Kevin Rennie of the Hartford Courant gives a great first-hand account of the Connecticut Convention.
When Ned Lamont captured a staggering third of the 1,509 votes cast Friday, the green challenger’s handlers were the most surprised camp in Hartford’s Expo Center.
Holy Joe has a serious primary on his hands. And it is his own fault. Allowing Fox News to use him as a puppet parroting their hawkish line, involving himself in the Terri Schiavo case, telling victims of rape to drive around until they can find a hospital willing to provide emergency contraception, putting his big fat lips on George W. Bush’s cheek…these are not things that can be lightly overlooked by Democrats. Now he’s in trouble.
The Lieberman people seemed dispirited all night. His demonstrators waved and rubbed together curious-looking wiener-shaped balloons advising “Stick With Joe” as they made their way through the aisles in a short, obligatory demonstration to the tune of “Still the One.” They became animated only when “Soul Man” came over the sound system, providing a cover to stop chanting and start dancing.
Discomfort turned to pain for the Lieberman campaign when the first town in the 1st Congressional District began the roll call: Barkhamsted cast its two votes for Lamont. The challenger received votes in town after town, sometimes one at a time, sometimes considerably more. When once Lieberman-friendly Windsor cast 13 of its 17 votes for Lamont, a roar of surprise filled the hall. Lamont would sail past the crucial 15 percent threshold before reaching his 4th Congressional District stronghold. Lieberman ought to be grateful it was not a secret ballot. If it had been, some of the 100 missing delegates might have found the backbone to vote.
It will be interesting to see if Lieberman decides he has a better chance of winning reelection as an independent. I hope he doesn’t take that step because it might allow a Republican to win the seat. Lieberman should let the Democrats of Connecticut decide if they want him to continue as their Senator. I give him a better than even chance of pulling it off. But Ned Lamont showed some real strength on Friday night. It’s possible that he will pull off a shocking upset that will send a very important message to the DLC, and to people like James Woolsey and Jane Harman that have neo-conservative sympathies. We don’t need or want these kind of Democrats in the party.