The following is the second part of a timeline of the Lieberman-Lamont primary. This part covers the time between Lamont's official announcement in March up to the state Democratic convention. I know I'm missing things, so feel free to fill in some gaps. Part 1 is here. Part 3 is here.
March
April
May
March 16th, 2006
Alan Schlesinger enters the race. Insert silly gambling joke here.
The Lieberman campaign continues to aggressively go after Lamont, labelling him as "angry." This despite the fact that the campaign is also calling for a minimum of name-calling.
Meanwhile, donations from around the country are pouring into the Lamont campaign.
March 20th, 2006
Immigration foe Paul Streitz slithers into the campaign. Fortunately, no one seems to notice.
March 21st, 2006
Joe Lieberman gets angry at Colin McEnroe on WTIC. Some odd remarks:
Lieberman: This quote is totally out of context. You might have gotten it from the bloggers, who love to do this.
McEnroe: No actually I got it…
Lieberman: Read the whole speech, it’s below your standards.
McEnroe: Senator actually I got it from the New York Times.
Lieberman: Well that’s just as bad! Go back and read the speech, be more responsible.
A lot of people are floored by just how angry and bitter Lieberman sounds, and how defensive he seems. This was one of the defining moments of the campaign, where Lieberman's famous composure really started to break down.
March 23rd, 2006
Lieberman met with striking Sikorsky workers.
March 24th, 2006
Lamont started picking up delagates. Lieberman's fued with Colin McEnroe spread all over the blogosphere.
It's reported that Lamont has raised over $130,000 in two weeks from bloggers and internet activists around the country.
March 27th, 2006
Bloggers Scarce and Spazeboy start up Nedheads on YouTube. A ton of creative energy is focused on this group, which independently produced and aired pro-Lamont videos.
March 29th, 2006
Lieberman releases his first radio commercials. Campaign manager Sean Smith predicts that Lamont's media honeymoon would end soon. "Lamont is having his best days now," he said in an interview with me. That turned out not to be accurate.
March 30th, 2006
At the annual Jefferson-Jackson-Bailey dinner (a traditional Democratic feast), Lieberman got booed, and found that no one was paying attention to his speech. He actually had to shush the crowd several times. Just another sign of Democratic discontent.
April 9th, 2006
Lieberman, at a meeting in Windsor, wouldn't rule out an independent run.
April 14th, 2006
Quartlerly fundraising shows Lamont raising $712,611. However, $371,500 of that came from his own funds. Lieberman raised $947,356.
April 16th, 2006
Lieberman refuses an invitation to debate Lamont before the convention. Lamont had accepted.
April 17th, 2006
Alan Schlesinger announces his candidacy.
April 18th, 2006
A video of Colin McEnroe pretending to fall asleep while Lieberman spoke races around the internet.
Meanwhile, Lamont picks up delegate support from New Britain and New Haven.
April 19th, 2006
Manchester's DTC votes to support Lieberman, despite chastising him in a resolution earlier in the year.
April 20th, 2006
Lieberman releases his first television advertisements, in which he tries to set aside the war as an issue, in the hopes that voters will look past it. That didn't work either.
SurveyUSA shows Lieberman's popularity among Democrats falling.
April 24th, 2006
Lieberman starts traveling around the state asking people to look past Iraq.
April 25th, 2006
People are cramming Lamont events, like the one reported on in Hamden.
April 26th, 2006
Lamont says that he is "appreciative" of blogs in an interview with Truthdig.
April 27th, 2006
The Lamont campaign hires ad man Bill Hillsman, who will go on to make some of the most innovative commercials seen in Connecticut for a long time.
April 29th, 2006
Harry Ried asks Lamont to back off, in fear of losing a "safe" seat to a Republican.
May 2nd, 2006
A Quinnipiac Poll is released showing Lamont trailing Lieberman 65%-19%. Lamont is unknown by 90% of respondants.
May 4th, 2006
A Rasmussen Poll shows Lieberman ahead of Lamont in the general election 47%-20%, with 17% going to (oddly) Paul Streitz.
May 7th, 2006
Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos appears in a commercial for Lamont.
May 9th, 2006
Lamont sends out a mailer featuring Lieberman and George W. Bush.
May 15th, 2006
International Union of Electricians and Communication Workers endorses Lieberman.
May 16th, 2006
CT NOW endorses Lamont. Human Rights Campaign endorses Lieberman.
May 17th, 2006
Lamont releases two ads, one of which features Markos Moulitsas and another featuring a talking dog. They're pretty memorable ads, and get a lot of media attention.
May 19th, 2006
Lamont receives 33% of the vote at the convention, more than twice what he needed to force a primary. The convention is national news.
Part three of this chronology, which covers the convention up to the present, will be posted between now and Tuesday.
Part 3 here.
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