Conn. Senate Race Still Likely to Have a Democratic Winner:
CQPolitics.com has analyzed Tuesday’s stunning primary upset of Connecticut Democratic Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman by political newcomer Ned Lamont, and has determined that the seat is highly likely to be held by a Democrat when the 110th Congress convenes in January.
52-48 in favor of Lamont with about 98% of the votes counted.
I just saw the Lieberman concession speech — and all I can say is “Sore Loserman” indeed. Didn’t even sleep on announcing as a third party candidate.
And his concession speech was sanctimonious and hypocritical: accusing Lamont of “insults instead of ideas” — not to mention the Rovian claim that Lamont (!) is part of the “old politics” that has made Washington what it was.
So here’s my question: When a candidate loses a party primary then announces that he will run against the party’s nominee, will the Senate Democrats let him keep their seats on committees, or will they replace him with a real Democrat?
Keep in mind that losing the primary will not help Lieberman’s poll numbers. And that a lot of independents haven’t gotten to know Lamont yet. He’ll do well with moderates — for healthcare and against the war.
And if it turns out that Lieberman’s claim that his web site was hacked turns out to be incompetence instead — that will really help label him as a man of the past.
This new ad from Ned Lamont is really great.
Swing State Project burbles happily about Jon Tester’s stunning win in the the Montana Senatorial primary:
Wow. What a fantastic showing of broad support for Jon Tester tonight. From longshot to upstart to competitor to steamroller, Jon Tester has, without a doubt, scored an absolutely stunning victory in Montana tonight. On Dec. 31, 2004, when Swing State Project dropped his name for the first time, few could foresee that Tester, an organic farmer from Big Sandy, could absolutely wallop one of the most popular and well-funded Democrats in the state, Auditor John Morrison, and do so without slingling mud, without creating an intra-party rift, or without a massive warchest. Jon Tester accomplished what he did today by getting people to genuinely like him, which is a damn rare thing in politics these days. And that’s exactly how he’s going to convince Montana voters that he should be the next Senator from Montana.
The rebirth of the Democratic Party begins in Big Sky Country.
It may be a bit much, but the gist of it is right: if you could clone this approach the electoral map would look completely different.
Meanwhile, Tester faces incumbent Conrad Burns in the general election. Burns is the Senator most deeply implicated so far in the Abramoff scandal.
My old friend and Yale Daily News colleague Paul Bass skewers Sen. Leiberman … just by reminding us of the man’s record in office.
OK, since the horrible video I blogged earlier has apparently taken down all of YouTube, here’s an alternate horrible video hosted elsewhere. This one isn’t quite as horrible, but it’s pretty darn bad: The Rejected Katherine Harris Campaign Video!.
Not for the weak, or even the strong (I didn’t make it to the end, as my flesh started to creep out of the room).
Jotwell Blenderlaw