splintering stretches down through the ranks of onetime Lamont supporters, said former campaign manager Tom Swann: most support Obama, but many support Clinton and also Sen. John Edwards.
…
In a Jan. 9-17 poll by the Hartford Courant/University of Connecticut, 41 percent of voters said they would choose Hillary Clinton; 27 percent said they would choose Obama; 9 percent said Edwards. But 23 percent were still undecided.
Statewide, state representatives and state senators, local mayors and Democratic party state reps, have divided between Clinton and Obama.
The New Haven Advocate has more of the same here.
7 Responses to “Super Tuesday & a “where are they now” story: Ned Lamont”
A bit OT – though not too far. But Woolcott may be onto something:
See here
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/blogs/wolcot…
and follow to here:
http://ruralvotes.com/thefield/?p=349
(Hope raw links don't mess up comments) In any case, it seems the one machine that may be more powerful (still) in the Dem party than the Clinton machine is the Kennedy machine. And the low rumble that was first heard last Sunday on the NYT OpEd page is beginning to fire on all cylinders for Obama. It should make for interesting political theater as an irresistible force meets an immovable object over the next week and months!
New England is a funny place, diverse and yet hunkered down. They often like their independents and their mavericks – I do wonder if Clinton will get any state other than NY – I know she's running ahead of Obama in CT right now but I don't know…with Edwards out, that could be all the difference Obama needs in some of those states.
The Times endorsed Hillary Clinton and nearly-a-Dem John McCain.
reader remarks
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/26/opinion/lweb2…
“The Times endorsed Hillary Clinton and nearly-a-Dem John McCain” is why I said it's hard to imagine any other state than NY. But as to the endorsement, NYT is hardly representative of New York as a state, the way, say, the Oregonian might be id'd with that state. Just my opinion. The upstate NY disconnect w/Clinton is very well-known.
I have to say, a lot of this is why, over a year ago I wrote that I didn't expect her to get the nomination – and Obama wasn't even considered so seriously then. But there are just so many pockets of people with rational reasons for not voting for her. It defies logic in many ways (“it” being the polls' indication of her winning nationally).
I lived in Upstate for a couple of years, and I know, plenty of people there are no fans of Hillary Clinton.
What bothers me is I grew up in California, have seen it become even more silly politically, and I was embarrassed that Bill Clinton was actually treated as a mega-celebrity at UC Davis recently. Have things really gotten that bad and dysfunctional there? I hope Clinton is surprised by Obama there, as well as in New York and in New Jersey (even with assistance to Clinton in each state by river-crossing bi-state “subway voters”). (A few extra Clinton voters might sneak in from Connecticut as well).
Also, the Oregonian is not associated with the entire state. (I've lived in the Northwest, too.) Portland and Eugene and Salem and Corvallis (Willamette Valley cities) are blue loci, but other parts of that area are red, and there's a world of difference east versus west of the Cascade Crest, which really should be the state boundary in Oregon and Washington. The precip maps illustrate this interestingly:
http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/pcpn/or.gif
http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/pcpn/wa.gif
Election maps, 2004, colors REVERSED
http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?ye…
http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?ye…
You get around, don't you!? I've never lived there but I've followed Tom Hallman and some of their other writing over the years – thank you for the correction. Perhaps it simply shows us that no one publication's opinion should be imputed to any particular geographic location?