Lamont versus Lieberman
I admit to not being truly attuned and to being out of step with dominant Connecticut state politics, but I think I’m grasping what Joseph Lieberman’s latest political advertisement tells us about what is going on in his mind and where the disconnect with Lieberman and the state of Connecticut in general and the Democratic primary voters in specificity lies.
Now, go back a few blog posts and you’ll see that I derided a couple of Ned Lamont’s ads. To flesh out the flaw of the one I mentioned: Ned Lamont supporters rushing into Lamont’s living room, notably Markos of daily kos — the problem is that it seems to be referencing the bloggers that are aiding Lamont’s rise. The rub here is that nobody cares, that is a storyline that should Lamont succeed will go down in liberal blogger lore and will be tucked away as irrelevant as Lamont assumes office off of, in the end, the backing of a great deal of people not “in” on this “great wave” who will like or dislike him depending on how he assumes his responsibilities in the Senate.
Joseph Lieberman’s new advertisement, featured here likewise misses the point. Lieberman is drawing off of a Political Insider story. The Lowell Weicker storyline to this race, the man he defeated in 1988 by running to his right on certain issues and with the aid of an advertisement featuring a Bear, and haunting Lieberman in 2006 by first entertaining a campaign run and then backing Lamont when he comes forward to run, is interesting enough to follow. But it’s a minor storyline, and in the end the sort of “Insider Baseball” that does not cut across the fabled kitchen table. Maybe you read about it in Hotline and Roll Call and possibly make an appearance on Meet the Press, but Weicker is nowhere to be seen otherwise.
Beyond which, that Lamont voted “80 percent” with the Republicans on a city council (or whatever it was Lamont served on) is an absurd line of attack.
At any rate, this is the week that it dawns on me that Lamont just might win the thing, and thus… I sit back, hope, and if nothing else enjoy the fireworks.