Marvel Comics used to do a series called What if…? What if Spider Man joined the Fantastic Four? What if Captain America had agreed to run for president as a third-party candidate? I’m reminded of that series when I think about the options for progressives when they find themselves alienated from or disappointed in the Democratic Party. Whenever this happens, I hear the same thing: ‘screw the Democrats, I’m done with them…we need a third party.’ It’s a like progressive mantra that never changes and never gets anything done.
So, in the tradition of Marvel Comics: What if Ned Lamont had not run for the Democratic nomination but had run as an independent instead?
The first thing that would have been different is that Lamont would have struggled mightily to get any press coverage at all. Even Democratic bloggers would probably have been lukewarm in their support. Very few elected Democrats would have endorsed Lamont. Connecticut newspapers would not have endorsed him. Other Senators would not have paid any attention to him. So, the first casualty of an independent run would have been the resonance of his message.
Because the Republican opponent, Schlesinger, was so anemic, Lieberman would have won re-election quite easily even if Schlesinger doubled (or perhaps tripled) his support. Lamont would have had no chance at winning, his voice would have been muted, and he wouldn’t even have thrown the election to the Republican. He wouldn’t have scared Lieberman or forced him out of the party. Nothing would have been accomplished. The anti-war message would have been stomped and politically invalidated.
Lamont stayed within the system. He suffered through Lieberman endorsements from Sens. Boxer and Obama, who should have been his allies. He ignored concerted attacks from The Establishment. He created a national narrative, divorced Lieberman from the party in both fact and the national consciousness, and gave a road map and courage to other anti-war candidates.
So much more can be done within the party, even in losing, than can be done outside it.
The primary challenge is one of our most potent weapons. We need to use it, not launch quixotic third party spoiler attacks.
