No Lieberman Endorsement?

Gee, if Joe and John McCain are such good buds, why isn't McCain supporting him?

Gerstein with Colin

I made the mistake of listening to this interview live while I was driving, and almost went off the road. You can listen without operating heavy machinery at the same time here

Stop calling Lieberman an Independent!

UPDATE: I just found out (11:15AM Sept. 1st) that John Mertens hasn't been added to the Senate ballot yet; a contact at Sec. of State Susan Byzwehiczhsihckzeks's (sp.?) office just told me that so far he hasn't had enough validated signatures to earn a place on the ballot. If this changes, I'll update the blog again.

(Unlike Lieberman spokesguy Dan Gerstein, I will admit my mistakes BEFORE everyone in the entire free world points them out to me!)

Does anybody know the name of the candidate who is running for Senate in the "Connecticut For Lieberman" Party?

Here's a hint: he loves getting lingering hugs and quick, wet kisses from Republicans.

(...and I'd like to apologize for that intense mental image.)

I'm speaking of Joe Lieberman, of course.

What I want to know is...why the HELL are people calling him an Independent?

The Independent Party in Connecticut already HAS a candidate in the Senate race. His name is John Mertens. He's a tenured Associate Professor at Trinity College. He is also, from what I gathered from his website, a nice guy and an earnest candidate.

But what counts is that John Mertens is the endorsed candidate of the Independent Party in CT. That much is clear.

So why does nearly every news source repeat the fiction that Joe Lieberman is an Independent candidate? The fact is, John Mertens is the ONLY Independent candidate in this race!

Why don't they represent Lieberman as the candidate from the "Connecticut For Lieberman" Party?

Take a look at these examples - this first image is the banner of the "Independent Party of Connecticut":

This next image is what Joe Lieberman's "Connecticut For Lieberman Party" banner would look like if their staff had a sense of humor:

Here's a prime example of this misrepresentation. The Zogby International poll has recently been calling Connecticut voters and asking this question among others:

"If the election for Senate were held today and the candidates were Democrat Ned Lamont, Republican Alan Schlesinger, Independent Joe Lieberman, Green Party Ralph Ferrucci, and Independent Party John Mertens, for whom would you vote?"

Zogby names every single candidate and their party accurately EXCEPT Lieberman's. Why is that?

This misrepresentation that Zogby and others continue to perpetrate seems to call their motives into question. Is there a reason that certain organizations won't use the proper name "Connecticut For Lieberman" when referring to Joe's desperate campaign to stay in office?

...And counting...

Thursday, August 31. The 23rd day since there has been a Web site with meaningful information at joe2006.com.

Kissing at Sunset

I'm promoting this out of the comments because it is priceless. You need a laugh to start (or end) your day? Click here

UPDATE: That fabulous romantic video came from our very own anonymous! Thanks!

And, here's a great column from Helen Ubinas and a story from Mark Paziniokas about the solar heat.

You Must See This

Do not pass go, do not collect $200 - click here to head on over to Crooks & Liars and watch Keith Olbermann shame this administration and Donald Rumsfeld in advance of the Iraq = 9-11 that starts tomorrow. Thank you, Keith, for speaking out so eloquently on behalf of all of us in America who don't support the war (and are not ignorant or traitors) and to John at Crooks & Liars for getting this baby up so fast. The video is even more impressive than the transcript.

Here's the quote he used to close

Thus forgive me for reading Murrow in full:

"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty," he said, in 1954."We must remember always that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear - one, of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of un-reason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men; Not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were - for the moment - unpopular."

Send this post to everyone you know.

This is what a REAL Connecticut sunset looks like

OK, so by now we've all seen Joe Lieberman's bought and paid-for footage of a California sunset, purchased from Getty Images (a non-Connecticut based company).

For god's sake, Joe, why not spend your money in-state?

Specifically, why not spend the money buying MY great Connecticut sunset images? God knows, I can use a new computer...and a few lobbyist's bucks could sure help!

Here's some examples of some real-live Connecticut sunsets. Take a look at them, Joe, and try to tell me that they aren't just as good as your cheap California sunsets:

This is a Connecticut sunset, Joe. You see the stack of the Bridgeport CL&P power plant? I took this picture from my boat while still located in Connecticut waters. Think you can use this for your next ad?

Here's a lovely Connecticut sunset. We took this photo on Connecticut soil, right down at Milford Point. Pretty, isn't it?

So Joe, I ask you...wouldn't you rather have some REAL Connecticut sunset images in your next commercial?

Repeat After Me....

Attention all people with brain cells! The Bush administration starts its full court press tomorrow with speeches at the national VFW convention that Iraq and 9-11 are inexorably linked. This will be the Wurlitzer music through the anniversary at least.

Repeat after us....
...there is no connection between Iraq and 9-11
...there is no connection between Iraq and 9-11
...there is no connection between Iraq and 9-11


UPDATE: Sorry, it was Rumsfeld at VFW, Bush at American Legion.

Frist Caught!

Olbermann tonight let us know that when Frist renewed his medical license, he said he had completed the necessary professional continuing education of 40 hours, and he did not. Having a nursing license myself, believe me when I tell you that little people would be in trouble for doing the same thing. Accountability, anyone?

DFA Endorsement Rally for Diane Farrell

This is a very important House race, and Diane Farrell needs your support. She's running against Chris Shays in the 4th District.

You know Chris Shays. He's the guy hugging Joe Lieberman:

DFA Fairfield County, Jim Dean, et al, are hosting a rally on:

Thursday, August 31st from 6pm to 8 pm
In Greenwich, CT, On the grounds in front of the Havermayer building on Greenwich Ave (near exit 3 off I-95)

Jim Dean will be there to publically announce DFA endorsement of Diane Farrell for The House of Representatives.

Also there in support will be Ned Lamont and a slate of local candidates including Frank Farricker and Ed Krumeich running very key races for seats in Hartford (do not underestimate the great importance of these state races for desperately needed leadership in Hartford and two years in advance of the next Presidential election).

With all that is happening around the country CT races are getting national and even international attention. Diane's strong campaign and impressive presence is driving more and more attention from voters, from the media and from politicians.

SO PLEASE COME,
PLEASE BRING A FRIEND,
BRING YOUR FAMILY.

For more info:
http://www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=11969
http://www.nedlamont.com/page/event/detail/rallies/wrw2

A Must-Watch (if you can stand it)

Kudos to Brian Williams on this one. You can't just listen -- watch Bush's body language during this one-on-one from the combative cowboy in the beginning, to the disheveled boy when asked about his father, to I-don't-know-what as he tries to convince Williams he decided to add Shakespeare to his light summer reading list.

Then remember that Ahmadinejad can see this. No wonder he challenged Bush to a debate.

They Don't Miss a Thing

From today's Courant

The commercial was produced by Josh Isay, a former chief of staff to Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York. Isay now runs his own consulting firm, Knickerbocker SKD. His past clients include Schumer and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Lamont's campaign gleefully seized on the image of the sun setting on Lieberman.

"Is the sunset in Joe's new ad a fitting metaphor for the end of his Senate career?" said a statement issued by Lamont's campaign. "Like the rest of the information coming out of his campaign it is full of distortions and lies."

Each campaign issued dueling fact sheets backing and attacking the claims made in the commercial. In an interview, Gerstein took issue with the idea that the sun is setting. "It's actually a sunrise," Gerstein said. "It's very much a sunrise."

Where are the meterology experts when we need them to settle this?

Another Republi-hug for Joe

Joe Lieberman just can't keep his arms from wrapping around Republicans!

Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) gives a welcoming (and quite loving) hug to Joe Lieberman (I-CT) at a joint appearance. Joe returns the hug with the same amount of warmth and sincerity that he used when he chided the voters of Connecticut for voting against him in the Senate primary:

"Well, they should have thought of that before they had the primary," stated Lieberman in a not-so-rare fit of pique.

It must gall him every single day to wake up and be reminded that the Democrats have rejected him, and they only way he'll be able to keep his sucking place at the public teat is to turn his back and trash his career-long political identity and slither onto the ballot any way he can.

How does he manage to look in the mirror in the morning?

But then again, with friends like these...who needs Democrats?

Need a Job?

This could be fun -- a posting for a job in the Lieberman campaign from Craig's list, posted by Colin at To Wit Only, Colin left out the part that pay is $2000 a month or a generous $12.50 and hour. How republican of you -- Go get 'em Joe!

Potty mouth?

Normally I don't quote stories I get from Drudge, but this one was too funny. CNN’s Kyra Phillips left her body mic on while she went to the bathroom, and her somewhat catty girl talk went out live over the air.

During President Bush's speech.



Newsbusters has the transcript. If Krya's brother's wife was a bitch before, just wait until she hears her sister-in-law's comments! Poor guy.

The Straight Man

I do love being the straight man here to set up Bob's fabulous video work. It's the joy of teamwork!

Joe's new commercial...CTBob-style!

Yeah, this thing was just begging to be screwed with. I mean, when Joe serves up a hanging slider like that, EVERYONE wants to take a swing at it!

Here's my attempt at jazzing up his boring "Deep Thoughts"-like ad:



UPDATE: Scarce has put up his version of the ad RIGHT HERE. Watch very carefully and see if you can pick out what's different about this ad. (Hint: I'll never get tired of seeing the KISS float!)

UPDATE II: The video clips that are shown in Joe's coma-inducing video aren't even Connecticut shorelines. From the comments section on the official Ned Lamont blog; tip o' the hat to JeffW:

Some smart person at MyDD said it’s probably stock footage from Getty Images, and indeed it is—actually two stock clips.

If you go to gettyimages.com, search the film section for “sunset and ocean”, on page 2 of the results you’ll find items 843-1 and 843-2 from Image Bank Film. That’s what they used. So where was it shot?

Here’s the info provided for the clips (click on the “i” symbols under the thumbnails):

#843-1:
Medium shot pan from sunset reflecting of ocean to waves lapping up on shore / Santa Barbara, California

#843-2
“Wide shot sun setting over ocean / birds walking along water’s edge / Santa Barbara”

It’s definately a sunset, and it’s definitely California.

Earth to Media: Get a Brain...

...is the title of a great column from Northeast magazine in the Hartford Courant on Sunday.

The candidate, Democrat John Edwards, did squeeze in one private meeting with perceived powerbrokers. In a Yale medical school cafeteria, Edwards glad-handed, praised and answered questions from Connecticut's local bloggers...

Handed a sunflower named "Lorenzo," Edwards agreed to grant it a quick "interview" at the request of bloggers from the My Left Nutmeg site. Dreadlocked v-logger "CTBlogger" simultaneously worked his still and video cameras as Edwards discussed his presidential ambitions. Accounts of this exclusive press conference appeared on his web site, other Connecticut sites, as well as the national Internet commons known as the Daily Kos.

Click back to the original for the links.

Embarassing Video

Bob and I are pretty busy this week, so click your mouse and send some blog love over to ConnecticutBLOG this evening for your viewing and reading pleasure. He starts with the new Lieberman "sunset" ad -- complete with the UTube commments that are being deleted by Lieberman forces, but not before they can be copied and pasted here. As you would expect, there is also plenty of commentary at FDL

But, wait! There's more. Scroll down a bit and treat yourself to Chris Shays' efforts to wiggle out of his support for Iraq. Noron (Norah O'Donnell) is not exactly one of our favorites, but she had his, um, package in a vice on this one -- and kept squeezing. It is an instant classic.

"Racist Morons for Lieberman"

There are SO many things wrong here that I'm having trouble finding a place to start.

I'm sure this guy thinks he's a real hoot, and he probably cracks up the boys at his monthly Klan meetings, but you have to wonder if he represents a significant portion of those people who support Joe Lieberman?

Obviously this is someone whose TV remote has been surgically altered to only click on FoxNews channels. He drinks his Kool-Aid by the vat.

But that doesn't excuse the guy from what is a despicable, loathsome, and shameful display.

I can only hope that this walking piece of human fecal matter doesn't have plans to procreate...

The world has enough racist morons as it is.

Ned Lamont: "Rock Star"?

We all know that Ned Lamont is becoming amazingly popular as a result of his astounding victory in the Connecticut Senate primary. As more people hear his views on the issues, they realize that Ned is the right choice for change.

But...is Lamont becoming a "rock star" in the world of politics?

I don't know...we've all heard his singing of that Wang Chung classic '80's tune, "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" in the "Messy Desk" commercial; I can't say that he sounded like a rock star, but he may have been acting like a bad singer for the sake of the commercial.

Recent media coverage seems to be jumping on the "rock star" metaphor:

Lamont nearing rock-star status by SUSAN HAIGH, Associated Press, via the Bradenton Herald (08/27/06)

HARTFORD, Conn. - Ned Lamont headlined a recent fundraiser for the liberal Democracy for America. Days later, the Democratic Senate candidate was rubbing elbows with celebrities at a charity event sponsored by the liberal MoveOn.org, and he's been a guest on Air America, the liberal talk radio network.

Has the Greenwich businessman who defeated 18-year-veteran Sen. Joe Lieberman in this month's Democratic primary hit rock-star status among progressive Democrats?

"He's pretty darn close," said Tom Hughes, executive director of Democracy for America, which helped raise more than $100,000 for Lamont during the primary.

Lamont was the top attraction at a recent fundraising event for the group, founded in 2004 by Jim Dean, brother of Howard Dean - chairman of the Democratic National Committee and former presidential candidate.

"It was the talk of the political town when he was here," Hughes said. "He is known to progressives across the country right now as somebody who just toppled a really behind-the-times entrenched incumbent. That's a huge deal."

24

Finally! 24 got the recognition it deserved, winning the Emmy for best drama last night. I have not missed a single episode since the very first when we met Jack Bauer and presidential candidate David Palmer and his deliciously calculating wife, Sherry.

On the Al Franken Show this afternoon, guest hosts Tom Oliphant and Christy Harvey were discussing the appeal of 24. She suggested it was the terror-porn aspect of the show, and he wondered if it appealed more to the right or the left.

They asked if the same people drawn to 24 were West Wing fans. That's me. The common thread in both shows is that there is a fundamental underlying competence in both shows relating to our government. We so long for that in our real government. Instead of praise, the Jack Bauers of this administration get subpoenaed, have their secret identities leaked, and lose their jobs.

24 gives me an hour of hope.

Schieffer Gets it Right

Bob Schieffer's commentaries at the end of Face every week are usually the best 2 minutes of Sunday morning television. This week's was no exception.

One year after Katrina and we can't figure out how to get money to people who lost their homes in New Orleans, we're still not sure if it can survive another hurricane but a terrorist group has figured out how to get American money to the homeless in Lebanon?

Read or watch

I'm back from vacation

Today is my first full day back from our sailing adventure. Joyce and I are enjoying getting reaquainted with our queen-sized bed and with plumbing you don't have to pump to flush.

Yeah, sailing is hell.

I'm not going to apologize for that awful shirt; hey, I was on vacation!

For more photos and some details of the trip, visit my sailing blog on the link below.

Don't worry, I'm pretty sure that there aren't any more pictures of that shirt.

"The Full Tilt Sailing Team"
And let's hear a great big round of applause for Kirby, for taking such great care of the blog while I was gone. Thanks, Kirby!

Does it Add Up?

As of today, killed in Iraq 2,611 in Afghanistan 328, total: 2,939. Those killed on 9-11: 2,973. There are still 15 days to match the totals for the fifth anniversary of 9-11.

It's just sad.

Freedom?

While we rejoice at the release of the two Fox journalists captured in Gaza, Mr. Kirby offers this observation...

Are you really free if you work for Fox News?

Good question.

We've Lost Another

Please pray for Jordan Pierson and his family. The 21-year-old Corporal was killed in Iraq on Friday, August 26. He's from CT Bob's hometown of Milford, so I'll defer to him for more information.

Bob: Thanks, Kirby. I do have something I'd like to say about this tragedy.

This is kind of difficult for me, because I can't help but think of the loss that Jordan's little brother is feeling right now.

You see, I lost an older brother to Leukemia many years ago, who at the time was roughly the same age as Jordan. I remember the feelings of anger that I felt at the time; at God, at the world, at the entire universe for taking someone I loved and looked up to; a person who was kind, intelligent, and showed so much promise for the future.

But, eventually I came to realize that what happened was something that was more or less explainable. A terrible disease which had very little treatment success at the time stole a young man's life. No act of man was responsible for his death; it was senseless, but at least it was one of those random acts of God that happen to innocent people, like getting struck by lightning.

Jordan's death however...that really bothers me. He died because he did the honorable thing; he put off his education at college to join the military and fight for his country. If I was Jordan's age immediately after 9/11, I doubt that I'd have wanted to do anything different myself. We were attacked, and we wanted to punish those responsible.

But as the reasons for the war in Iraq become more and more well known, it seems that our leaders had lied to many young people like Jordan; they misused and wasted the enormous potential and lives of thousands of promising young men and women, and for what?

If our top leaders had the courage and honesty that people like Rep. Jack Murtha possess; and they recognized and admitted that invading Iraq was not only wrong, but was made worse by our staying there, many young people in the prime of their lives like Jordan might have been spared.

I can't help but worry for Jordan's little brother. It's bad enough to lose a brother to a disease you can't do anything about...it might be infinitely worse to realize that you lost him because our nation's leaders betrayed us.

This is Brilliant

The 9-11 report as a comic book? How horrible! How insensitive! I say "How brilliant."

40-44 million adults - 21-23 percent of the adult population - function at the lowest level of literacy skill. That means they may be able to sound out words, but can't read well enough to understand concepts or to act on what they are reading (such as keeping an appointment, reading a label on a medicine or a loan document). These are people from all walks of life -- company presidents, moms, dads, and others you would never suspect because they've hidden their inablility to read their whole lives. I learned about this a long time ago, from a man who worked with my father. To assume that people can read a leaflet is making a very false assumption.

That's why this approach is so brilliant. The story of 9-11 is now so much more accessible to so many more Americans who can use the illustrations to enhance their understanding of the words. And, think of the kids who soon will not have their own memory of 9-11-2001.

I say BRAVO! When important information needs to be communicated to all citizens, this approach makes it much more accessible.

We've been Farked!

Just got home from vacation, and while sorting through the piles of emails, blog posts and messages waiting for me, I came across something that made my day.

We've been FARKED!

Fark.com is a website about nothing in particular, yet I've spent countless hours reading and commenting there. What they do is put up a link to a (usually stupid) story/blogpost/etc, and then let people comment upon it.

400 million hits a year worth. Drew Curtis must be doing something right.

And it all started with this squirrel and his nuts:



Anyway, somebody submitted my blog post from last May about Joe Lieberman and his repugnant stance on Plan B emergency contraception. It was accepted, and late last week we had a spike of hits from Fark. It was old news, but it still garnared the usual level of asinine comments peppered with occasional insights.

...and ever since I started reading Fark.com, I've always wanted to be "Some Guy"!

Click on this link to read the comments on the Fark post:

"Connecticut Bob" has been Farked!

(Heh heh...I've been back only a few hours now, and already the quality of this blog has taken a nose-dive back into the comfortable mediocrity that you're all so familiar with! Didja miss me?)

We Are Patriots

Another rainy day here in Connecticut, which is great for my late summer flowers, and a good day for contemplating what's ahead for us.

We know the story about how Ds are disorganized, don't speak with one voice, yadda, yadda, yadda. I believe it's the "brain cell thing." Our intelligence and our ethical core takes us only so far because we lack that egomanical gene to win at all costs (see: Lieberman, party of one).

We believe in empowering people. We do not lie and pretend it is truth because we realize that life is a continual flow of shades of gray that rarely approach black or white. We believe what we believe to our roots, not because it is expedient at the moment, which makes us lousy politicians in today's cut-throat environment (I voted for the war before I voted against it really did make sense if you listened to the whole explanation.)

We believe that people are essentially good and that we don't give them one fish to keep them under our thumbs waiting, begging for the next morsel to make us feel like the instruments to the great King. We teach them how to fish and help them with resources so they can catch more fish, and to fish in different places so everybody has a chance, rather than giving all the fish to the nasty guy who bullies the fisherman. We believe in helping those who want to set up a little fish restaurant on Main Street and those who want to send their fish to another town where people don't have any fish.

We believe in America and never question another person's patriotism because, in our bones, we know we are true patriots. We believe America can be an incredible force for good in the world, and we know that you don't take over countries and shove your preconceived notion of "freedom" (doing what The Man tells you to do, or else) down their throats and then be surprised when they don't respond the way they were told to. Instead, we want to set the example so that people will fight for their own freedom and drink its nectar.

We are incredibly complex people who probably overthink things, but that is because we care about how people less fortunate that we will be affected by policy decisions. We are here to serve, not to use community/public service as a key to the lottery bank.

And sadly, that is our Achilles heel. We have a collective conscience and ethical grounding. We have a good handle on basic right and wrong. Sometimes, a little too tight a grip, but it's what we have. That's why we have trouble in the political marketplace of today. We don't stomp on the little people to climb higher. We can't boil our positions down to 4-word bumper stickers. Our commitment to our fellow American won't let us. Our patriotism won't let us.

Meanwhile, Back at the Blog...

It was a cool, rainy day here in Connecticut today. Usually, I love these rainy, contemplative days, especially with a cup of tea and nap on the afternoon meeting schedule. Ah, today, it just added to the weight of the awful news that is everywhere -- here's the wrap.

The Housing Market has Tanked
Thought a home could be a great investment? Think again.
Security Scares Grounds Six Planes (two had CT ties -- one coming in, and one that left here this AM)
More Problems in Israel-Lebanon
Seems Israel dropped US cluster bombs on civilian areas in Lebanon -- Geneva conventions issues, and kids getting killed -- 25,000 unexploded bomblets all over the country. Israel says that's where Hezbolla hid.
Connecticut Schools Still Failing
Bad schools continue to fail -- nobody is making "adequate yearly progress," but a big huzzah to Clara T. O'Connell School in Bristol -- the only school in CT to get off the failing school list.
Lieberman Bails on CT D Congressional Candidates
ConnecticutBLOG's Take
Joe's declared himself a "non-combatant" (how can he parody the language of war???) in the fall elections -- will not support our D candidates.

That's enough of the depressing news....have a wallow, and then read some promising developments....

Incumbent Fever
Interesting commentary on the incumbent racket from Jeff Greenfield
Great Blog Wrap from Tim
Beginning of the End for Joe?
Colin McEnroe nailed this one today -- foreshadowing more to come. Hillary is loaning Ned Howard Wolfson, a huge D strategist inside player kind of guy with his hand in a very big financial cookie jar that it looks like Hillary is releasing to Ned. Whether that's here nor there is not as key as the fact that Lieberman's guy was Carter Eskew, also of the SAME FIRM. Same firm can't work for both candidates. Could this be the first crack in the wall of Washington Ds finally seeing Lieberman for what he is? Refusing to help the Congressional candidates who give us a real shot at getting the House back should be the last straw. Watch carefully after Labor Day when everyone is back in DC. This could get interesting. (Hey, I have to have some hope....)

And remember Colin and his mom in your thoughts and prayers -- she is back in the hospital. For more, look at his blog. I used to work with her, and wouldn't wish what Colin is going through on anyone -- the nasty, fishwrap part of the health care system is no where to be with a parent.

On the other hand, maybe people who think the health care system is just fine should have just what's happening to Colin happen to them.

"The View from A Block"

Greetings from the Block Island Free Library, where I was fortunate to find a computer with high-speed access to use for a few minutes.

Boy, there's nothing like taking a vacation during a slow-news week, huh? Jeez, between the latest poll numbers, Ned and Hillary having a sit-down, and Pluto going Independent, this has been far from boring; even considering the lack of news sources I currently have access to (CBS radio and day-old copies of the Providence Journal!)

Kirby has been doing a fantastic job with the blog (thanks!), and we're having an awesome time on vacation. But I do kind of look forward to getting home and back "on the grid".

See you all soon...you'll probably recognize me by my tan!

We Haven't Forgotten About Jim!

Just so we didn't ignore CTBob's favorite state representative this week, here's clip from the CT Post:

As of July 1, film and digital media companies working in Connecticut can earn a 30 percent tax credit on qualified production costs, a move credited with bringing "In Bloom," to the state. The movie, starring Uma Thurman, is filming in New Haven.(...)
Speaker of the House James A. Amann, who along with Gov. M. Jodi Rell backed the legislation, said businesses in Naugatuck made $3.2 million during the three days "War of the Worlds" shot there. Amann called the avalanche of interest the credit started "very exciting."

Hmmmmm - do you think Rell got together with Amann for his "excitement" before or after she and Rob Simmons had Joe Lieberman join them on the campaign trail today??? (anyone got pictures?)

Rules? We Don't Need no Stinkin Rules

For those wondering, here is the money paragraph from a story in the Courant.

State election law allows Lieberman to obtain his own ballot line by creating a party, if only in name. Connecticut for Lieberman has no rules or members. Lieberman remains a registered Democrat and intends to be a member of the Democratic caucus if re-elected.

Because state law required the signatures to be filed on Aug. 9, Lieberman had to circulate the petitions while he still was running for the Democratic nomination. Connecticut is one of the few states that allows a candidate to hedge his bets with a dual campaign.

Pluto! How Could You?

Illustration credit -- Renee in Ohio

Major spew warning -- you'll love this!

Lieberman Party

It's official. Now the signatures are confirmed. And we must get this meme out --

No more Lieberman D-CT. The CT for Lieberman party should be noted as Lieberman LIE-CT

Oh, and last weekend, Lamont had dinner with Shimon Peres. Tomorrow, he is lunching at the Clintons' home in Chappaqua. Who is Joe meeting with? He's campaigning today with Jodi Rell (governor) and Rob Simmons (R 2nd CD) -- both running against true Democrats!

And H/T to cgg in the comments who pointed out that Joe's most recent media splashes have been with national -- not local -- media.

Today's Roundup

Joe Lieberman is certainly getting out there, eh?

New York Times interview
Situation Room transcript (interview is about 2/3 down)
With Imus this morning
Analysis and commentary always welcome.

And, here's the official word from the CT Dem Chair, Nancy DiNardo

Hartford - “On Wednesday, August 9, the day after the Democratic primary, the party's statewide and congressional candidates held a press conference at which I formally announced my full support for the entire statewide ticket, including Ned Lamont as the Democratic Party's nominee for U.S. Senate. As the chairwoman of the state Democratic Party, I want to assure the members of my party that I not only have endorsed Lamont's candidacy but I am committed to working to ensure his election in November.

As some may be aware, I have known Joe Lieberman for more than 30 years and I have always had the utmost respect and admiration for him. I also appreciate all that he has done for Connecticut and for the state Democratic Party. I was especially proud when he represented Connecticut on the 2000 national ticket as the Democratic vice presidential candidate.

However, in the Aug. 8 primary, state Democrats spoke loudly and clearly. More than 40 percent of them turned out to vote and they decisively chose Ned Lamont over Sen. Lieberman. It is my strong belief that Sen. Lieberman should abide by the wishes of state party members and by the democratic process.

As such, I have asked Sen. Lieberman to drop his plans to pursue his independent candidacy. He respectfully declined my request and said he intends to go ahead with it.”

What Got You Started?

How did you end up being a progressive? For me, it was Harry Chapin.

I was a member of the class of '76 -- the bicentennial class at Ward Melville HS in Setauket, NY. Our class advisors were working with teachers in California, and we thought we would do a cross-country exchange to celebrate the bicentennial of our nation. But we needed money.

I loved Harry's music, and he lived just up the road a piece on Long Island, and his home phone number was in the book. Even then, I thought, "What the Hell?" and called him. He came right to the phone and I made my pitch to invite him to do a benefit concert to help us raise money. After he finished laughing out loud, he said, "You come from one of the wealthiest school districts on all of Long Island! [we lived in the middle class part -- not the rich part] How selfish of you to ask ME to come and help YOU raise money! You've got my number. Call me back if you can think of somebody beside yourselves for a change."

I was stunned and then I got angry. Who was he to suggest I was selfish? I had to prove him wrong. So, I searched and searched and discovered that the local seeing eye dog foundation would have to close the end of the following month unless they raised $10K and that would get them matching funds.

So, I called Harry back and said we needed to save the dogs. LSS, he came to our HS. Spent the day in the music department (where I lived back then), did workshops with budding songwriters, and played some tunes he was working on (most notably, Bummer)

He did an afternoon concert for students and another that night for the community. We raised a lot of money, but did not meet the $10K goal. I drove over to the dog foundation and apologized for not raising it all. The director told me they were all set. There, in her drawer, was a check for the difference --- written by Harry Chapin.

That experience changed my life forever. As a nurse, I have spent my life helping to make other people's lives (or sometimes, deaths) better for my being there. I had a near-death experience 3 years later, and since I was sent back, I figure I have work to do -- to carry on Harry's legacy -- after he tragically died in a fiery crash on the Long Island Expressway at age 39. I had tickets to see him here in CT the next night. That's why I'm here -- a proud, progressive democrat.

What path brought you here?

P.S. If you are not familiar with Harry's work beyond music, here is his obit from Rolling Stone. I'm sure he would be singing for Ned today.

Flash! E-mail from Gerstein

For your viewing and listening, uh, pleasure?

***NATIONAL MEDIA APPEARANCE ADVISORY***

Senator Lieberman will appear on CNN's Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, today, Tuesday, August 22nd, at 5:30 pm.

Senator Lieberman will also be on MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, tomorrow, Wednesday, August 23rd, at 7:30 am.

Reviews, anyone?

Head on Over

Before I offer other great thoughts of the day here, go over and read Christy's morning post about accountability at FDL. Not only is it spot-on, but this girl knows how to write!

Waah! Waah!

UPDATE: Go check on CTBlog's project on this appearance! You rock!

Oh, spare me Joe. He was on Face the Nation yesterday -- and the transcript simply does not do this performance justice. You can see video clips from the Face Web site (transcript link) or watch the whole thing at Politics TV Particularly notice the sweat accumulating on his upper lip as the interview goes on.

Ten people went to the New Haven Democratic registrar of voters petitioning for Lieberman to be removed from the Democrat roles since he is running as an independent and there is no such thing as an "independent democrat." The registrar is said to be taking it under advisement. [I still can't get a straight answer about his registration if running as a third party candidate -- anyone have the law?] If the registrar was even there -- the big excitement in New Haven this week is that Uma Thurman and Pierce Brosnan are in town to film a movie.

Bush today said, "I'm staying out of Connecticut -- at the request of the party.....the Republican party" The pregnant pause says it all.

Air America Highlights

I'm one of those people who likes to go to sleep with the radio on -- not music, because I will listen to that and stay awake, but talk. I had a hard time sleeping the other night, and AAR was playing best of Al Franken. That included an interview with the founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. They absolutely stay non-partisan, but I love their mission statement:

The mission of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America is to ensure the enactment of policies that properly provide for our Troops & Veterans, keep our military strong, and guarantee our national security for the purpose of a stronger America. We uniquely empower Iraq & Afghanistan combat veterans to use their credibility and experiences to speak truth to power, shape public opinion, and place a priority on these issues.

Sounds like a great mission statement for we bloggers!

Today, Al had Rahm Emanuel on as a guest pushing his new book, which I won't promote here. He suggested we all take a look at the "Contract With America" and see how it looks in the rear view mirror...

On the first day of the 104th Congress, the new Republican majority will immediately pass the following major reforms, aimed at restoring the faith and trust of the American people in their government:
FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;
SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;
THIRD, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;
FOURTH, limit the terms of all committee chairs;
FIFTH, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;
SIXTH, require committee meetings to be open to the public;
SEVENTH, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;
EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.

So, I'm throwing this hanging curve at you -- how're we doin on these eight promises? If you can provide links to back up your point of view, I'm happy to update and provide a group analysis.

And maybe tomorrow, Blogger will let me post pictures!

Thoughts for a Monday Morning

Good morning, all! Sorry I missed you yesterday, but I tried all day and couldn't get in to Blogger. Now, I can't load pictures :-( Will work on this later.

We {{{heart}}} Bob Geiger! Not only did he generously provide us with icy cold adult beverages in the Blogger room on primary night, but he took on the burden of calling all D Senate offices to nail down where the Senators stand on Lieberman or Lamont. And, during recess, that is no easy task. Click through and scroll down to see who are the winners and who are the losers -- who need to know they are on shaky ground unless they change their tune by Labor Day. And, on the way down his front page, stop for a moment to enjoy his fabulous editorial cartoon round-up.

If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to read Joe Conason's latest in Salon -- Whatever's Best for Holy Joe. In writing about Joe's stoking of the bigotry fire by suggesting that it was wrong for Ned to "be surrounded by" Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson on the podium, he writes:

Lieberman can hope to get away with his racially inflammatory strategy only if everyone else forgets not only his habit of sucking up to Jackson and Sharpton but his history of stroking the most bigoted black leader in the world. Evidently he and Gerstein (who was also his spokesman during the 2000 presidential campaign) expect that nobody will mention the embarrassing episode when Lieberman's ambition (and opportunism) led him to praise Farrakhan. Given the laziness and amnesia that afflict the national press corps, they may be right.

Conason provides a scathing reminder of Joe's "situational ethics" that started the day Gore named him VP nominee. Joe gives us a must-read, and the links he provides are invaluable.

Closer to home, don't miss Colin McEnroe's blog to read about first-person reports on people being denied the right to vote in the primary because of their registration, or lack of same. I don't think it's necessarily sinister -- it looks more like people have no clue what it means to be registered as a D or unaffiliated.

Memo to cable news: Have you ever heard of DNA??? This weirdo from Thailand claiming to have killed JonBenet -- either his DNA matches or it doesn't. Period. They have semen DNA from the scene. None of this other crap has any relevance whatsoever if the DNA doesn't match. So, get off this story and talk about something important, like a judge finding the US President's actions in the NSA wiretapping to be UNCONSTITUTIONAL many times over.

And a nice diversion for a beautiful morning here in CT -- I am an XM Radio junkie. It just has so much to offer. One of the best things I discovered is a public radio program called On Point, hosted by Tom Ashbrook. You can listed live in CT on CT Public Radio now that they have abandoned classical music -- from 10a to noon, or on XM from 9p to 11p, just before the Newshour at 11p on XM 133. You can listen or download podcasts, too -- just browse the archives. Friday night's discussion of "your brain on music" was just terrific. Nice change of pace.

What Responsibility!

Kirby here -- I am shaking in my boots knowing I have this awesome responsibility to keep Connecticut Bob interesting until the boss gets back. I will do my best. Blogger is incredibly slow this evening, so I'll leave you with this chart from the Hartford Courant and see you again later.

Chris Matthews Commentary

Yeah, yeah, I know Tweety is a pain in the ass, and I rarely watch Hardball anymore, but every once in a while he gets it right in the commentary he provides at the end of his syndicated Sunday show. Here's what he had to say on August 13 about our little adventure here on August 8.

Last week, sitting here, I said what a huge opportunity CT Democrats were getting -- that rare chance to cast a vote that counts on the most important issue of our time – Iraq.

This past week, that promise of individual importance was delivered with a power not seen since Jack Kennedy edged out Richard Nixon by beating him, nationwide, at the rate of a single vote per precinct. You bet CT counts. I was there covering it this week for Hardball. It was clear voters were looking to send a message. The turning out of an 18-year incumbent and national media favorite, Joe Lieberman, couldn’t have been clearer.

There are those who lament the defeat of a hawkish centrist -- a senator who celebrates the notion of bipartisanship. But the Democrats in CT were faced with a choice many of us will vote on this November -– do you believe the Bush policy in Iraq is leading to less terrorist hatred or more? Are we on the right course or do we need a change? There’s no way to split the difference here. State your position Sir. As Adlai Stevenson once said, “It’s the duty of leaders to lead.” So, lead us.

You know how easy it is to give incumbents a pat on the back and say, “Go back to Congress and do the best you can to work things out in a calm, bipartisan manner.” Instead, you and a few voters like you can give the whole bunch of them the boot – and give the job to a new kid on the block, just like you did in CT. You may not like the burden – but you’ve got it.

A much deserved vacation...for my wife

I've been having so much fun with all this blogging lately that I haven't really given much thought to taking a final summer vacation. But my wife has allowed me a tremendous amount of latitude to help the Lamont campaign and be on the computer for endless hours blogging, so she deserves a week of rest and sailing on our boat.

So, later today, we're taking Full Tilt in a general eastward direction, with the idea that we'll end up in Block Island in a couple of days.

I'll be back online a week from Sunday. In the meantime, the amazing Kirby will be posting and commenting on the blog.

Enjoy your break from my amateurish writing, and you'll be treated to something that'll be interesting and informative...for a change! LOL!

See ya later, kids! Play nice.

"Where's Joe Lieberman?"

This is an ad that I've wanted to see put together for the Lamont campaign for quite a while, and they've finally listened to me.

Or...they've never heard of me, and simply used their creative talent and inspiration to put together the ad!

Whichever, I'm just happy to see it. Check it out:



It's a good ad, but the ad that I was hoping they'd make would be a little more like the "Where's George Allen?" ad.

You know, George "Macaca" Allen (R-VA), who's been featured so prominantly in the news the last few days for his off-handed, racially insensative remarks? This is the ad the Lamont campaign SHOULD have made (sadly, you have to click on the link and the video autostarts; these guys didn't bother putting this great ad up on Youtube):

http://www.wheresgeorgeallen.com/video.html

James Amann proves he still doesn't get it

Oh, boy.

I was willing to give State Rep. and House Speaker James Amann the benefit of a doubt about his mealy-mouthed support of Joe Lieberman, but my patience has run out. I've had it with this guy. I can no longer avoid the obvious:

James Amann is a pig-headed and stubborn throwback to the days of political favoritism!

Not only is he lazy about trying to learn about Ned Lamont's stance on the important issues, but he endlessly crows about it publicly as if that's a GOOD THING! From today's Norwich Bulletin:

"I don't know Ned Lamont. I don't know anything about Ned Lamont. He has zero experience," Amann said.

Yes! Fine! We all understand that you're too goddamned lazy and condescending to bother finding out a single thing about the voter-selected Democratic Nomineee for US Senate! Congratulations, you moron. We're all deeply impressed by your stunning display of ignorance!

"I know Joe. He's helped me in the past, he's been a friend and he's experienced."

Ah, I see it all so clearly now. What matters most to you is personal favoritism and political peearage, rather than the FUCKING ISSUES THAT AFFECT THE VOTERS!

Is this an example of the type of leadership that you stand for?

James, if you'd even once brought up a position that Ned Lamont stands for on an issue, and then explained why you disagree with it, that would be fine. I would respect that, even if I disagreed with you. That's what a political leader SHOULD do.

But you insist like a total dumbass that what matters to you MOST are the favors Joe has done for you.

This CAN'T be what you're all about, is it?

Listen up, stupid: the political landscape is changing, and you're rapidly becoming a liability rather than an asset. Either adapt and get with the program, or one day sooner than you think, you'll find yourself sitting on the sideline, wondering how you screwed up so badly!

Because it's obvious you're not the man we thought you were.

(If anyone wants to let James Amann know how they feel, please go to jamesamann.com for contact information)

Spazeboy asks John Edwards about Katrina

Sadly, tonight I had to miss tonight's John Edwards/Ned Lamont rally in New Haven to support my wife Joyce's sailboat race.

I know this sounds a little self-indulgent; especially when you consider we have a NATION we're all working to RESCUE from the clutches of evil men!

But keep in mind that I used to be a Republican; old habits like yacht racing and eating beluga cavier while underpaying my illegal immigrant servants tend to die hard!

(OK, to be completely honest, I've never had servants; I hate cavier; and I own a 26 year-old sailboat; and I drive a shitbox Dodge Aires K-car that was built while Reagan was President...so don't talk to me about indulgences!)

Anyway, the visit of former Vice-Presidental candidate (and possible 2008 Presidental candidate) John Edwards was substantially covered by Spazeboy and CT Blogger, so I'd imagine I wasn't missed.

Here's Spazeboy's account:

I was super excited to meet John Edwards today in New Haven. He’s the first big-name Democrat to come to Connecticut in support of Ned Lamont. I’ll have much more on the rally, and much more video as well (keep your eyes open for CTBlogger’s pictures…the few I saw were amazing!). I just wanted to post this clip of John Edwards answering two questions–one from me about (post-Katrina-) poverty, and one from a reporter about his 2008 intentions.

Latest Q-poll is promising

My analysis of the latest Q-Poll on the Senate race:

Ned Lamont has made a significant gain in a three-way race if the election was held today, but still trails Joe Lieberman by 11 points. This is a big improvement over previous polls, and with about 11 weeks to go before the election, there's plenty of time for Ned to overcome that gap.

The deeper numbers in the poll are what interests me.

For instance, the favorability ratings look most promising.

Lieberman rates 43% favorable, 28% unfavorable, with 4% "haven't heard enough". People have a strong opinion on Joe.

Ned Lamont gets roughly the same unfavorable rating (27%), and a HUGE "haven't heard enough" percentage, 32%.

This can translate into a significant favorable rating if Ned's message gets more play. Fully a third of likely voters haven't heard enough about Ned to form an opinion yet! The campaign still need to get the word out with a large percentage of likely voters.

This may be what Sean Smith (fired Lieberman Campaign director) was referring to when he talked about "low-information voters".

"The less they know, the better for Joe."

www.jamesamann.com

There's a new website that explores State House Speaker James Amman's (D?-CT) reluctance to endorse the rightful winner of the State Democratic Senate Primary, Ned Lamont. Smarten up, James!

Visit http://www.jamesamann.com/

From Tom Tomorrow's "This Modern World"

I think this is funny, but I can't be sure...I was awake much too early this morning; and while skimming around the Intertoobz, I came across this entry from Tom Tomorrow: The view from here (August 7, 2006):

Lieberman had a brief event at a neighborhood grocery store. At least one nearby resident was not impressed with the behavior of Joe’s supporters:

Spazeboy's Primary night video

This is a fun one. I know it's been over a week, and we've all moved on...but it's worth the eight minutes to watch this; especially if you weren't in the blogger's war room or the main ballroom for the big announcement.

Network TV will NEVER capture the excitement of that night; and especially the annoying antics of yours truly as well as Spazeboy's video presentation does.

I really like the ending, where Spazeboy is talking into the camera I'm holding for a good 30 seconds, which is about 25 seconds longer than I thought was needed! You can't see me doing it, but I'm giving him the "speed it up" signal, and finally he yells at me for it. Good times!

Oh, and somewhere in the middle, I think I say a naughty word. (I'm such a potty mouth!)

Enjoy!

How Scary are We?

I think I am going to end up seeing my chiropractor a lot between now and November with the head shaking I am doing already. Here's a great piece from Editor and Publisher about an editorial in the Waterbury Republican-American -- making up more stuff and suggesting Ned's family are communists.

This on top of the 527s heading this way. We must be more powerful and frightening than we ever imagined, we "insurgents" here in CT who didn't subscribe to the "protect the incumbent" meme.

Update Thanks to Gary in the comments, here's Ned's op-ed in today's WSJ

Our Service to the Traveling Public

Since the TSA’s new rules (Bill Maher, are you listening?) are a bit complex, we thought that as a service to the traveling public we would provide you with the inside scoop. In this case, it means translating an interview CNN’s Miles O’Brien (a pilot himself) did with Kip Hawley, Assistant TSA Secretary. And remember, Joe Lieberman is taking full credit for creating the Department of Homeland Security.

M. O'BRIEN: This whole notion of liquids…goes back to 1995 to blow up airliners, originating out of Asia, coming into the United States…This is not new. This is -- this is pre-2001, pre-9/11 stuff. And yet, suddenly, a knee jerk response to a foiled plot in Great Britain. We're saying now we should take liquids off. Why?
HAWLEY: No, the threat is very real of any kind of explosives. And there are many kinds, and certainly we know about liquid explosives. [CTB: we found the memo after the Brits moved in last week] We have, in fact, the technology to detect it. The issue for the bottle scanners, so to speak, is that it's not efficient in that you have to scan one bottle at a time. [CTB: and keeping the airlines from bankruptcy and blowing threats off for convenience’s sake to keep people flying is our main goal] So, it will not be the immediate fix to get a piece of technology.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, why -- why have -- why weren't the liquids banned after 1995 until such time as technology became evident that would protect people?
HAWLEY: It was a risk-based approach. [CTB: we couldn’t figure out a really good political hook for this until Lieberman lost in the primary] And the liquids in this form is a novel approach. [CTB: somebody must have read it in a spy thriller] It is different from before. And we do have, in fact, training for detecting liquid explosives [CTB: on Friday afternoon during screener training, for a half-hour], and it is part of the package that we have had in place for a long time. [CTB: we just don’t do it] The -- there is a novel application of this that we wanted to assure the traveling public of their safety. So, in focusing just on the safety piece, we decided, let's not take any chances and for right now ban liquids. [CTB: so that we can raise the level of hysteria and own the news cycle for a while when cable news could be talking about Lamont’s victory and the anti-war sentiment in America]

M. O'BRIEN: All right. But as a member of the public, as someone who flies, I look at the way -- and it's not just the U.S. -- the way we collectively respond to these threats, and it seems like a knee jerk reaction after the fact. [CTB: I’m trying to do my best here not to laugh]
HAWLEY: Well, in this case it was an immediate aggressive reaction to ensure the safety of the public. [CTB: and jack up the hysteria factor] And that was the only consideration. [CTB: and if you buy that, I have some swampland to sell you] And while there is a good likelihood that we could pick up someone who is on that kind of a mission, this is not a matter where we want to deal with likelihood. We want to be absolutely sure of the safety of the traveling public, and that's why we took this strong action. [CTB: But we will still let you carry on a 4-inch blade in a pair of scissors, but deadly mascara is off limits]

(…)

M. O'BRIEN: All right. A final thought here. The amount of money spent per passenger on airline safety is tremendous compared to other modes of transportation … Can you say right now, do you feel confident the distribution of money, time and effort is appropriate, or is our mass transit system really vulnerable right now?
HAWLEY: Our mass transit system is a very high priority for us. The disproportion in the budget relates to the fact that we -- we provide the salaries for all of the screeners around the country. And if we were to do that in the transit system from the federal government, it would be something like 688,000 people [CTB: let’s see, at a $40K/year package for each employee….that would be $27 billion a year… or less than three months of spending to support the mess in Iraq]
O'BRIEN: Wow.

Yeah, Wow.

Full transcript

Will Lieberman hurt Democrats House chances?

Joe won't give it up, no matter WHO he hurts. He seems to be suffering a pathological need to hang on to his Senate seat, regardless of the consequences.

In addition to the hotly contested Senate race, where Ned Lamont beat Joe Lieberman so soundly that Joe scurried away from the Democratic party like a wounded opossum, there are three Republican House seats that are up for grabs this November.

Joe Courtney is running for the second time against Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons in the 2nd District; in the 4th District, Democrat Diane Farrell is waging a rematch of her close 2004 battle against U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, a Republican. In the 5th District, Democrat Chris Murphy is challenging 12-term Republican U.S. Rep. Nancy Johnson. These races are critical in the Democrat's efforts to win back the House of Representatives.

And we all know that Joe Lieberman's selfish grasping at the vestiges of his Senate career will hurt the chances of these Democrats.

Joe was quoted in the Hartford Courant when asked who might dissuade him [from running], Lieberman smiled and said, "There is no earthly messenger."

To him, this isn't about politics anymore.

I'm starting to wonder if Lieberman is showing signs of an undiagnosed mental illness. He certainly seems to have lost any sense of proportion regarding this race. Now it's a matter for the Gods to decide, apparently.

Why should that worry anyone?

Bill Clinton slams Joe Lieberman

From RAW STORY, Published: Tuesday August 15, 2006

Former President Bill Clinton spoke publicly for the first time on Senator Joe Lieberman's (D-CT) loss to Ned Lamont in last week's primary, ABC News has reported.

Clinton said that, contrary to Lieberman's claims, the lawmaker's position on the Iraq war was one not shared by many of his fellow Democrats. The former president described Lieberman's stand on the war as, "I want to attack Iraq whether or not they have weapons of mass destruction."

"His position is the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld position," Clinton continued, "which was, 'Does it matter if they have weapons? None of this matters. ... This is a big, important priority, and 9/11 gives us the way of attacking and deposing Saddam.'"

"Well," he told reporters, "if I were Joe and I was running as an independent, that's what I'd say, too... But that's not quite right. That is, there were almost no Democrats who agreed with his position."

Clinton indicated that most Democrats who voted to give President Bush authority to use force did so to persuade Saddam to comply with U.N. weapons inspectors, and were not advocating an invasion.

Clinton also maintained that, despite statements by Lieberman and Vice President Dick Cheney to the contrary, a vote for Ned Lamont was not made at the sacrifice of national security.

Ned visits Naugatuck

Tonight was a perfect night for a concert on a small town green. A band playing oldies performed in front of a mellow crowd sitting in lawn chairs, and Ned Lamont took some time to meet the voters in the small town of Naugatuck.

Even though the voters in this valley town were mostly Lieberman supporters in the Primary, many people were receptive of Lamont, and quite a few sought him out to shake his hand and express their support for his message. The reception indicated that a lot of them were Democrats first, and Lieberman supporters second. They will be there for the Party when it counts.

Ned talks with some local voters.

A longtime Democrat discusses his support for Ned in the Primary.

Abby is nine stickers tall already!

Here's Ned's big secret revealed once and for all! He wears running shoes when he's out among the voters! Stop the presses!

Ned doing what he does best - LISTENING to the voters.

This guy is a genius!

House Speaker Jim Amann obviously has all the answers.

He must be smart; just look at that picture!

Amann can tell that Joe Lieberman is a better politician than Ned Lamont, because he carefully researched the two candidates.

In this article from the Conn Post, KEN DIXON (dixon.connpost@snet.net) wrote:

HARTFORD — Speaker of the House James A. Amann on Monday endorsed U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, breaking from other statewide Democratic leaders to support the three-term incumbent over upstart challenger Ned Lamont.

BTW, thanks a lot ConnPost for labeling Lamont an "upstart". Jeez, you guys just can't stand the fact that he's the properly selected Democratic nominee, can you?

...Amann said that he doesn't know Lamont beyond the fact that he's against the Iraq war and he's a multimillionaire with inherited wealth from Greenwich.

Wow, I hope your impressive millivolt intellect didn't overheat your brainpan figuring THAT ONE out!

Would it have killed you James, to actually TALK to Lamont and learn about his positions on the issues, before running home to Daddy? Oh yeah, that's right, I almost forgot...Ned didn't CALL you personally. You'd think with all the spare time he has right now, the very first thing on the rightful Democratic Nominee's list would be to call a lifelong Democrat and BEG for his support.

After four telephone conversations with Lieberman — the loser by 10,000 votes of last week's primary — Amann, D-Milford, decided to stick with him.

Holy shit! Four phone calls is all it takes to get your endorsement?

The telemarketers must have a big gold star next to your listing in their calling directories; all they have to do is phone you a few times, and suddenly you're getting your carpets steam-cleaned, your kitchen cabinets refaced, and your house stuccoed. Sheesh!

Amann said Lieberman has a good record protecting Social Security,

Flirted with privatizing Social Security

working for the elderly,

Takes money from Big Pharmacutecal companies and is against lower prescription drug laws

children,

No Child Left Behind...

veterans

Iraq is the single biggest cause of disabled veterans this century

and working men and women.

against raising the minimum wage.

Yeah Jim...you're a genius alright!

It was Groucho Glasses!

To Ben Smith at the NY Daily News....
Nice to see you noticed us in the Bloggers' war room, but I was wearing GROUCHO glasses -- please use the corret term in the future.

The sign on the door of the bloggers' room at Ned Lamont's Primary Night election party in Meriden, Conn., read "No filming of this room without authorization." When a local television crew appeared at the door, a woman sitting in back with goofy glasses and a false nose called out, "Mainstream's not supposed to be in here." But the lines were a little blurred. Bloggers filmed one another, and a BBC cameraman roamed free.

Because I blog as well as write for "mainstream," I got a seat at one of the round tables there, rather than in the identical, but desolate, pressroom.

Ben's column continues here

Who Said This?

But today the voters have rendered their verdict, and I accept it. And let me say this: I am ready to support our party's nominee and do whatever I can to deny George W. Bush a second term and give the American people a fresh start.

Give up?

Just When I Thought it was Safe to Watch The Game

You.must.read.this.immediately.

Then watch the video.

Ned's Other Sunday news

Scott Pelley was subbing for Schieffer this week. What a breath of fresh air Lamont was after the Beltway Bloviators! Video clip, courtesy Crooks & Liars

Reliable Sources?
Howie, Howie, Howie. Hey guy, we're here for you if you want to portray Bloggers in a reasonable light so viewers can make up their own minds -- there are even some right-leaning political blogs in CT. So, what's up with the LGF guy?

Here's just a taste:

HUFFINGTON: ... And it was very, very significant that the grassroots and the Net roots came together, as well, as the liberal bloggers, as you call them, as well as mainstream, middle-class Americans, as well as independents.

KURTZ: Let me -- let me just interrupt this commercial for Ned Lamont to ask you this ... let me read you something from "TIME" magazine's Joe Klein just out today and let you respond, Arianna. "There isn't much point in detailing the chest-thumping of the various blog nut extremists. Their reach is miniscule, largely limited to the left's upper crust, and their angry spew is beginning to seem so six months ago." Your response?

HUFFINGTON: You know, Joe Klein is really, really out of touch with what is happening. It was not liberal nuts or extremists or whatever he wants to call them who elected Ned Lamont. He should look at the exit polls. He should look at the demographics. There were many independents. There were 28,000 people who either have never voted before only registered as Democrats to vote in this election. Many middle-class Americans, many moderates. So to try to dismiss this
incredibly significant election is actually to miss what is happening.

Thank God for Arianna!

Full "Reliable" [cough,cough] transcript

Feingold on This Week explaining that Lieberman doesn't get it

Howard Dean on MTP with David Gregory sitting in

Videocast Podcast Transcript

Iif you can carve out the time, you should watch the interview with Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton, chairs of the 9/11 commission. Remember, Lieberman takes credit for creating the Department of Homeland Security. Check out Chertoff (first) then the commissioners (second) then Dean (third) Ken Mehlman brings up the rear.

House speaker Jim Amman stands by Lieberman

OK, this is not only amazingly stupid, but it reeks of the sort of awful treachery that exists only in 18th-century Scottish literature and terrible spy movies.

James Amman has BETRAYED the Democratic Party in Connecticut.

From WTNH-8 TV (Hartford-AP, Aug. 14, 2006 1:35 PM)

Not all Connecticut Democratic leaders are turning their backs on Senator Joe Lieberman and his independent bid for re-election.

Connecticut House Speaker James Amman of Milford is sticking by Lieberman. He says Lieberman has called him three times since last Tuesday's primary asking him for support. Amman says he has not heard anything from Ned Lamont, the Greenwich businessman who won the primary.

Awwww, so did Ned hurt your widdle feelings because you weren't at the top of his speed-dial list, James? Are you saying that you're the kind of politician who will give your endorsement to whichever candidate sufficiently strokes your overblown ego?

Is THAT what you're saying here, James?

Amman says he understands some Democrats who are now backing Lamont may take issue with his endorsement of Lieberman. But he says there are times when you stand with a friend no matter what the political costs are.

Gosh James, it's kind of sad the way you're willing to throw away the will of the Democratic Voters of Connectict, (a group of people who have treated you fairly well and allowed you to climb to heights you probably never dreamed of) simply for what you call "friendship".

What a guy. I'd really like you to back me up if I get into a bar fight; or if you're playing on my softball team and you make a game saving play. That's being a "friend". A good friend.

But to actively BETRAY the WILL OF THE VOTERS, that's not being a friend. That's being a PROBLEM.

Jim, could it be that you're so bold because you AREN'T being challenged for your seat this year here in our district? You are pretty much assured of another two years of living high on the hog, courtesy of that very Democratic Party that you so casually tossed aside today.

I guess you're feeling pretty confident, aren't you, Jim?

He says he's not going to be alone. He believes there will be other Democrats, town chairmen and union leaders who will come forward to back Lieberman.

Hey, I'm sure Benedict Arnold wasn't the ONLY guy to shift his loyalties during the American Revolution, but we sure know how well THAT turned out for them!

Jim, as a voter in your district, and someone who's given his support to you several times over the years, I'd just like to say one thing.

You're no longer welcome.

Because James, your behaviour will encourage Joe Lieberman to continue his doomed campaign to hold onto his Senate seat as if it was a God-given right, and will further fracture our DEMOCRATIC party and severely harm the chances we have here in Connecticut to gain THREE ADDITIONAL HOUSE SEATS.

But you go ahead and take care of your friends, Jim. That's what REALLY counts; not the will of the voters.

And if you don't remember your actions today Jim, don't worry...we will.

"You're on notice!"

Tip o' the Hat to the fabulous Maura!

Make your own sign HERE.

Ned on FNS

Here’s your Ned Lamont Sunday roundup, courtesy of CTBob Blog: FNS

Chronologically here in CT, Ned was on Fox News Sunday first. Interviewed by Chris Wallace, Ned gave as good as he got. Mr. Kirby noted that this is a man that actually answers the questions posed to him. Amazingly refreshing. He also makes declarative statements such as

WALLACE: Mr. Lamont, does your victory show that at least some Americans are weakening in their will to fight the War on Terror?
LAMONT: No, I think on the contrary. What this election showed is that a lot of people in Connecticut think that the invasion of Iraq has nothing to do with our War on Terror. It's been a terrible distraction.


Read the full FNC transcript
Listen to the FNC podcast of the Lamont interview

WALLACE: When Vice President Cheney said that your victory encourages the Al Qaeda types, did you find that offensive?
LAMONT: Yeah, I did find that offensive. I find that terribly harsh and wrong. Look, what's going to — what we ought to be doing is fighting the War on Terror in a serious way. I think we've gotten a little bit complacent, to tell you the truth. Maybe we've had a wake-up call in the last couple of days.
We ought to be focused on homeland security. We ought to be focused on our ports, on our airports and public transportation, a lot of which you were talking about here today.
We also are much stronger when we work in concert with our allies, when we have shared intelligence. And I think that we've taken our eye off the ball there a little bit, and I think it's time to focus.

WALLACE: Mr. Lamont, what do you think happens to Iraqis who trusted us to protect them from the insurgents? What do you think happens with all the sectarian violence if we pull all of our troops out in less than a year?
LAMONT: Look what's happening now. We've been there three years. We've gone from greeted as liberators to just a few dead-enders to some sectarian violence to civil war. You know, unlike Senator Lieberman, unlike President Bush, I think we've got to look at the facts on the ground.

Things are getting worse, and our very visible front-line presence is making the situation worse in many ways. So let's be clear with the Maliki government. Let's say we have no permanent intentions upon your military bases. We're going to not be here on a permanent basis. It's not unconditional. We're going to start bringing our troops home, and we ought to have them home within a year. I think that's reasonable, gives them time, their 200,000 troops to step up.

But it's a basic message. I mean, President Bush says we'll stand down as soon as the Iraqis stand up. I turn that on its head. I think the Iraqis won't stand up until we stand down. So let's negotiate a phased withdrawal. Chris, we'll be there. We'll be there for humanitarian support. We'll be there for reconstruction. But now's the time to get the very American face off of this
perceived occupation.

Reporter and Photog Captured in Gaza

Two Fox News journalists have been taken captive in Gaza: reporter Steve Centanni and photojournalist Oalf Wiig. With the series on Jill Carroll's captivity in Iraq starting today, we pray that any journalists captured while reporting are safe and returned to their families as soon as possible. Out of respect for the journalists (not FNC) we will keep the snark toward FNC to a minimum today.

Visit Dependable Renegade TODAY!

Today is WaterTiger's birthday at Dependable Renegade, the best snark with the best daily news photos. Click through so she can hit 1 million by the end of the day!

What I do when I'm NOT blogging

I'll admit it; this is a little self-indulgent. I've posted the same thing on my other blogs (links on right).

But if Joe Lieberman can start his own stupid political party, I can put a video up about my weekend.

And by me doing this, I won't be destroying the Democratic party like Joe is trying to do!

So, after our wonderful primary victory last week, Joyce & I took the following weekend off for a sailing getaway. Here's the results:

New Joe-Old Joe

From this article By DAVID LIGHTMAN, Washington Bureau Chief, in the Hartford Courant:

...Lieberman insisted there is no New Joe-Old Joe dichotomy.

"I think I stayed who I have always been throughout my Senate service," he said in an interview Friday.

But nine longtime Lieberman friends - many of whom would not let their names be used out of concern for their relationships with the senator - said otherwise.

"I don't think he's operated in the last few years the way he operated earlier," said Norman Ornstein, an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute and longtime Lieberman friend. "He hasn't cut people out, but there used to be more dialogue with others."

Lieberman has long balanced two forces in his public life: his faith and value system, which provides the underpinning for his views on many topics, and his political instincts.

But in recent years, the moral side had been gaining prominence and the political acumen seemed to be fading. The old gang is not certain why that happened, but in conversations with nine people from this crowd, they almost uniformly said Lieberman was deeply affected by an accumulation of personal and public setbacks unlike anything he's known in his 64 years.

Some of these friends said no one can know how Lieberman still deals with the blow he suffered in 2000. His vice presidential run was the perfect validation of all he had worked for.

Lieberman hoped his campaign would gain him his party's respect - and strong support - as the Democratic 2004 presidential front-runner. He again thought that his vow to stick by his moral code, this time by not formally entering the race until Gore made up his mind about 2004, would help that cause.

For the first time in his public life, that political logic went haywire. By 2002, Democratic voters were raising serious questions about his support for the Iraq war, and the next year, even Gore left Lieberman's side, endorsing not his loyal lieutenant, but Lieberman nemesis and anti-war hero Howard Dean.

Lieberman was deeply affected by the presidential campaign, unable to fathom how Democrats he had courted all his life could so starkly reject him.

"That race was very different from the unbelievable events of 2000," he said. "This was a time where my party was heading in a very different direction, and I thought I was right.

And I refuse to change when I believe the position I was articulating was right."...

That, I feel, is the core problem with Joe Lieberman. His inability to believe that anyone with a differing opinion can possibly be correct. Lieberman suffers from what is sometimes referred to as an "infallibility complex", where he can see no merits in a position that opposes what he believes.

His unbending stance on our continued occupation of Iraq is a prime example. For him to admit that it was wrong to invade Iraq, and it's wrong to stay there indefinitely, would be impossible. He's too emotionally attached to his position, and he can no more change that position than a leopard can change its spots.

There's no doubt about it. And whether because of ego or weakness, he has lost sight of what's important - the people of Connecticut and of the nation.

"ConnecticutBob.Com"

Much like the soon-to-be-retired Senator Lieberman, I also neglected to reserve my web site's domain name until quite late.

Unlike the Senator however, nobody gave a crap about snatching my domain name, so Connecticutbob.com is still available.

True to the Senator's lack of internet saavy, somebody immediately did a domain search on "ConnecticutForLieberman.Com" after the new party was announced, found that it was just sitting there, ripe for the taking, and fifteen minutes (and $15) later, the domain was secured.

By someone other than Joe's campaign staff.

No wonder their crappy website crashed (and burned; for many hours) on Primary Day. These guys just don't get it!

Late last week I finally got around to registering our domain, so now we're officially "Connecticutbob.com", rather than the clunky, inelegant, awkward "ctbob.blogspot.com". BTW, "Connecticutbob.com" takes you right here, to this blog.

This will make it easier for me whenever somebody asks me my blog address, and it'll look cooler on the business cards.

Now...should I think about designing a T-shirt?

CT Blogger's Video

This is me during one of my rare "normal looking" moments at the Sheraton Hotel, Lamont HQ for the night.

CT Blogger from Connecticut Blog posted a 20-minute video of Ned Lamont's acceptance speech from Primary Night, bracketed by video interviews with yours truly, along with many of the local bloggers who have supported the campaign for quite a while.

I have to admit it, I might not be taken entirely seriously based on my appearance that night. Sometimes I do indulge in behaviour that might be considered "goofy". Such is my lot in life.

But I do have my reasons. In fact, I prefer to not be taken seriously; it always works in your favor if the opposition under-estimates you. I'd rather look a little goofy and be smart, than appear smart and actually be irretrievably goofy. (I think that was a quote from Sun-Tzu.)

All goofiness aside, here's the video from CT Blogger; you can just feel the excitement!

We DID Rock Their World!

I'm on deadline for a project, so I will follow up with more links and details later. But, Ned's national roll out on Face the Nation and Fox News Sunday was terrific -- particularly sparring with Chris Wallace. Chris Matthews' syndicated Sunday show devoted a lot of time to it, and he talked about the voters of CT -- who made the effort on a hot August -- to stand up and be counted -- for change. No more business as usual.

Being in such a small state, we are used to being ignored in national elections. This time, we were in the brightest spotlight and we stood up and shook the conventional wisdom to the core. It's all about one step at a time -- and we get that.

Your Morning News Quiz

This morning on the Today show, Lester Holt in London was interviewing a leader of the Muslim community who talked about the mischaracterization of Muslim = evil (akin to blogger = nut job) They talked about how it was members of the Muslim community that provided the tips to Scotland Yard and without concerned people stepping forward, 10 jets would have fallen out of the sky Wednesday, the 16th.

Am I the only well-informed person who reads newspapers and online who didn't know that's how the British authorities broke the plot? Somehow, I didn't think so -- doesn't sound like it would be on key with the magic Wurlitzer here in the US.

Define "Support"

According to Google, here are two definitions of the term "support"

to corroborate: support with evidence or authority or make more certain or confirm; "The claims were supported by the evidence"
to defend: argue or speak in defense of; "She supported the motion to strike"

So many prominent Democrats announced their support of Ned Lamont as the voter's choice as our Democratic nominee for Senate. It was what true Democrats should do -- and ConnecticutBLOG (bless you, CTB) boiled it down to "the simple question" and asked "Will you support the democratic nominee for Senate?" He has an honor roll and a hall of shame.

OK, guys, what the hell does support mean to you?? Who is going to rhetorically jump down Lieberman's throat and pull out all the absolutely ridiculous suggestions that Ned's position on Iraq makes us more vulnerable to "attacks like 9-11"?? Support doesn't mean standing on a podium in back of Ned, folks. It means shouting down this angry voice from CT spewing RNC talking points. Let's go!

This afternoon, Colin McEnroe suggested we keep our eyes and ears on one Al Gore and John Kerry to start the smackdown. It had better be soon.

Oh, and by the way, if you didn't already know, Ned will be on broadcast Fox News Sunday this week.

Some Random Thoughts.....

CTBob is enjoying some well-deserved downtime this weekend sailing. Mr. Kirby and I are meeting friends at the Yankees-Angels game tomorrow afternoon (but you won't recognize me on TV because I won't have my incognito blogger look).

As far as the White House angle on this one, remember a very important thing --- if Joe somehow won the election in Nov, then I'm betting he gets offered the SecDef job. I will be stunned if Jodi Rell loses the governor's seat -- she's milquetoast enough and hasn't done much of consequence one way or the other with the D controlled legislature in Hartford so that a groundswell would really vote against her.

Um, that would be a REPUB governor who would replace Lieberman with the person of her choice. Hmmmm, would that be Ned? No, think harder .....

Another way for Lieberman to screw the D out of the majority in the Senate -- take the SecDef job and be replaced with a Repub in the Senate. There's a gold-plated screw job for you.

The backlash against Joe begins

From a post by bookwoman at Fire Dog Lake today:

We have a Labor Day parade in our (Connecticut) town, which is fun for town organizations and our high school marching band, but it’s also the traditional kick-off to the election season. State and and national politicians always walk the parade and both sides of the aisle are welcome; it’s good visibility and gets the constituents pumped up.

However, this year our first selectman has written Mr. Lieberman and respectfully requested that he NOT participate.

Hopefully, this is just the beginning where Joe, Party of One, is on a slippery slope to nowhere.

I'm trying to find out which town and first selectman this is, because I'd love to interview him! Hopefully bookwoman will get in touch with me on this.

If "both sides of the aisle are welcome", that leaves Joe Lieberman standing on the outside. Time to give it up, Senator.

Joe says, "Connecticut is a small state..."

"...and it's just a short ride to another party!"

Visit Joe at the all new "Connecticut For Lieberman.Com" website!

Updated and better than ever!

New link to our complete Primary Day coverage!

We might not have had the full resources of the major networks in our coverage of the Primary, but between you and me, I think we did a passable job.

Kirby and I were fortunate enough to have complete access to the Blogger's war room, and we had decent wi-fi access, and both our computers worked well, even though mine is being held together with duct tape and fishing string.

Here's a one-time blog that I created to display all of the Primary day coverage, in chronological order, on a single big page. I turned off the comments there, so if you want to read the many exceptional comments we received, you'll have to find them in the Week of August 6th archives.

And now, here's Connecticut Bob's Primary Day Coverage, with our new permanent blog member, Kirby!

Lamont - Lieberman Vote by Town

Here's a great map of how the votes went in CT.

Yay! Kirby's in da house!

Welcome!

Joyce and I raced our sailboat tonight. This is the first time in nearly two weeks that we've been on the boat, and it was a great race! This weekend, we're going over to Port Jeff for a little R&R (although last night I finally have gotten enough sleep to start having coherent thoughts)

I had an idea regarding our Primary Night coverage. I'm going to set up a separate link that will display all 73 or so posts we made that night, IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, rather than that annoying newest to oldest order that the archives here use. That way you'll be able to relive the excitement of that amazing night; or be able to see what all the fuss was about if you missed it.

It might take me a few days to put it together, but it'll be neat once it's done!

And we're seeing more and more support for the "Give It Up, Joe" movement, where he should come to terms with the will of the Democrats, and retire with some dignity. Today the New Haven Register called for Joe to quit, and many big Dems are jumping on the bandwagon.

There's a new kid in town, and he's gonna shake things up in DC! There ain't no stoppin' him now!

What Next?

Amazing that Ned's win on Tuesday night led to this terror plot in London today -- boy, those al-Qaida's sure are fast. Lightning speed.

Jonathan Alter on Countdown, "The only thing we [the Rs] have to USE is fear itself."

Amazing how powerful we are now -- that all Ds are being threatened if they endorse Ned as the state primary winner, they will be tarred with the soft on terrorism goo.

Sorry, but I think the ~80% of all Americans who want us out of Iraq have figured out that the only connection between Iraq and terrorism is that Bush's folly has made Iraq much more hospitable to terrorists. THIS from TRex is a must read if you need to convince anyone why we need to get out of Iraq

My brain hurts too much tonight for analysis -- I need to just watch the Yankees game and then go to bed, hoping there isn't another crisis in the AM. Thank God for XM Radio!

The Original Kirby

Hi Folks,
I am delighted to join Bob here at CTBob -- I finally got hooked for good primary night! Here is my inspiration -- this was taken the day after we got Kirby 8 years ago, and we knew with the look on his face he was going to be trouble. Some people would say the same about me.
And, here's the whole family -- all from the same breeder: Kirby, Gidget, Paulie, Mel. After our lesson with Kirby, the others came after the breeder had trained them and for some reason they failed championship status.
Mr. Kirby spent his first day yesterday reading FDL, CTBob (he never did see the published version of our adventure TU night, and ConnecticutBLOG

I am humbled by CTBob's praises and your welcomes, and look forward to helping Bob out with the workload so we can give you more posts and you'll stop back every day!

Kirby is joining "Team Connecticut...Bob"

On Primary Night, Joe Lieberman proudly proclaimed his new party to be "Team Connecticut". Well, here at the REAL "Team Connecticut (Bob)", we're taking some steps to expand and improve our blog.

The awesome Kirby (seen here wearing her "secret blogging disguise"), who worked tirelessly in the bloggers "war room" on Primary Night, has suggested that she become a regular poster here on Connecticut Bob.

Of course, I immediately and enthusiastically accepted her somewhat foolish offer (probably made in a moment of weakness, but it's too late for her to take it back), and I'm currently in the process of granting her full rights to the blog.

That way she can easily post articles, pictures, and links, plus moderate comments (not that that's been much of an issue here) and do other various reporting and administrating-type activities. And that frees me up to do more fun stuff like shooting video and drinking beer.

It almost seems too good to be true!

Join me in welcoming Kirby, and please make her feel at home!

Post-primary analysis at Sullivan's

Otherwise known as "Blogger Central" for most of the last 5 days, Sullivan's on Chapel St (near Park St) in New Haven is a cozy pub; with good food, drink, and sidewalk tables which allows you to enjoy the fine weather and some people watching.

But tonight, all eyes were looking forward, at the run for the Senate culminating in November. That is, the eyes that weren't already half-closed due to sleep deprivation and the effects of celebrating the phenomenal victory last night.

A tired but happy crew. (L to R) Will from the BBC who's shooting a documentary about the campaign and has become our friend (along with James the other BBC documentarian who was absent and probably drinking heavily if you ask me), Tim Tagaris (the birthday boy, who just turned 21 years young today!), and DeanFan84 and CT Keith (my two most favorite insurgants).

Jane (in a rather fetching frock) with me, and I dare you to tell me who you think is more tired. C'mon, I dare ya! C'mon....

...and the answer is, of course, that we're BOTH exhausted. It's a trick question. LOL.

OK, time to sleep. Colbert finally finished his Lieberman teasing. G'night.

Oh, Sir......

This one's for you, CT Bob.....kirby

CT Bob UPDATE: I just went and counted how many posts we had between 7AM and 1AM on Primary Day...the fabulous Kirby along with the redoubtable Connecticut Bob put up a total of 73 freakin' posts! Wow, I knew Kirby was blogging like a maniac, but DAAAYAAAMMMM! 4 videos, and I didn't count the pictures, but you can assume it's a LOT of 'em, buster!

Dog tired but happy

I just got home from work; did a lot of driving today. I'm also trying to catch up on my emails and the blogs, but I think it's gonna be a few days before I'm back up to speed on everything.

This was me savoring the victory in a rare moment of quiet; right after this, I probably quickly finished what I was working on and then scurried off somewhere to shoot more video. Boy, do I look tanned in this picture! I fully expect to tan even more over the next few weeks on my sailboat.

Last night was a sweet win. The entire day, from my first post around 7AM until my last sometime after midnight, was a tense, excited and hectic time. Being in the grand ballroom when Ned appeared for his acceptance speech was possibly one of the highlights of my entire life.

When Ned wrapped his speech with his trademark "...I'm Ned Lamont, and I approved this message," the entire crowd started chanting "So Do We! So Do We!" while pumping their fists in the air. It was amazing and very moving.

I do have one complaint, though; if I ever find the bastard who invented foil confetti, I would enjoy introducing him to my fist. Repeatedly. That shit gets all stuck in your skin, down your neck, in your ears; and it itches like hell. Why not PAPER confetti, you knucklehead? Jesus Christ, out of all the things in the world that can stand improvement, PAPER CONFETTI wasn't one of them! Cure cancer or something, genius.

Anyway, I wasn't going to let metallic shrapnel-laced confetti ruin my night, and I was proud to have the foresight to cover my can of Amstel Light with my hand when they began peppering the crowd with it, so I remained in a good mood. Filming Ned coming down off the platform, he shook my hand while I tried to videotape him; and you can't hear it, but I was yelling "Thank you for winning, Ned!" as he greeted me.

It was really great back in the blogger's War Room. We had the TV going and people were laughing and hooting at the replay of Lieberman's concession speech (which was really more of a "Fuck you, Democrats" speech, in my opinion) and simply relishing the victory in great company. I've never seen more smiles at one time in my life.

Maxine's visit was awesome, and it really makes us proud to know that the politicians are starting to recognize that we ARE making a difference and contributing to the efforts.

There were a certain amount of MSM people wandering around the war room during the evening. Eventually they started getting annoying, and as a reporter sat next to me while I was frantically editing a video, he kept asking me questions and breaking my concentration. Finally I stopped what I was doing and said, "Look, we're journalists here too. How would you guys over in your media room feel about being asked questions while you're scribbling in your little notepads and typing in your computers?"

He was quiet for a moment and then said, "Good point," and got up and left. A little later we ushered all the media out of the room and had a brief closed-door discussion about whether or not to allow the media access. Several people at first were in favor of letting them stay, but I spoke up and said that their endless questions were a distraction and that we're here to do what we do, not be a part of some reporter's story. Then Tim spoke about how the MSM has almost never made us look good in a story anyway, and by then most of the people began voicing agreement about keeping them out unless we absolutely didn't mind.

Much later, after the results were official, they pretty much had complete run of the place. Most of us had slowed down on the heavy work (not Kirby though...) and were free to chat with the reporters. Editing that final video of the night was a little bittersweet for me, because it signaled the end of what had been the absolute best day of blogging I could ever have imagined! We pulled something like 50,000 hits during the course of the day, which for a little blog like this is absolutely amazing.

All the work and all the worry paid off in the end, and we had fun doing it. Again, I can't properly express how awesome Kirby and her hubby Bob were during the course of the events, and you'll be seeing a lot of Kirby posting on "Connecticut Bob" in the future.

After I packed up and loaded up the car, I went back in and started wrapping up with people. As I mentioned, we gathered briefly in Branford Boy's suite for a quick nip o' fine single malt, and then I was on my way back down the elevator.

I exited the lift, poked my head one more time into the war room, said good-bye to anyone I recognized in there and quite a few people I didn't, grabbed a slice of pizza that was just delivered (how do you get great pizza delivered at 2AM?) and walked out of the room.

Halfway down the hall I had a thought, turned around and went back to the war room, and grabbed the Bloggers Media Room sign for a souvenier. A Lamont staffer saw me, then turned to the door of the Regular Media Room and snatched THAT sign! We grinned at each other and walked away.

The list of local bloggers to whom I owe a debt of gratitude is huge and endless, so forgive me if your name isn't on here. I'm tired and want to get this posted before the 7PM Blogger outage:

CT Blogger, Spazeboy, Branford Boy, DeanFan84, T.Party, CTKeith, Jon K, Maura, Scarce (we're going to find you someday!), Neal F, JoeMentum, Dad (KISS float), and a bunch of others I'm too brain-dead to list right now. Of course, Jane Hamsher of Fire Dog Lake was one of my inspirations for getting into political blogging in the first place, and rest assured, I will never forgive her for it!

Everyone else, please don't hate me...I'm so tired I'm seeing double right now; I really appreciate all the work you've done (that I steal regularly).

...and of course, once again, Kirby!

Tonight I have to make one last trip, back to Sullivan's to say farewell to anyone who's leaving CT, and also to drop off my mini-documentary tape with the BBC guys. I'm sure I'll be enormously embarrassed by the documentary they're going to put together and release some time in December, but I'll deal with it then. They have a lot of jokes that I made about them to get even for.

For now, for me tonight, this is gonna feel sort of like the circus is leaving town.

But don't worry, "The Show" will be back before we know it. Bigger and better!

The Morning After....

Posted by Kirby noon Eastern

Well, it was morning when I finally opened my eyes this morning. Our own CT Bob did an amazing job -- we learned that teaming up is really the only way to do this -- he was able to go out and gather video and still shots while I held the fort down and typed and edited photos. I can't help but look at national media and read papers online and wonder "What election are they talking about?" This isn't the first time I have been in the middle of a story and then didn't recognize the story when told by others, but this is the most bizarre of all.

As we predicted, the Ds are falling in line behind the party nominee -- that would be Ned -- and it will just be a time to sit back and let those machinations work out themselves. Meanwhile, we can just sit back and listen to ourselves be characterized by the MSM while they try to figure out which way the power is shifting and how the pundits can get themselves in the middle of it. Be sure to check back later today -- Bob shot amazing video of Jessie Jackson and Maxine Waters in our blogger room -- they were incredibly moving and inspirational. And believe me, he has more tricks up his sleeve to share once he gets some sleep and does some paying work.

Fortunately, this is a new world -- a democracy, if you will -- in which people with access to computers and a desire to report from the ground can be on equal footing with the beautiful people lined up in front of their cameras with makeup you could scrape off with a putty knife who follow power. We follow ideas. We follow ideals. We follow people without hidden agendas. We follow those who want to serve their constituents. We follow people who care about their fellow man and supporting this amazing experiment called the United States and getting it back in line with the Constitution our framers brilliantly constructed so as to remain our guiding principle here, 200+ years later.

We are thousands of points of light, flickering in the darkness to those who have almost lost hope in how great America can be again. WE are the patriots.

I only WISH I could have partied the night away...

...but after finishing up my posting, and loading my gear into the car, I had time for one final victory lap, then a quick nightcap up in Branford Boy's suite, where many of the local CT bloggers were gathered (and he and his charming wife Sally had a big bottle of a very fine single malt scotch which nearly pursuaded me to stay much later), but I needed to get home before I completely ran out of steam.

3AM was sleep, safe at home; then up at 7:30, and now I'm about to go to work. I'll be offline for a few hours at least, so in the meantime, please watch this video (and reflect that we're well on the way to it becoming reality) and check out the other fine Connecticut blogs that are linked at the right. I don't think Ned would have had a chance last night if it wasn't for them!

The Party Goes On....

This will be our last post for tonight. I, Kirby am home, and we left CTBob to party the night away with the rest of BlogNation at the Lamont party. Before I left, though, I brought Maxine Waters from the ballroom to the blog room -- it was just terrific. The respect for us is amazing. We are the new precinct captains.

The gal second in command for media tonight was in the middle of the ballroom when Ned came off the podium, and her phone rang. "Hello, this is Senator Kennedy, and I would like to personally congratulate Ned!" She scrambled to get her phone to Ned right away.

No gloating, just deep felt satisfaction that we.won.one. A couple of days to let the dust settle and see how much pressure Lieberman gets to go away --- and take a couple of cleansing breaths.

The earthquake shook about 11:15pm Eastern time -- tsunami warnings are up for the AM.

Our bet is that all the Ds in office will be running to make Ned their new best friend -- with the excuse that they had to back the convention nominee, but they really loved Ned all along, and maybe he can immunize them on the war. Word on the street is -- is there a prominent D who would even be seen with Lieberman now? Too late for him to become R candidate, but if the Rs can kick their candidate, Schlesinger, they can cross-endorse Lieberman, and he would be on the line with a very popular incumbent R governor.

Here, as a coda on the day, is what the blog room looked like while Ned was on the podium times the 5 tables we worked at


It's nice to be signing off to go sleep the sleep of the just. It was a joy to bring tonight to you....kirby

Last post of the evening by CT Bob- some video joy

Before I sign off for the night at a victory party here in Meriden, I want to thank Kirby for doing an absolutely AMAZING job tonight! Kirby, you're a rock star! I love you forever!

Thanks also to Mr. Kirby for providing support and yoman duty, and for calling in reports from the floor.

And most of all, thank YOU folks, for driving us to excel at this wonderful and terrible thing we call a blog!

G'night folks!

Two more pictures while I work on the video

Ned with Annie and Rep. Maxine Waters during his acceptance speech. The stage was crowded with Ned supporters, but I got a great angle for this shot.

Me, with my victory cigar. Man, this feels fucking GOOD!

Ned's speech

For those of you looking...CT Bob has most of Ned's speech -- but it should be up on C-SPAN sooner. We're not pulling all nighters, we can polish and post more tomorrow.

CT Bob is back from the ballroom

With pictures and video to upload. Here's one to look at while I work on my video. Video should be up in about 20 minutes. This is Ned right after his acceptance speech.

And one for the road.......

I guess now I am officially Kirby from CT Bob!

I, too am pooped, and am going home. I will post one or two more from there before I actually turn in. Our bandwidth here is dying. I am not one for the loud partying. My work is done for tonight. I want to go home and read what everyone else posted tonight!

CTBob is working on video posts -- he'll probably be blogging for about another hour.

It's.great.to.win.one. We have changed the world tonight. Together. Forever.

Now the Analysis Begins

OK, immediate issues here. That Lieberman speech just stunned everyone here -- people who are not ones to be surprised by the total classlessness of that campaign were amazed at how low he can continue to sink.

When will the Ds make those phone calls? Who is going to sit on him? We have serious concerns that he is not reachable at this point --- I can't wait to see how the Ds in Congress respond to this -- all the elected Ds here have vanished.

More from CT Bob in video. Our work here for the night is close to finished. Thanks to all who shared this with us tonight. There is no place else I would want to be than sharing this with all of you tonight.

Thank you, Mr. Kirby

Now that's it's just me and Mr. Kirby, I must admit the tears are rolling down my cheeks. I have the best husband ever. He has Lyme disease and has been here by my side since noon. He brought Jessie Jackson in here, he got a press pass to Maura so she could get in after she worked the polls all day....and he is pooped. Thank you, Mr. Kirby, I love you.

The Next Democratic Senator From the State of CT

Ladies and Gentlemen, your Democratic nominee for Senate....Ned Lamont


Hi guys,
The blogger room has pretty much emptied out here -- everyone grabbed a beer and are going to the ballroom to celebrate. Mr. Kirby and I will celebrate here, watching on TV.

On the podium with Ned, Sharpton, Jackson, Maxine that we can see. None of the D office holders that were behind Lieberman made it here in time -- about 20 min..

Very interesting how this will play tomorrow.

More Joe

....a sense of unity and purpose. If the people of CT are good enough to send me back to Washington as an independent democrat, I will contiunue to fight for our national security...I never hesitate to work with members of the other party.

I will always do what I believe is right for the country

[note -- no elected Ds are visible on the podium with Joe to announce his "new campaign" -- very telling]

And let me say to the people outside of CT -- if you're tired of the nasty politics, go to my web site ... and join our fight. Don't hesitate to send a campaign contribution.

It's promises of opportunity and equality of purpose, we can work together....not partisanship is what we need....with God's help -- join me in this mission.

Lieberman speaks

We are watching Lieberman at the podium now

Your support has sustained my family... made it a much closer race than pundits predicting...on the way down the street, I called Ned Lamont and congratulated him (wild screams and applause here)

As I see it, in this campaign, we just finished the first half, but in the second half, our team, "Team Connecticut" will surge ahead to victory"

Of course disappointed by the result....disappointed not just because I lost but because of the partisan polarization

We will not let this result stand...

I expecrt my opponent will continue to do in the general what he has done in the primary (bloggers say KICK YOUR ASS!) Same old partisan politics that have paralyzed Congress today. I want to provide solutions, not point fingers

I want to make my country a better place to live and work, and with your help I will...a lot of people in this state, not just Ds are angry at the direction in which this country is moving with petty partisanship and bickering in Washington.

...I am fed up too. My friends, in Wash these days, every compromise is surrender...
it's time for our elected leaders to stop playing political games to get things done for the people who are good enough to send us to Washington to serve them.

More on the Race

No concession call from Lieberman -- he is expected to announce his Independent campaign kickoff at his hotel in Hartford -- when? we do not know.

We. Won.

It's official from WFSB -- Ned has won. We just got the 20-minute warning for Ned's appearance.

WTIC

This one's for you, Helmecki.

Tim's take

"We still have a ways to go" Tim Tagaris 10:40pm

We are seriously in a holding pattern now -- supposition is that Lieberman not conceding. No new numbers, and people are starting to get annoyed. The D office holders are all in Hartford -- we have the people power here.

We still can't get a sense of the outside media here -- we really are isolated in a small room. We can't find Drudge's source for declaring Lamont the winner.

133 000 Lamont
125 000 Lieberman
with 92% of precincts

We are also getting word that we may be crashing the blogosphere -- hopefully we'll be able to stay on!

Don't Feel Sorry for Us

One blogger delivered a styrofoam container of 24 iced Amstels, so we are surviving. Here is where we are in relation to the bar here -- before it got dark....the white skirt on the right is the bar, and we are behind the glass door off the little courtyard.

Hartford

Reports coming in to the blog room are that Lamont won almost every precinct in Hartford -- if this is true, that's the ball game. Hard to get anything for attribution, but these are folks we have been working with all day.

The Last Waiting Game

Well, the numbers haven't changed here officially on the tote board, but word is leaking out, not for attribution, that considering what's in and from which precincts, we.won.

Blogger room on overload

This room is packed -- so much for the rules and calling this a work room for bloggers. CT Bob and I are actually working, screaming at Blogger to load more quickly. It's so loud, we really can't hear much except the person next to you...we are praying the hotel WiFi doesn't crash, but so far so good. MSM just put out a call to interview bloggers.

While it is feeling increasingly celebratory, the ballroom is packed, so I will stay here and live blog -- watching on TV like the rest of you!

Drudge at 10:10PM EDT

Getting close

I just got the word that Ned is expected at the podium "within the hour" it is looking very good here. Lots of scuttlebut about how Lieberman will handle the concession and try to step on the Ned story tomorrow by doing something regarding his Indy campaign tonight.

If you can bear, Alan Colmes is live on FNC from our ballroom. The mood is upbeat and somewhat relieved. I can't help but think of that classic movie The Candidate when Robert Redford won, hid in the bathroom and said "What the hell do we do now?"

If I had to guess, Lieberman, if he concedes will want the straight up at 11pm, with Ned to follow.

I increased the posts on this page

10:00 - It was set at 20 posts, but I just increased it to 100. Which means the page may take longer to load, but you'll see all the posts from today without having to visit the archive.

We're getting psyched for a possible big announcement. I'm going into the ballroom right now; Kirby will continue posting.

"Fox News Lies"

Lead continues

With 542/743 precincts

Lamont 117,678
Lieberman 110,339

We are way ahead of WTIC's live stream on the results

Rev. Jesse Jackson talks to the bloggers

9:50PM - Moments before the polls closed, the Rev. Jesse Jackson stopped by the blogger's War Room to thank us for our work, and spoke for 10 minutes on the importance of this election.

It's times like this that makes me proud to be associated with the wonderful people who support Ned Lamont.

Looking good

While things are not for sure now, latest numbers here at the hotel
80% in
Lamont 117000
Lieberman 103000

MSM is OK

Here's Kirby as your humble scribe with one of the good guys of the MSM -- Jeff Kurz here in Meriden with the Meriden Record-Journal. He brought by Jennifer Manes who was at the massacre at Ted's. I, kirby, am incognito

45% of precincts

Lamont 76,000
Lieberman 66,000

with 45%

Secy of state says their Web site is down because of way too much traffic

Most of absentee ballots are in and being counted now.

Kevin Rennie, Hartford Courant columnist reporting that Rs are waiting by the phones to endorse Joe and step on a Lamont win story --- take that for what it's worth.

CT Blogger and CT Bob in the house!

38%

38% of precincts

Lamont 54000
Lieberman 46000

Local news

Correction -- Lieberman won the district in which he grew up in Stamford -- no report on his New Haven residence district

Forget what we said earlier about this being quick -- all great plans of mice and men....

52% DeStefano
48% Malloy governor

Present here (not in the room, though): Maxine Waters, Jessie Jackson, Lowell Weicker

Ned is upstairs in the house

54000 Lamont
46000 Lieberman

No photos for a while

9:26PM - Things are heating up here. The numbers are looking promising; we're all very tense, but seriously excited. We're starting to feel it. The ballroom is getting crowded with people milling around, rumors flying and speculation is rampant.

This is it!

Latest numbers

253/743

60K Lamont
50K Lieberman

49K Lamont
42K Lieberman

about 30%

Precincts

Total Precincts 743

208/743

47K Lamont
39K Lieberman

More votes

189 precincts

Lamont 43,000
Lieberman 39,000

Still don't have demographics yet

Secy of state is totally crashed from the traffic --- WTNH not doing much better. Now that we are getting numbers here, we will probably be close to on time here.

Lamont Campaign numbers at 8:56pm

154 precincts in
36,000 Lamont
29,000 Lieberman

FLASH!

We just got work that Lieberman lost his home precinct!

Early!

Early report on machine vote in Danbury -- Lamont by 15 votes. Still working on confirming the number

Early results

Best place to track results right now is
http://web.wtnh.com/2006voteprimary/race200.html

We don't have any extra info at this time.

This is the site we're watching along with the other blog brain trust here.

Busy, no time for anything but collecting info now.

Tim's Send Off

Still waiting for the results system here to come up. Bob just got Tim Tagaris on video == "We don't know anything yet, but now that the polls are closed, I have to say thank you -- and he was drowned out by applause and "Win! Win! Win!"

We are not geting results here yet -- probably a technical glitch getting it to us -- results on TV reporting 1% 57-43 Lamont.

No word yet...but here's SPAZEBOY! 8:08PM

The Ned View

This is Ned's view -- I took this at 6pm -- remember it later.

This is Kirby here -- I'm doing most of the blogging while Bob is out in the real world here at the hotel. All mistakes are mine and all the good stuff should be credited to CT Bob. Stay tuned. 2 minutes to go

Counting Down....

We are going to hold on photos here for a while -- once the polls close we want to post ASAP and photos will slow us down. Here are two to hold you over. Remember this when you see live tonight.

Jessie Jackson "Where the Truth Is"

Mr. Kirby saw Jessie Jackson in the hall and invited him in here, to blog central -- the Rev. Jackson said "Bloggers -- that's where the truth is."

We are scrambling -- doing the best we can right now. Have to put up with the overloaded TOOBZ Hang in there with us

Media Row

Media Row -- at 6:00pm!

Incognito at 7:49PM

It's Gonna be Quick

7:30p local time from Kirby from FDL

Stay tuned and don't move -- word is we will have results by 8:30 and know the winner. We have no exit polling that we are holding back, but we DO know about the vote reporting to here, and it will be quick.

Ned will make a short speech, meet with supporters and that's it as far as we know.

Jessie Jackson is in the room right now -- Mr. Kirby escorted him in. Bob is shooting video -- will be up shortly.

Here's media row lined up for the 6 o'clock live shots -- it is nuts here

We are having trouble getting photos up here -- will keep posting and try to fix that. Jessie Jackson will be on with Colin on his livestream at http://www.wtic.com once he finishes giving his interview here.

Blogger has slowed down

7:25 - Our internet access has been getting overwhelmed by media lately, and I can't get Blogger to upload photos right now. I'm going to keep on working on it, and hopefully I'll be able to post them soon.

The electronic voting system will report the results quickly, and a press coordinator just told us that we will probably have results as early as 8:30PM. We'll keep you posted. Look for frequent updates.

More Behind the Scenes

This pretty much explains the MSM coverage of today screwing up the accusations from Lieberman campaign's accusations.

Setting the Scene

7:01p local time from Kirby from FDL

This is going to be the longest hour of our lives here waiting. We are incredibly busy waiting and doing nothing. Anne Lamont just checked in and said, "It's been a wild day and it's going to get wilder." We couldn't agree more.

Just talked to Colin McEnroe, and he thinks the Malloy campaign (endorsed D - governor) will know their race by 8:30.

Check back at about 8:01 for news on results here.

More Lieberman accusations

More fantastical graphical goodness from Paul Molloy.

Tune in Later!

6:09pm local time from Kirby from FDL

A source has let us know that there is no exit polling here -- but we should have good access to the results as soon as the polls close -- either with the numbers here, or a link. Polls close in less than 2 hours -- and time is flying here.

Lots of photos and video to share -- when we can edit and post.

Countdown to destiny

6:08PM - Less than 2 hours to go. Maura from Stamford has been calling in with reports (see previous posts) and all around the state the turnout continues to be astounding.

Lamont Campaign Director Tom Swan gives me a thumbs-up in the hallway outside the War Room. I have to check, but I think the Fab 5 from "Queer Eye" might even pass on the challenge of remaking Swannie.

Lamont Communications Coordinator Liz DuPont-Diehl on the media stand with one of the haircuts from the local news.

Can ya FEEL the excitement in the air? I have a feeling one way or another, the open bar in the blogger's War Room will get demolished.

Video of Tim on the radio re: allegations

5:40 - Tim Tagaris on the radio, videotaped live from the Blogger's War Room, about 40 seconds worth.

The Day So Far

5:30p local time from Kirby from FDL

CT Bob is sitting next to me editing audio and video for you. The headline so far is TURNOUT!
Clearly, a historic, record-smashing day -- so much for the "lack of interest" in an August primary. Many places are looking at close to November numbers. Unbelieveable!

Local news are set up for live shots now that the 5pm news block has started. We can only watch one channel at a time here -- at home, I at least have picture in picuture and a quick-draw remote! So, while we are in the heart of the beast here, we don't know much about external over-air media.

There are 275 credentialed media, whom we don't expect to see much of till about 7 -- polls close at 8.

Bob will be out shortly doing interviews, and I'll see if I can get some scene-setting shots for you.
This is definitely the calm before the storm --

Not Us

5:20p local time from Kirby from FDL

Just remember, we had absolutely nothing to do with the Lieberman site today --- we've been here reporting. CT Bob reports 2000 hits an hour -- thanks! More to come.

Link to Tim Tagaris Interview re: Lieberman Web site

5:30p local time from Kirby from FDL

Here's the stream of the Colin McEnroe interview with Tim Tagaris
http://wtic.com/pages/13976.php

Tim Done Good!

5:00p local time from Kirby from FDL

Tim, in 2 minutes, easily explained the geeky issues relating to the false allegations that someone affiliated with the Lamont campaign somehow hacked them today -- video/audio coming momentarily.

How About Millionare Senator?

4:40p local time from Kirby from FDL

Hey CNN! How about describing the incumbent as "Millionare Senator Joe Lieberman"?
Wondering if the local reporters who drew the Lieberman straw for coverage tonight are as sad as we feel for them?

What will they accuse us of next?

4:40 - "In West Haven, today a tractor-trailer overturned on Interstate 95, blocking traffic for 8 hours. The wreckage was cleared and the road finally reopened by 3:00PM."

"Lieberman campaign manager Sean Smith immediately called a press conference to suggest that staffers and bloggers from the Lamont campaign were responsible for the wreck, which prevented thousands of voters from getting to the polls and interfered with the Lieberman last-minute "get out the vote" efforts."

In other campaign news, FDL blogger Jane Hamsher is joined by the world-famous T-Rex in the Blogger's war room moments ago. CNN is on the TV, and finally they're mentioning the fact that most of the Internet is laughing at the fact that Joe's website is STILL down nearly 24 hours later, and they implied that there might be a political reason for the continued outage.

May I just say, "Duh"?

Here's the amazing Wishing Well from the last Lamont commercial produced before the primary. Bill Hillsman has done a wonderful job for the campaign. More later...

Turnout

4:30p local time from Kirby from FDL

CT Sec'y of State turnout numbers
Bolton (rural) East noon 32%
New Britain (urban) Central 3p 23%
Tolland (rural) East 3p 26%
Bridgeport (urban) South 23% 3p
East Hartford (suburban) 30% 2p
Bristol (suburban) North-central 30% 2p

Blog HQ

4:20p local time from Kirby from FDL
Here's George Jepsen, Lamont supporter and former state D chair talking with us here in the blogger room. Jane's got a great quote from him at FDL.
The latest -- Gerstein was just on Colin McEnroe's show, claiming this attack (so-called DoS at the Lieb sites) is hugely affecting their ability and that they will deal with this through the proper authorities.

I was streaming Colin's show, and everyone was dead silent in here during the Gerstein interview. I am betting that sound bite will be up as an MP3 within the hour at http://www.wtic.com Tim Tagaris, the Lamont i-net expert is talking with geeks here to go on Colin's show to refute these baseless charges. Imagine what those internal Lieberman polls are saying for them to stoop this low!

More as it happens. Come along for the ride!

Turnout update

3:30p local time from Kirby from FDL

More turnout news from Maura ---
Stamford Turn of the River precinct 41% at 2:50pm
Stamford is home district of Mayor Dan Malloy, running for governor and Liberman’s “home town” as well, so large turnout there is not necessarily good for Lamont.

Just on WTIC, where Colin McEnroe is broadcasting, Secy of State said she initially thought about 40%, now she is revising that upward to 50-55% which is historic. Amazing.

Photo courtesy Lorenzo Sue

Bob reports from HQ at 3:20 PM

Turnout news from Maura

3:30p local time from Kirby from FDL

More turnout news from Maura ---
Stamford Turn of the River precinct 41% at 2:50pm
Stamford is home district of Mayor Dan Malloy, running for governor and Liberman’s “home town” as well, so large turnout there is not necessarily good for Lamont.

Just on WTIC, where Colin McEnroe is broadcasting, Secy of State said she initially thought about 40%, now she is revising that upward to 50-55% which is historic. Amazing.

More photos to come -- Blogger is going very slowly.

Pull the lever for Ned

2:30pm local time from Kirby from FDL
This is what it’s all about folks – pulling the lever today for Lamont. Colin McEnroe will be broadcasting live – you can listen to Web stream at http://www.wtic.com/ – here’s his blog post with more info http://blogs.courant.com/colin_mcenroe_to_wit/2006/08/im_not_bragging.html

From the Lamont Blogger War Room

2:21pm local time from Kirby from FDL
Hello all from the Blogger War Room at Lamont Hotel HQ. The HQ office is across the street, and here in the hotel, we are across the hall from the press room and down the hall from the ballroom where the hotel says the “reception” will be this evening .

Spirits are high and staffers and volunteers are unfailingly polite and not at all decompensating despite the stress and the accusations flying in from the other side.

Jane’s here, along with CTKeith, a reporter from HuffPo, BBC, and laughter abounds.

Maura just called in and reports that in the home precinct of Dan Malloy, one of the gubernatorial candidates, in Stamford, turnout at 1:45p is 31%, and at the Rogers School in Stamford, where turnout is traditionally very low, it was at 18% and poll workers were delighted. Here in my home district in Meriden, 111 of 419 had voted as of 1:15pm, or 26%, which was amazing – they had already run out of “I voted today” stickers.

"Bloggers for Joe"

Joe Lieberman is squawking like a wounded duck about how the "awful bloggers have hacked my precious website!"

In the spirit of helpfulness and fairplay, I'd like to put out a call to all fair-minded bloggers out there to help Joe put his website back together. Lets get together and help Joe fix his website.

C'mon, everyone sing, "We Are The World!"

And I guess he's spent his $10 million, because they turned off his website yesterday for lack of payment.

CT Keith & Tim Tagaris at Lamont HQ

Approx. 12:30PM in the Lamont HQ parking lot. Fun stuff!

Tim has a big finish with the KISS buttons!

Exit polling in Hamden

1:15 Gabe Rosenberg (from Connecticut Local Politics) assisted me with a bit of exit polling in Hamden, which is on my way to Meriden.

Gabe outside the polls. It was warming up, but a nice breeze was keeping it from being too hot.

Me taking info from a Lamont voter. Generally, the people were snootier in Hamden than Milford, but I expect that's because there was a lady annoyingly handing out tax flyers before I was able to ask the questions.

Donna Frandy and Lorraine Lupi. Donna was supporting the Malloy campaign.

The numbers are looking promising. We asked a total of 57 voters who they voted for, with 23 not responding (snoots).

Results were as follows:

Lamont 22
Lieberman 13

For gubner:

DeStefano 10
Malloy 24

I'm at the Meriden HQ

1:00 - I just got into Meriden. Kirby and her hubby Bob will be here shortly. I'm set up in Blogger's Central at the Sheraton, and I'll have video uploaded within the hour.

Hamden exit polling numbers will be up will be up in 15 minutes.

First Exit Poll Results!

I just got back from the Westshore polling place in Milford, where I conducted about 40 minutes of exit polling.

I surveyed a total of 27 people. Out of that, 6 refused to answer both questions, and 5 refused to answer the Senatorial question.

Observations: The people who refused comment tended to be grumpy middle-aged white males. A female Republican said she'll vote for Lamont in November. The guy driving the Red Porsche was a Lamont fan. One lady with an accent voted for Lamont, and NO for governor. An unaffiliated voter was for Lamont in November. The Milford Democratic Town Committee voted roughly 3-1 in favor of Lieberman at the convention, so I knew this would be close here today.

Here's my results:

Lieberman - 10 votes
Lamont - 13 votes (including me, my wife, my dad, and the guy holding the "Lamont" sign outside)

These numbers indicate a dead heat, at least here in Milford.

For Governor, we have these numbers:

DeStefano - 10 votes
Malloy - 11 votes

Based on these results, I can safely predict that both races will be close.

(Yeah, I'm really going out on a limb there!)

More later this morning. I'm off to Hamden shortly, to do some more exit polling.

It's the Big Day!

This is it. No more prep. August 8th is finally here.

6:30 - I just woke up, then turned on the TV. Channel 8 in New Haven was in the middle of a report from a voting place. They said that at least six voters were turned away because they weren't on the voter lists. Apparently they were previously unaffiliated voters and their change to the Democratic party wasn't processed properly.

My immediate impression is that this was a paperwork problem and not anything sinister, but I'll monitor the situation.

I'll be going to vote around 8:00AM, and then do some exit polling. I should have some results up around 9AM.

I don't think I need any coffee this morning.

Live blogging from Lamont HQ

Tomorrow we'll be live blogging on Connecticut Bob from the Sheraton hotel blogger's war-room, right across from Lamont Campaign Headquarters from about lunchtime on.

Kirby (from FDL) and I will provide frequent updates, photos, and (hopefully) quick video clips online throughout the day. This is all experimental in nature, and we hope you'll be patient if things don't go smoothly.

But if our luck continues, we'll have you along for the entire adventure.

"Buy the ticket, take the ride."
- Hunter S. Thompson

I had a bizarre dream last night

This was weird.

I dreamed that somehow I was on the "Tomorrow Tour" bus with Joe Lieberman. Perhaps through a paperwork error or something the campaign granted me access to the candidate for an interview.

So, I was aboard the bus, sitting across the aisle from Joe. Several campaign staffers were lurking nearby in the shadows. I looked around, and noticed that the windows were opaque for some reason. I had someone with me to work my camera, so I was able to interview the candidate.

I was aware that I was in the presence of something weird. Lieberman was pleasant enough, but there was something strange about him. When he grinned, I noticed his teeth were small but exceedingly sharp. His eyelids seemed to blink independently of each other. I began to feel nervous, but I'm a journalist and know that personal feelings have no place in reporting, so I started the interview.

My camera man was sitting behind me, and I saw the red light on the camcorder flick on. I cleared my throat and fixed my eyes on the candidate. He was watching me through half-closed eyes, seemingly sleepy but his body language was tense. He appeared to be ready to spring. I felt a trickle of sweat roll down my temple.

"Senator, how do you feel your chances are in the coming primary?"

Lieberman flinched as if I'd taken a swing at him, then relaxed and grinned, showing me those pointy teeth. I felt my stomach turn, as if I'd suddenly realized that I wasn't going to get out of this alive. The Senator stared at me with unblinking eyes as he answered.

"I have no doubt that the results will show the world I've won."

His answer was curious, but the icy look he gave while speaking to me creeped me out. I broke our staring contest and shuffled my notes, trying to give myself time to think up a follow up question. I heard the door of the bus slam shut and some giggling drifted in from the front. Panic bubbled in my throat as I framed another question.

"So, why is this primary happening?" I asked.

A scream ripped from the vicinity of Lieberman's face as he lept to his feet and bellowed, "I'm in this primary because Ned Lamont had the audacity to challenge me for my God-given seat in the US Senate! It's my seat, I tell you, ALL MINE!!!"

With that he turned and tore the camera from my friend's hands, smashed it over his skull repeatedly, and lifted his own head and let out a deafening, wolf-like howl. Oh Christ, I thought, he's finally flipped!

Meanwhile, there was shuffling in the back of the bus as my friend was dragged into the shadows, and a fierce roar erupted from Lieberman's staffers as they tore him apart. Lieberman turned to me, and his face had distorted into a ghoulish mask. Oh, I'm done for, I thought.

Then the bus lurched forward as it began moving, causing the candidate to stagger backwards. I lept out of my seat and ran forward, hoping to reach the door before the rapidly accelerating bus got moving too fast. A furry creature that resembled Sean Smith tried to block my way, but I grabbed a fire extinguisher and sprayed him in his face, allowing me to dodge around him. Something that looked like a scaly Marion Steinfels grappled with me momentarily, but I took my bottle of Poland Springs water and dumped in on her, dissolving her in a smoking, screeching mess.

I saw a Richard Goodstein-like apparition driving the bus, and he started to argue with me until he saw I wasn't a foot shorter than he, so I simply jogged around him and pulled open the door.

The bus was weaving crazily through the parking lot of the Senior Citizen's Center in Milford, and though the windshield I saw Barbara Boxer and Joe Biden dive out of the way to keep from being run over. Bill Clinton was sitting on the roof of the Center, his feet kicking in joy and laughing like a loon. I think he was drinking a can of "Billy Beer".

The bus was careening wildly towards a brick wall, and I had mere seconds to jump off. I looked back at my friend, but he was gone and the camera was nowhere to be seen. So I had to leap off the bus without the damning video tape. I hit the ground and rolled, and as I came to my feet the bus crashed into the wall, bursting into flames with a thunderous blast that knocked me onto my back.

I woke up at that moment, my heart hammering against my rib cage and panting as if I'd just run a marathon!

Yeah, that sure was a strange dream.

"Res ipsa loquitur"
We miss you, good Doctor

Lieberman's paid workers allegedly indulging in dirty tricks

Local bloggers are reporting instances of vandalism, fraud and theft at various campaign locations. I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see Lieberman's people allegedly resorting to these tactics, but then I remind myself that Joe Lieberman is two-faced and considers himself above the will of the Democrats, so it does make a kind of sense.

I really was hoping we wouldn't see a repeat of the dirty tricks, deception, criminal activity, and ethical wrongdoing that was prevalant during the 2000 Presidential campaign, but it looks like we're heading for a repeat of that disaster. We might end up looking like Florida in 2000, or Ohio in 2004. Do you want that?

Please, we need volunteers at ALL the Lamont Campaign offices. There are locations listed with phone numbers a few posts down, or go to nedlamont.com to volunteer.

Because if we sit back now, another election may get stolen. Can we afford any more of these?

From My Left Nutmeg:

Reports coming in from the field tell me that Lamont offices are now asking all volunteers to sign in with photo ID. This in the wake of several incidents in which LieberYouth, posing as volunteers, have commited acts of theft and vandalism.

If you're a real volunteer, the photo ID requirement should not bother you. If you are a low-information LieberYouth, you should know that crimes can be and sometimes are prosecuted.

And then there's this from ConnecticutBLOG:

There are reports of Lieberman people showing up to Lamont offices posing like people wanting to volunteer their time only to disrupt the office. This is a growing trend of Lieberman's people doing all they can to disrupt and intimidate Lamont staffers and supporters.

Disgusting. Here's the report:

Two lieberkids appeared at the Watertown office this morning purporting to be volunteers. The Lamont person was skeptical, gave them some posters to hand out, and they ended up ripped up outside the office.

The Lieberman hit squad were spotted at a Starbucks earlier by a Lamont volunteer who was looking for directions to the Wartertown office. Here's the story.

This (Lamont) volunteer was lost so she stopped at the Starbucks to ask for directions to the Lamont office. So she asks these two nice-looking teenagers where the Lamont office is. One replies, "I don't know, probably in a communist country somewhere."

The volunteer looks down and notices they are wearing Lieberman gear. Same kids that stopped by the office earlier.

Reports of concern are also being reported at Lamont's Norwalk office. There was also a reports of coming in from other areas and I'll follow-up on those stories soon as they might involve the police getting involved.

Lieberman talks about Lamont running a misleading, dirty campaign when the complete opposite is true.

From passing around race-baiting flyers in the African-American communities and lobbyist Richard Goodstein and his band of LieberKidz coordinating an attack on Lamont's event in Meriden (with Goodstein yelling at Lamont's at close range), to Lieberman running more race-baiting radio ads on hip-hop stations over the weekend, sending his people to disrupt things at the Lamont offices, and supporters (or volunteers) of Lieberman attempting to vandalize "The Kiss float" while passing Lieberman material in New Haven Saturday night, Lieberman's campaign has set a new standard for dirty, disgusting campaigning.

You usually see associate these types of dirty tactics from Republicans not Democrats.

Yesterday and early today, I saw Lieberman signs posted illegally on public (state-owned) property. Along many major roads and interchanges. And I've also heard that they plastered an area in my neighborhood with signs on PRIVATE PROPERTY without the owner's permission.

The Lieberman staff has only one goal; to see Joe get 6 more years. Legal issues aren't that important to them, I guess. Disgusting.

Making the moral choice

Last week, Rev. Al Sharpton spoke during his endorsement of Ned Lamont of the importance of moral obligations and making the right choice.

(Video by Tom Griffin)

The Lobbyist's Best Friend

More graphics brilliance from gifted Photoshopper Paul Molloy.

And it's CRUNCH TIME for the Ned Lamont campaign. If you can spare a couple hours to work the phones, or go out canvassing, please CLICK HERE and volunteer. You CAN make a difference!

Or you might get six more years of THIS:

More "classics"

Back in late April, Spazeboy and I walked around the Cherry Blosson festival in New Haven, asking people about Lieberman's support of the Bush/Cheney Energy Bill, which give Big Oil huge tax breaks while they are making RECORD profits.

When I look at this video, I realize how far we've both come in the last 4 months! Seems like years ago; we've been aging in dog-years, lately!



Markos & Jerome were in Connecticut immediately after the state Democratic convention for a "Crashing The Gate" book signing, and offered a few words of encouragement for the Lamont campaign. It was only 48 hours since we had that remarkable showing at the convention, and besides being thrilled and happy, we also began believing that we could DO this!

And sure enough, here we are tonight, only 48 hours from realizing our dream of crashing that gate, and helping Ned pull off the biggest political upset of all time.

Lieberman's last stand

Joe, you CAN'T be serious?!?
The soon-to-be-retiring junior Senator from Connecticut has delivered a speech that will define his 18-year career and his legacy. And it's full of half-truths and false assertions. From T.Party's post at LamontBlog:

The New York Times describes Joe's speech tonight as a last-ditch effort that was hotly debated within his own campaign, and hastily re-written up until it was given minutes ago:

The speech, which was added to Mr. Lieberman’s schedule at the last minute, represents a very late attempt by Mr. Lieberman before Tuesday’s election to neutralize or at least limit the threat that his support for the war poses to his re-nomination.

Mr. Lieberman’s advisers said their campaign had been divided on whether the senator should confront his critics head-on and defend his position on the war with new, more pointed language or stick to his game plan of defending himself when the matter arose with reporters or voters.

As late as Saturday night, the advisers said, it was not certain that Mr. Lieberman would deliver the speech. But aides were furiously writing and rewriting it by this afternoon...

Except there is nothing new about Iraq in this speech. Just more of the same. More equivocation and lack of leadership, like he showed on ABC this morning when he sheepishly called Iraq both "better and worse":

It is better now…it, it, it’s better and worse if you’ll allow me to put it that way.

In fact, the only note this speech contains (full prepared text via Steve Gilliard) the same exact note Lieberman has been hitting since day one - projection.

* The candidate who has outraised and outspent his opponent 2-to-1 says:

Sadly, my opponent has done his best to distort my record, spending at least $4 million of his own money to mislead people into thinking that I am someone I am not.

* The candidate who has continually used tactics worthy of Karl Rove offensively claims:

Not unlike what happened to Max Cleland four years ago.

* The candidate who has avoided talking substantively about the issues the entire race, focusing instead on personal attacks against his opponent (even in radio ads airing today), whines:

The more I have talked to voters in these closing days, the more I am concerned they have been shortchanged in this campaign.... Instead of having an honest discussion about your future, we’re getting negative politics at its worst.

* The candidate who has argued for months that his opponent was actually a Republican, and who even said today that his opponent was a "center-right Democrat," confusingly asserts:

That’s something that separates me from my opponent – I don’t hate Republicans. I know that some times the best way to get things done in the Senate for my constituents is through bipartisan cooperation.

* And finally, the candidate who will not commit to abiding by the decision of Connecticut Democrats on Tuesday says:

If after hearing the truth about where I stand on Iraq, you still want to cast your vote solely on that one issue, then I respect your decision.

(This is an interesting secondary definition of the word "respect," one that Sen. Lieberman uses often: "to screw over while pretending to care about.")

One more last-ditch effort from a flailing, haphazard campaign. A campaign which, at it's core, has not been about any issues, but about one thing and one thing only: defending incumbency and retaining power at any cost.

We'll find out on Tuesday if it worked.

Ned is 100% on message during the last 48 hours

Ned appeared at the Orange Volunteer Firefighter's Carnival today. A large media group was there, and dozens of Lamont supporters were in tow. Several of the media who'd been with the campaign for weeks complained to me that it's getting more difficult to get a clear view of Ned because there were so many more reporters following him around now.

CNN's senior political correspondent Candy Crowley asked Ned some questions before he toured the grounds. Ned is looking more and more "statesmanlike" as he enters the final 2 days of the campaign. Here's the video, nice and toasty fresh.

Get Out The Vote!

I know it's a lovely day, but we really need people helping the campaign. If you have a couple hours to spare, contact one of these Lamont campaign offices and offer to help.

Joe Lieberman has all sorts of Lobbyist's money to spend on hired mercenaries; Ned Lamont refuses to take a penny from people like Richard Goodstein.

Ned needs YOUR help now!

We need your help phone banking and canvassing down-the-stretch. If you want to phone bank, just show up to the closest field office in Connecticut. If you are willing to canvass, let the field office know you’ll be stopping by our indomitable staff will prepare concise maps for your use. (link)

1st CD (Hartford/West Hartford Offices): Tina Harrington – (860) 523 9238
2nd CD (New London/Willimantic Offices): Katie Martin – (860) 456 1316
3rd CD (New Haven Office): Eddie Vale – (203) 772 2405
4th CD (Norwalk Office): Ryan McLeod – (203) 979 6094
5th CD (Watertown Office): Rachel Koteen – (860) 274 4957

Danny Glover talks about Ned Lamont

During a hectic stop at the Hartford campaign office, actor and social activist Danny Glover (pictured above with Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Ned Lamont) lent his support to Lamont, and he took a few minutes to talk to me about his reasons. Virginia, the Hartford office coordinator, was instrumental in arranging the interview, and I sincerely thank her for the opportunity.

Danny was clearly tired, having flown in on the red-eye from Vancouver where he's filming a movie with Mark Walhberg called "The Shooter". He was also behind schedule, had several more stops to make, and then catch his flight back to the west coast. Yet, he spent some extremely valuable time speaking to the blogs and allowing me to interview him.

I'm sure you'll notice my new interviewing style; sitting right next to the legendary actor so I'm in the picture with him at all times! Hey, I'll admit I was a little star-struck, and every so often you'll see me looking at the camera; I was checking the video image on the little screen and thinking, "Holy shit! I'm sitting next to Murtaugh!" ("Lethal Weapon" is one of my favorite movies)

It's a long-ish 5 minutes, but his words clearly demonstrate that this campaign isn't simply a local issue; it affects everyone!

More classic videos

I think I may have said several days ago that I'd post a "classic video" from my collection every day until the Primary.

Well, things can get busy, and bloggers can forget to post stuff.

Which is what happened. So, to make it up to you, here's three videos that I especially like from the last few months:

NOW endorsement teaser - Ned talks about the "rape maps":


Ned challenges Lieberman to a debate - finally, a few days after this video, Joe agreed to a debate. When I interviewed Lamont a week later and asked him if he thought our (CT Blogger's and my) video might have caused Joe to agree to it, Ned looked at me and said, "In all honesty Bob...no!". You gotta admire that kind of frankness:


Ned at the Greek Fest - 4,000 years of Greek culture compressed into 106 seconds:

Late Night FDL

UPDATE: "Patrex" (Trex's identical twin brother) sent in a photo of himself for your viewing pleasure, posted below. Thanks Patrick!

It's been a long day for me; the Danny Glover video will have to wait until morning. But in the meantime, here's a picture from a sidewalk cafe in New Haven tonight. FDLers will enjoy this; everyone else, don't worry, there'll be more video goodness in the morning!

Longtime FDL poster and resident fierce creature "TRex" flew in for a couple of days of political fun and games. There were quite a few other photos taken, but the images have been withheld to protect the guilty!

Rep. Maxine Waters supports Ned

Today was a great day for the campaign, and an awesome day for me, personally. I got to talk to two of my personal heroes, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and world-famous actor and social activist Danny Glover.

Here's a quick screen-cap of my interview with Danny Glover (which will be posted later), and below is my interview with Maxine Waters:



It was a real pleasure talking to Rep. Waters, and she's won my heart forever by referring to Ned Lamont as "...the poster boy for the REAL Democratic party..."

Turn off your computer right now!

...And get your ass to a Lamont Campaign Office right NOW!

Maura just called me from the Norwalk office and said there are open phones that need volunteers to help get out the vote. The other offices also can use your help.

What I imagine Joe's lobbyist-paid phone bank to look like
Joe Lieberman has TEN MILLION DOLLARS of Lobbyist's money to pay his people to man the phones and canvass neighborhoods. Ned Lamont is relying on YOU to show up and volunteer your time to help!

This is critical! If you assume that we'll win because the polls SAY we will, you're gonna end up with 6 MORE YEARS OF THE SAME THING!

Turn off your computer and call a Lamont office and volunteer a few hours today to get the word out about Ned. If you're in New York and want to help, drive up to the Norwalk office and join the effort. This is YOUR CHANCE to make a real difference in the future of our nation!

We need your help phone banking and canvassing down-the-stretch. If you want to phone bank, just show up to the closest field office in Connecticut. If you are willing to canvass, let the field office know you’ll be stopping by our indomitable staff will prepare concise maps for your use. (link)

1st CD (Hartford/West Hartford Offices): Tina Harrington – (860) 523 9238
2nd CD (New London/Willimantic Offices): Katie Martin – (860) 456 1316
3rd CD (New Haven Office): Eddie Vale – (203) 772 2405
4th CD (Norwalk Office): Ryan McLeod – (203) 979 6094
5th CD (Watertown Office): Rachel Koteen – (860) 274 4957

Lieberman staffers paid to lie?

At the Greenwich Lamont rally Friday evening, I spent a good amount of time videotaping the Lieberman "volunteers" who were milling around the edge of the crowd and generally being obnoxious. I took shots of many of them and asked every one if they were being paid to be there.

EVERY ONE of them loudly said, "No, I'm just a volunteer." Not a single one admitted to getting their lobbyist money from millionaire lawyer Joe Lieberman.

And yet, in today's Hartford Courant, we see this quote from Marion Steinfels (Lieberman's Communications Director):

Marion Steinfels, a Lieberman campaign spokeswoman, said the Lieberman workers had stayed within bounds.

"They went to Ned's rally in support of Joe Lieberman," she said. "My understanding was there was no inappropriate behavior."

I guess Marion was too busy counting her DC lobbyist money to have noticed the "sno-cone" remark made by one of her vicious little curs at the rally. (see previous article)

Earlier in the day, Lieberman said he had been unaware of an earlier incident in which a group of his supporters tried to drown out a speech by Lamont supporter Jesse Jackson.

Classy bunch of people you got there, Slimefels. I wouldn't be surprised if you've had to cover all the mirrors in your home, because you felt a little odd every time you saw Karl Rove's reflection staring back at you.

Steinfels said Lamont's supporters had been harassing Lieberman for months.

"Our events have been continually stalked by Lamont supporters. There's a lot of emotion out there," he said.

First of all Stupid, we're not harrassing your boy. We ask questions, we drive a stupid float around, and let the magic happen.

And we may be Lamont supporters, but we're NOT PAID BY THE LAMONT CAMPAIGN, and we don't receive our MARCHING ORDERS FROM ANYONE!

You can't comprehend the fact that we simply feel that Ned Lamont is the only man who can stop the damage that Lieberman is doing on a daily basis. We do this because we are passionate about the issues.

YOU, on the other hand, need to BRIBE these poor, uninformed kids with your DC LOBBYIST'S MONEY, and then YOU SEND THEM TO LAMONT EVENTS! I have video of your STAFFERS being loaded into LIEBERMAN VANS after the rally.

And you pretend not to know the difference.

Marion, either you're a baldfaced LIAR, or you're too STUPID to see it. Either way, you should stop paying these kids little drabs of money, and do some good in the world by putting the $10 million into a scholarship program for inner-city kids. THAT would be something to be proud of, not your lame and desperate attempts to disrupt Ned's events.

And we will be at EVERY event from now until the Primary, keeping your kids under video surveillence. We don't trust you to use good judgement as things get worse for your boy.

Smarten up, Marion.

More on Dickie

Joe's sparing no expense to buy this election. Apparently Richard Goodstein is a very high-priced DC lobbyist/political mercenary, according to a slew of sources that came in overnight. Ten million lobbyist bucks can buy a lot of fire power!

And, in the comments section of my last article, a bratty Lieberman kid allegedly threatened to pour his sno-cone on a very nice lady's head when she asked him if he was from out of state. What a snot!

And also an ingrate; the sno-cones were given away FREE by the Lamont campaign to EVERYONE, even those mis-behaving guttersnipes who showed up with their $60 of lobbyist's money in their pockets and wearing an ugly-assed T-shirt that I wouldn't even use to wash my car.

Here's a faux tabloid newspaper page, created by the awesomely talented Paul Molloy:

Dickie Goes Ballistic

So, I don't know this Richard Goodstein fellow from a hole in the ground, but he seemed mostly harmless. Even considering he was demonstrating at a rally for Ned Lamont, with a group of perhaps 50 Lieberman "volunteers", who seemed intent on getting coverage for their disruptive activities.

I wonder why Joe Lieberman is sending his groupies over to bother Ned's event? Could it be that it's the only way they can get to experience what it's like to be in a LARGE and ENTHUSIASTIC CROWD?

Because, Joe ain't drawing the crowds, that's for sure.

So, they are an obnoxious group of low-information-voters, many of whom can't ever VOTE for Joe because they're shuttled in from out of state.

And one of the out-of-stater's is Richard Goodstein. Check out this video and see how much Mr. Goodstein thinks of Ned Lamont, Al Sharpton, and just about everybody else in the world who asks him a question.

Mr. Lamont Goes to Washington video

I just got home from the Lamont rally in Greenwich, where Ned was warmly received by his hometown crowd.

And also visited by some Lieberman "volunteers"...including Dick Goodstein, who provided some fun video. It'll be up soon, but in the meantime, another classic from the "Connecticut Bob" archives - one of my favorites, "Mr. Lamont Goes To Washington". Enjoy!