The day following former President Bill Clinton’s visit to Connecticut in support of U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman, the Democratic Town Committee in Willington called a special meeting to pass a resolution asking Lieberman to support the winner of the Democratic primary and withdraw his petition to run as an independent candidate should he lose the Aug. 8 primary to his challenger, Ned Lamont.
Mark Palmer, co-chair of the Willington DTC said Wednesday that if Lieberman wants the support of Democratic voters in the primary he should withdraw his bid to run as an independent. He said, as long as Lieberman petitions to run as an independent, “Then he’s not focused on the primary.”
Willington is the fifth town committee to denounce Lieberman’s independent bid for re-election. Palmer said Greenwich, New Britain, Norwalk, and Hamden have passed similar resolutions. (Stuart)
The text of the resolution is posted there. Willington, as the article points out, isn't exactly a hotbed of liberal activity:
Palmer said even the Republicans in town want to know more about Lamont, so “Joe must have overstepped some invisible boundary,” that the polls just won’t pick up. (Stuart)
Interestingly, according to Marion Steinfels, the Lieberman campaign's spokeswoman, petition gathering isn't even serious at this point. Which is odd, considering that 7,500 signatures or so are due on August 9th.
“As far as I know there’s no one in any of the offices doing that [petition gathering],” Steinfels said. (Stuart)
So what's going on? I haven't heard of anyone being approached by Connecticut for Lieberman people. Has Lieberman collected a single signature?
What if, as the Willington DTC suggests he ought to, Lieberman does decide to forget about the independent bid altogether? The latest polls have been devestating. His support among Democrats is at a low ebb. Maybe burying the Connecticut for Lieberman party and throwing all his chips into the primary, combined with an all-out offensive featuring Bill Clinton, could turn that around.
But then again, it might be far, far too late.
Source
Stuart, Christine. "Willington DTC Asks Joe to Drop Independent Bid." CT News Junkie 26 July, 2006.
13 comments:
The Willington Democrat Town Committee's resolution, and a buck will get you a cup of coffee.
Lieberman won't quit his independent bid while he is still winning in the polls.
Bill Buckley's most recent column discusses the candidacy of Joe Lieberman. All interested in Ned vs. Joe should check it out. (A link is provided on my website.)
On Buckley, Joe reaps what he sowed. I think that extrapolating from the Willington DTC is kind of besides the point, per mccommas point.
I hope no one minds if I repost this later, because I want to hear what people think about this:
It's not surprising that institutional Democrats in this state want Joe to drop the independent bid. A successful independent Joe bid (or even an almost-successful Joe bid) severely weakens the Dems in 2006. They want Joe to drop the bid because he might win as an indy. More than anything, they want the winner of a Democratic primary in that election alone- because even the mere chaos will hurt Rell's challengers. It will hurt the efforts of the Simmons, Shays and Johnson challengers to get their names out.
Very few candidates win (and I'm talking about the Cong races, and maybe not Farrell, b/c she's been there before) without people knowing their name. What is Malloy's name rec state-wide? What is JDS? (I'm re-contextualizing the BRubenstein theorem.)
The DTCs, by and large, are doing their job- protecting the party. But they have to do it because THEY ARE SCARED BLANK-LESS!
I've been out West the past few days by the way with some lib-mainstreamer hacks. They think Joe's done- until you tell them that every union is going to drag their guys in. Joe does well with the "hard hats", as R. Milhous Nixon might have said.
Let's put labor aside and think about geographical math.
Where are the "reddest" of the Democrats in this state? Can we pinpoint them geographically? I think they are the potential Joe-vote in the primary.
Socially conservative Democrats- e.g., Catholics- but not only Catholics, of course. Older voters. (Weather is a factor for them- 95 degrees or heavy rain really hurt Joe; it's not just that the intensity is there for Ned- it's that old folk who support Joe might be less-inclined to get out.
I also have to comment, as a member of the tribe, if you will, that Joe's strength on Israel matters to a significant number of Jewish voters. Not that Ned is weak in this area- he's just, well, a novice wildcard.
Geographically, the North End of Bridgeport would be an urban pocket for Joe. (Though it's not urban urban) Trumbull Democrats, a fairly conservative lot, would be a good pocket for Joe.
It's GOTV time, folks. Joe's got the union infrastructure, but what will the rank and file do when the curtain is closed? (My guess? They'll buy the Joe supports the troops message. Not that Ned doesn't. But they'll buy that bread from the bakery that specializes in that bread...)
Umm-Willington voted Kerry in 04. Willington is the f-ing boondocks. To say the Willington DTC is going to have a significant impact on this race, and to say Willington is not a blue town is--well wrong. But another nice atempt to spin things here at CT Liberal Politics.
And another thing--Joe was collecting signatures at Consitution Plaza in beautiful downtown Hartford on Tuesday July 25th during the lunch hour and had a good response.
So (as the cow pokes in Willington say) this post is basically full of horse huckey.
From the town website:
"Willington is predominantly residential in nature but has a shopping center, a small center of antique shops, a major travel stop, and is only a couple of miles from the UCONN main campus."
It's more than a cowtown with cow-pokes. It has a major travel stop, people! You know what that means. People from all over the state, all over New England, the country and yes, the world, come together at this travel stop and seek wisdom from Willingtonians, which they then adopt and live their lives by.
I visited that travel stop once, and I have never, ever been the same since!!! Thank you Willington, thank you!!!
United, the small towns are a bunch of united small towns. But don't confuse Easton with Willington. There are huge differences. Willington is like upstate New York, Easton is becoming a Chappaqua.
And I actually do think both towns are quite nice- in their own way.
Canterbury will be voting on a resolution (inspired by the Norwalk resolution) regarding Lieberman's independent bid next Thursday.
Lieberman isnt going away Maybe you DFA and Liberals are hoping it will happen but keep on Dreaming.
Ned Lamont has destroyed the Democratic Party and to force DTC's to pass these stupid resolutions(another liberal tactic)is showing us what a piece of crap The Democratic Party has become as a result of Ned Lamont, tom Swan and Keith Crane(mr dump joe. com himself)
i am so glad i am not on a DTC anymore and I can now vote and do whatever I want.
DFA still sucks
Is Willington in Connecticut? Thught it was Delaware....
These DTC's are dumb to pass these stupid lamea** resolutions I thought this is America. You Liberals really think Lieberman is just going to roll over and give in to your loopy demands.
I quit The DTC Because I don't think they have any right to tell anyone how they are going to vote for US Senator or Dog Catcher and they certainly arent telling me how to vote This is America not Russia You liberals need to do something besides push lamo issues and badmouth our country be a part of the solution instead of causing all this trouble...use your pea brains and narrow minds to think about it for a while.
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