(cross-posted at Deny My Freedom and Daily Kos)
There is no greater disaster than to underestimate your enemy.
It’s 8 days until the momentous primary on August 8. For all intents and purposes, this race will have a huge impact no matter what the outcome. As Chris Bowers wrote earlier, the blogosphere is going to come out a loser in one way or another:
Now, whether Ned Lamont wins or loses this election, in the days immediately following August 8th, there will be a flood of negative press about the netroots and the progressive movement. If Lamont wins, we will be crucified for sending the Democratic Party to its doom, and defeating one of the greatest Democratic politicians in history: Joe Lieberman. If Ned Lamont loses, we will once again be called ineffective, irrelevant, and crazy by the establishment, even though we clearly scared the crap out the establishment and even though this campaign was supposed to be a blowout win for Lieberman.
The enthusiasm on the Internet has been great – we’ve been raising money and have made a race that would have been dismissed in the past a national sensation. But I get the feeling that aside from the bloggers who are in Connecticut and those who have actually done some work for the campaign, many people think that Joe Lieberman is finished. And you know what, he may very well be – I keep asking the Lamont staffers what the plans are post-August 8 because I do feel so good about his chances. They don’t have an answer, though – they are focusing solely on the primary and putting in 70-hour weeks to make this final push in getting Ned across the finish line. Things may seem rosy now, but a lot can happen in 8 days. One only needs to read about the Lieberman campaign’s intended push to get out the vote to know that this is going to be the longest 8 days anyone has.
It’s all part of the plan laid out by Tom Lindenfeld of LSG Strategies of Washington, D.C., which was brought in by Lieberman to get out the vote in the final sprint to the polls.
Smith said they now have between 200 and 300 volunteers and paid staff, to canvass daily. Democratic workers in New Haven said the campaign told them it hopes to hire up to 4,000 workers by Election Day.
[…]
Meanwhile, New Haven Alderwoman Jacqueline James, D-3, said a young, mostly white staff from New Jersey was in charge of canvassing for Lieberman, and that hundreds of people were turned away July 22 after being told the campaign was looking for 16- to 21-year-olds.
The alderwoman estimated 56 young people were hired out of about 500 people who showed up, attracted by the $60 a day fee, or about $800 for the duration.
She said LGS does not know the demographics of the city at all. James suggested that they match inexperienced teens with more savvy workers, but this was rejected.
“They kept saying this is how we do it in New Jersey. I kept telling them, `This is not New Jersey,'” said James, who no longer volunteers for Lieberman.
One may say that it’s naive to apply the same canvassing model in Connecticut that is used in New Jersey – it probably is, given that New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the country, while there are a few big cities in Connecticut, with several rural areas. Nevertheless, you cannot underestimate the impact of 4,000 workers, whether they are paid or not. That is a lot of people. During his gubernatorial run, we got paid a decent amount per hour for canvassing for Jon Corzine in New Jersey, but there is no way there were 4,000 people canvassing for him, despite his immense personal wealth. You can bet that these volunteers will be concentrated in the big cities – Stamford, Bridgeport, Hartford – to turn out the vote for Lieberman. His access to the political machines, which have pledged fealty to him despite a campaign that has seemingly been imploding, will guarantee that there will be a huge drive there. As I mentioned yesterday, there was a sighting of the vans that the Lieberman campaign will be renting out for the duration in support of their canvassing operation. The Lamont campaign has no such advantage; we drove down to Stamford in two cars and walked around the spacious neighborhoods, a much more exhausting task than getting an air-conditioned van to drive you around. I know the person who is coordinating Lieberman’s out-of-state canvassing effort very, very well – and this person is driven to win this race like none other.
In addition, do not underestimate the outside support Lieberman is pulling in. He is bringing in all sorts of big guns to campaign for him – Bill Clinton, Chris Dodd, Ken Salazar, Joe Biden, Barbara Boxer, Daniel Inouye, and Frank Lautenberg will have made campaigned for him – and of those, Inouye and Salazar will back Lieberman even if he follows through with his plan to run as an independent. It’s true that Lieberman’s race-baiting tactics will largely be negated due to the likes of Maxine Waters and now Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton as they campaign for Ned. Nevertheless, we underestimate the effect of an ex-president and sitting senators at our own risk. People love star power, and the Senate is a club – they don’t want an outsider crashing their party. Chris Dodd has lent Lieberman his own political advisors when it became clear that the senator’s own campaign was too inept to handle the surprising charge Lamont was mounting. The current members of Connecticut’s Democratic Party elite are fully-heartedly backing Lieberman (although it seems that both John DeStefano and Dan Malloy, the gubernatorial candidates, are slowly backing away from him). Additionally, the biggest interest groups – the AFL-CIO, NARAL, and Planned Parenthood, to name a few – have endorsed Lieberman despite his questionable record. It helps that Lamont has the backing of the teachers’ unions, NOW, and the Connecticut head of NARAL, but the campaign is shut out from the access, the manpower, and the money that these connections provide.
So why am I saying all of this? Simply enough, it’s great that there are a dozen or so college-aged staffers and volunteers giving a ridiculous amount of time to help Lamont win this primary. But we need to do better. And this is where the blogosphere has to step up. It’s one thing to post about this issue from the outside and to send money. But it is not the same as having warm bodies hitting the pavement. You can bet the Lieberman campaign is canvassing every single day with its paid workers. From what I know from my experience in the 4th District, we have only canvassed on the weekends. There simply aren’t enough office staff to send out everyday to make sure people spread the word. I know that a good deal of the blogosphere is concentrated in the Northeast. This means that, barring a prior obligation (such as work) or financial issues, you have no excuse for not coming to Connecticut and helping out, especially on the weekends. It’s one thing to comment on the race from afar – but it’s a completely different story when you’ve been there upfront, talking to people when you’re on the phone or hitting the blacktop. As Tim Tagaris said earlier, nothing else is going to matter except for the votes. And starting from Thursday up through August 8, that is all the Lamont campaign will be doing. No, it may not be as glamorous as hounding Joe at every stop on his bus tour. But at this point, the campaign needs you more than ever.
Daily Kos, MyDD, Firedoglake, Eschaton, My Left Nutmeg, LamontBlog, Spazeboy, CTBlogger, CT Bob, and the one that started it all, Dump Joe, have done a great job of making sure you know about this race. Now it’s time for all of us to get out and do something about it if possible. For me, it has always made a big difference when you stop passively supporting an effort and begin to actively participate. You become emotionally invested in it, and it means a lot more than it ever did before. The weather might be crappy – it’s been awful weather as of late back here. You might have to put a few things you wanted to get done on the backburner. But this is an experience you will never forget – because this could very well be the race that announces that the blogosphere has truly arrived. And you don’t want to miss it for anything in the world.
So please – come to Connecticut and make sure that when the clock strikes midnight on August 8, Joe Lieberman is hearing the fat lady sing loud and clear.