August 9, 2006

NED WHO?:

Vital Signs: JOE LIEBERMAN'S CAMPAIGN IS JUST STARTING. (Ryan Lizza, 08.09.06, TNR Online)

Some Democratic Senators will endorse Lamont this morning, but don't expect much more than a press release. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has no intention of throwing any real money at Lamont. "This race will have zero bearing on who controls the Senate after Election Day in November," says a top Democrat involved in Senate campaign strategy. "Why would we spend money defending a seat that will be blue either way? It just takes funds from important seats like Montana. It's counterproductive to the cause." The message to Lamont? If you want the seat so bad, spend your own money: "The fact of the matter is that Lamont has seven million dollars he can draw on."

This is music to the Lieberman campaign's ears. It's counting on top Democrats to change the subject quickly. "A bunch of Democrats out of obligation will endorse Lamont, and then they will disappear," says a senior Lieberman aide. "They will nominally endorse him and then head for the hills."

He seems to be right. Washington Democrats aren't interested in fighting another round with Lieberman. They are eager to turn the conversation back to Bush. They downplay the national implications of the race and are eager to move on. "We'll put the focus back on Bush," says a senior Senate aide. "You know, 'The primary was a referendum on Bush, and so Republicans have a lot to fear.'"


Funny, just yesterday they were saying it was a referendum on whether you can call yourself a Democrat if you opposed keepig Saddam in power.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 9, 2006 12:12 PM
Comments

They can say they want to avoid talking or spending money on the race, but when the general election polls start coming and and if they show Lieberman in the lead in a three-way race, the Kos types will go wild if the Democrats fail to make any effort to back Lamont with support from the national office. That may not matter to some, but Howard Dean's credibility with the netroots types will be on the line if he doesn't make an all-out effort to get Ned elected.

Posted by: John at August 9, 2006 1:37 PM

And after the election, if the party regulars didn't do enough to help Ne-diddly-ed Lamont, and that money spent in places like Montana didn't result in wins, that's when the real purge begins. Those people are unreasonable and impervious to logic to begin with, and won't understand the idea that just because you put your money on races you have the best chance to win, doesn't guarantee that win.

Lucky for the Dems that they will be running against the Stoopid Party this November, otherwise this would be more fun than watching a demolition derby.

Posted by: Raoul Ortega at August 9, 2006 1:55 PM

Watch the anti-Semitism to get quite intense in this race, because the only Democrats who are likely to campaign for Lamont are going to be from the black caucus.

Evan Bayh has already 'endorsed' Lamont, something that he will have to explain to his 'moderate' voting base. Watch Mark Warner probably do the same before too long. But what will Chris Dodd do? If Lamont is smart, he would bribe him.

Posted by: jim hamlen at August 9, 2006 2:03 PM

So is it true that CT has a Rep. governor who would get to nominate Joe's successor were he to resign to take a Cabinet post? More reason for the Dems not to tick off Joe too much...

Posted by: b at August 9, 2006 2:35 PM

So if the primary was a referendum on Bush and the Bush side got 48% of the registered Democrats, why is that bad for Republicans?

Posted by: Kevin Bowman at August 9, 2006 2:54 PM

Let's see, 52% of the Democrat primary voters voted for the anti-war candidate so the Republicans have a lot to fear.

Posted by: Lou Gots at August 9, 2006 2:56 PM

Lamont made the primary election a referendum on Bush and the Iraqi war, yet when 48% of registered Democrats rejected the anti/war candidate, the obvious conclusion, that they support Bush and the Iraqi war, is being disparaged across the blogosphere even over at Instapundit who calls it the best spin ever and merits some sort of prize.

Posted by: erp at August 10, 2006 9:18 AM

I saw this morning that Dodd has endorsed Lamont. The pucker factor in the Democratic party has suddenly gone way up.

If they are this scared of Ned Lamont, how are they ever going to react to any of the real threats out there? Even Kofi could reduce them to shivers.

Posted by: jim hamlen at August 10, 2006 12:45 PM
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