Posted on 08/03/2006 11:49:59 AM PDT by mathprof
Millionaire businessman Ned Lamont opened a double-digit lead over veteran Sen. Joe Lieberman less than a week before Connecticut's Democratic primary, raising the possibility that the three-term senator may have to run as an independent in November, a new poll released Thursday shows.
Lamont, a political novice, had support from 54 percent of likely Democratic voters in the Quinnipiac University poll, while Lieberman had support from 41 percent of voters. The sampling error margin was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
A similar survey July 20 showed Lamont with a slight advantage for the first time in the campaign.
''Senator Lieberman's campaign bus seems to be stuck in reverse,'' poll director Douglas Schwartz said. ''Despite visits from former President Bill Clinton and other big-name Democrats, Lieberman has not been able to stem the tide to Lamont.'[snip]
The poll, however, indicated that Lamont's support is in large part a backlash: 65 percent of Lamont supporters said their vote is mainly against Lieberman. Schwartz said he had never seen a race where an incumbent has stirred up such negativity within his own party.
The Lieberman campaign said the poll showed much work must be done by to win Tuesday's primary.[snip]
The telephone survey of 890 likely Democratic primary voters was conducted from July 25 to 31.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
LaMont's got the win here I think, he's got the momentum with the media coverage I see/hear regarding this race.
Will the last Classical Liberal please close the door when they leave the Senate.
And if he wins as an "Independent" then do the Dems have one less seat in the Senate?
Smokin Joe has said if he runs and wins as an independent, he would caucus with the Dems in the Senate.
Polls have suggested that even if Smokin Joe loses the Dem primary, he is favored to win in the general election. I don't have any confidence in that - the trend has been Lamong gaining, Joe losing. 3 months later, there's no reason not to think that Lamont's momentum would continue.
Wait and see. Looks bad for Smokin Joe.
Hillary would like nothing better. It will show the moonbats they can win in the primary but lose in the general election.
If Lieberman were to lose in the general election, Hillary! has got big problems for 2008. Because she will be unable to convince the moonbats that the nominee in 2008 has to be a centrist. And she'll either lose the nomination or have to run so far left in the 2008 primaries that she will have a hell of a time getting back to the middle by November.
Based on the evidence, I agree, I think LaMont wins. If the RNC were smart they would figure out how to use LaMont as a real boogieman. I mean crickey, LaMont and those backing him are hyper-radical crackpots. Make this guy the face of the new Democratic Party!
The moderate Dems are less likely to vote in the primary. In addition, there is no chance the pubbie can win in November - so a lot of pubbie voters will be tempted to vote for Lieberman in a three-way race.
no, he would still vote with the Dems.
they need to get some new republican into this race.
if I were a Conn republican, I would vote for LaMont in the general. he will be much easier to take out in 2012 with a legitimate republican candidate.
This is Connecticut after all. I would expect the Lamont momentum to continute. He has La-memtum, and Joe has Joementum.
hillary sees the writing the writing on the wall, given her hysterical DUmmie like attack against Rumsfeld this morning.
Even tho Lieberman would caucus with the Dems, in terms of majority and/or majority/minority ratios for Committees, it'd still be one less (official) Dem, wouldn't it ? I wonder how that would work in a worst case scenario if the GOP lost several seats in November.
With the retirement of Jumpin Jim Jeffords, under the "Lieberman wins as an independent" scenario, would he then be the only Independent?
The real losers will be the citizens of Connecticut, I say let them hang themselves. Joe is a good man, for a democrat, at least on the war on terror issue, but on most other issues he is a liberal democrat. I for one could give a r@t's @ss if he gets re-elected or not. So what if Connecticut elects an even more liberal Senator. It really does not change the make-up of the Senate. What it does is lessen any power Connecticut may have in the Senate.
Looks like Clinton doesn't have the pull he used to have. Maybe he's even dragging him down.
Only on a few issues, as he will vote with them on most issues.
One of the interesting angles to this story that hasn't gotten a lot of attention is that Lieberman is paying the price for his "campaign laziness" over the last 12 years. He didn't have a serious primary opponent in 1994 and ran his entire campaign in 2000 on the free publicity he was getting as the vice presidential candidate, so he came into 2006 with almost no party organization to support him against a primary challenger.
Stick a fork in this mediocre hack . . . he's done.
Did ya happen to see this? "Reid May Ask Sen Clinton to Preempt Presidential Ambitions Succeed Him as Senate Maj/Min Leader"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1677196/posts
Unlike others, I don't rejoice in the ongoing rejection of sanity in the Democratic Party. I would much rather have to deal with the likes of Harry Truman and JFK than those of Howard Dean and "Kos".
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.