Lamont Forces Primary, Nutroots® Rejoice
There’s still no doubt about who the next senior Senator from Connecticut will be (hint: same as the current one), but the Nutroots® can celebrate their favorite (and only) kind of victory, the moral one:
U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman was nominated for a fourth term by state Democrats Friday night, but his anti-war challenger garnered enough delegates to force a primary in August.
Backers of Ned Lamont, a Greenwich businessman who has sharply criticized the moderate senator for his support of the war in Iraq, shouted with delight after learning their candidate will be the first to challenge Lieberman to a primary.
Lieberman won 1,004 of the 1,509 votes cast at the state convention, while Lamont won 505. Lamont captured 33 percent of the delegates, well more than the 15 percent he needed to force the primary.
Typical of the unreal reaction of the ‘reality-based community’ is this, from Matt Stoller at MyDD:
Ned Lamont is CRUSHING Joe Lieberman. Lieberman’s expensive tent and lavish support and paid armies of staffers weren’t enough. His side is incredibly dejected – their crowd of thunderstick cheerers, who cheered whenever a town went lopsided for Joe, have disbanded and are chatting. The Lieberman supporters aren’t even dejected, they are bored.
Lieberman has $5 million of a smear and slime campaign coming. This is a big win. Time to saddle up.
Who’s going to smear and slime whom, I wonder? Still, only a progressive could view a 2-1 defeat as a ‘crushing’ victory…
Still, only a progressive could view a 2-1 defeat as a ‘crushing’ victory
Are you stupid or sumptin’?
Or, to put it more gently, few observers expected Lamont to get 15%. No one (not even the Lamont campaign) expected him to get 20%. 33% of the State Party delegates (whom one expects to be solidly behind the incumbent) is huge.
In a Primary, Lieberman is now, if not in big trouble, then at least in a very competitive race. Right now, I’d give him even odds. He has money and name-recognition going for him.
But after tonight …
You guys stick with your view, I’ll stick with mine – Lieberman is a 5 star lock…
Put another way – I realize that Lamont did the unthinkable just a few short months ago by forcing the primary – but to say he is ‘crushing’ Lieberman – give me a break!
Democratic State Party delegates are one thing – the Connecticut public is another – and every poll I’ve seen has Lieberman crushing (and this time, REALLY crushing) Lamont by about 40%…
[...] I took a little heat from a couple of my readers from the lefthand side of the aisle when I suggested that “only a progressive could view a 2-1 defeat as a ‘crushing’ victory” in respect to Ned Lamont’s forcing of a primary between himself and Lieberman. Today, the Bull Moose, a well-known centrist Democrat site, shows that I’m not alone in my interpretation: The Moose observes that the McGovernites with Modems cannot do math. [...]