(cross-posted at Deny My Freedom and Daily Kos)
Top-secret location of angry blogofascism
Due to yesterday’s bad weather and some really bad lower back pain, I was unable to make the trip up to Connecticut to volunteer for Ned Lamont’s Senate campaign. Today, however, was a beautiful day, and I made the 30-minute drive from my downstate New York place of residence to the Lamont campaign’s 4th District office in Norwalk, Connecticut. It was a beautiful day for canvassing, and myself, three others from New York (two from upstate, one from Manhattan), and a few of the campaign staff headed out for some door-to-door knocking in the city of Stamford, where gubernatorial candidate Dan Malloy is currently mayor. From what the staffers told me, this is a place where Lieberman is fairly strong, as evidenced by the number of Lieberman/Malloy signs that were paired together in this neck of the woods.
As usual, canvassing on a weekend afternoon proved to be a challenge. Of the 51 addresses that I reached during my 2.5 hours on the ground, I only had people answer at 13 addresses – and only 7 of those had any sort of opinion on the race. My first contact, an elderly gentleman who was on his way out for the afternoon, said that he was leaning towards Lamont because of the screwup in Iraq. 3 other contacts were strongly for Lamont. One woman I spoke with clearly understood what this race was about – she mentioned Iraq, but it was the other things that he has been wrong on that bothered her greatly. So much for the mainstream media talking point that the race is solely about anti-war activists being out to make an example of Lieberman. Even though we were in Lieberman territory, this woman said she’d take a lawn sign as well. One of the people who strongly supported Ned didn’t even know about the race to begin with. She said she would vote for the Democrat (something which was fairly ironic in and of itself), but after I explained Lamont’s positions and how Lieberman has done nothing to help keep jobs in the country, she said she’d vote for him. I felt bad – she’s had a bacherlor’s degree in accounting for 3 years, and she still can’t find a job. That says something when it becomes hard for our graduates can’t find a job in the white-collar service industry. I gave her and her mother some flyers, who said that she would talk up Lamont at her church. You can’t ask for better campaigning than from your neighbors.
My other 3 contacts that had an opinion were for Lieberman. The Lamont campaign does something interesting – if the person says anything remotely positive about Lieberman, we’re told to politely say thank you and move on. It makes sense; with so many people to contact, taking precious time to debate someone on the issues who isn’t likely to change their mind is probably a waste. The most striking thing is that none of the 3 gave any sort of good explanation for their support of Lieberman. One guy said that he was voting for Lieberman, but nothing more. Another said, “Ned Lamont doesn’t exist on this street – this is Lieberman territory.” To say the least, the idea of such enthusiastic support for the dour senator was bemusing. My last contact gave a reason for his support of Lieberman. He said that as a family man, he supported the ‘moderate’ policies of the incumbent. I moved on, but I’m somewhat puzzled by what that means. It didn’t sound like the ‘moral values’ proposition of support that the right wing of the GOP uses, but it still doesn’t make much sense to me. Being a personally decent guy would not be the basis for how I’d vote; I would want someone who will legislate competently and stay true to the values of the party he purportedly is a part of.
Four houses I visited were undecided on who they would vote for. Most of them seemed to not really know much about the race, but one person brought up that although they were decidedly unhappy with Lieberman, their main issue was education and were concerned about Lamont’s vote for cutting education funding in Greenwich as a selectman. Perhaps someone would do well to figure out how to counter this argument, as I did not have the background to confront this issue as best as I probably could have. Additionally, one of the Lamont supporters was extremely worried about what she perceived as the Lamont campaign’s silence on the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. She mentioned that some people were talking about switching their vote solely on this issue, as Lieberman is known as strongly pro-Israeli, and they know where he stands. Although the issue is discussed at on Lamont’s website, this is something that should probably be publicly addressed, even though it will undoubtedly make some of his supporters in the blogosphere unhappy, no matter what he says.
Afterwards, we headed back to the office, where I said my farewells to the staffers, promising that I’d see them next weekend. As I was driving past the office, I saw three young boys standing outside, Lamont yard signs hoisted above their heads. I broke into a smile. Horrible things go on in the world every day, but when you see something like that, you can’t help but feel in your heart that better days are coming. This time, things will be different. Then it was back to I-95, driving back towards home, hoping that I had made a difference today.
A word on the office and the staffers: most of them are college students of my age; I think the oldest staffer was 24 years old (a former Wharton undergrad, which was quite the coincidence). They’re all enthusiastic about the race, and it was great to see an air of camaraderie amongst them. Even though I walked through the doorstep without knowing any of them, they were quite kind to me and very helpful in filling me in on the campaign. Most of them think that Clinton’s appearance tomorrow is being done to help Hillary more than helping Joe, the same view that I held. The campaign is highly focused on winning the primary, but I discovered that the campaign’s going to need all the support it can get afterwards. Why is this? Simply put, most of the staffers in the campaign offices are college students, and as August comes, we’re going to be returning to school. The top people in Lamont’s campaign aren’t in school, but there is going to be a void of campaign staff once the primary passes and the campaign gears up for the general election. Any help that can be given is going to be greatly appreciated. Donate, volunteer your time, canvass, phonebank – whatever you can do, please, please, PLEASE do it. Don’t even hesitate to think about it.
And a final note, one that bloggers have been apt to point out over and over again. Lieberman’s problem is not bloggers like myself. It’s with the people of Connecticut. While Tim Tagaris has done a masterful job coordinating the online segment of Lamont’s campaign, most of the staffers I spoke to had only recently joined the blogosphere. One of the staff coordinators said that the Internet and the blogs was just too confusing for him. The blogosphere may be aiding the campaign, but it is not fueling it. What is driving this campaign is a group of young Connecticut residents who want a change in their state, a change in the Senate, and most importantly, a change in our party. Ned Lamont’s campaign is the epitome of people-powered politics, and I’m glad I could be a participant – and a witness – to it this afternoon.
