Firstly, we were WRONG: Joe Lieberman didn’t win his hometown of New Haven. Read the linked column because it also details the obstacles and challenges Ned Lamont is going to face if he’s going to repeat his Tuesday victory in November.
Among other things, The Hartford Courant’s Stan Simpson writes:
Everything that worked for the Lamontistas could backfire in November. While Lieberman was properly bludgeoned for his inflexible position on the war, expect him, especially with the latest terrorism affront, to push Lamont to articulate a specific policy for national defense, Iraq and terrorism.
“He’s going to have to attack Lamont ruthlessly on the war issue, because Lamont really doesn’t have a position on the war,” said political strategist Webster Brooks. The former Hartford school administrator is running for vice president of the United States as part of a quixotic Independent campaign headed by Florida businessman Daniel Imperato. “I think Lieberman’s position is wrong, but Lamont doesn’t have one.”
Another issue that could come back to haunt Lamont is his alliance with ultra-liberal bloggers and his embracing of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif. Jackson and Sharpton bogarted Lamont’s victory platform Tuesday as national cameras rolled. You could almost hear the seething of angry white male constituents.
Read the entire column. He makes some points you haven’t read in many of the news accounts or blogs on both sides (that seem to be getting a bit bogged down in the emotional aspects of being defenders or detractors of Lieberman).
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.