Ned Lamont

UPDATE!
I mourned Jim Webb's loss too soon! He's winning by 3,000 votes! Talk about drama. Do we smell a recount in the air? I wonder if Diebold machines are involved in that election. And what about absentee ballots?

WOW.

This is getting exciting.

It looks like Joe Lieberman has held on to his seat in a three-way race. Ned Lamont has not conceded but it's not looking good.

Jim Webb, at the time of this post, is losing by less than 7,000 votes. The race has not been called yet.

What do you think this means for the liberal blogosphere or netroots? They poured with direct and indirect contributions to these races millions of dollars yet still could not deliver these high profile seats.

Why do you think this happened?

I believe this is a historic first : I am calling an NYT editorial ... ahem ... brilliant.

[via Revenge of the Irate Moderates - New York Times]:

The rebellion against Mr. Lieberman was actually an uprising by that rare phenomenon, irate moderates. They are the voters who have been unnerved over the last few years as the country has seemed to be galloping in a deeply unmoderate direction. A war that began at the president's choosing has degenerated into a desperate, bloody mess that has turned much of the world against the United States. The administration's contempt for international agreements, Congressional prerogatives and the authority of the courts has undermined the rule of law abroad and at home.

The New York Times ought to extend the classification of irate democrats to many of the bloggers involved in getting the Lamont nomination in, and they ought to start from the top with DailyKos and his blogosphere.

Mainstream media has had a field day characterizing the Kososphere as lefty wing crazies and radicals but like my other friend Michael likes to say, for a bunch of former republicans one would be hard-pressed to find anybody who is a progressive or social libertarian.

When a blogger goes ballistic with racist and anti-semitic hijinks against their candidate's opponent, and is ennabled by others in the blogosphere but more importanly, major media, it will come back to not only haunt them but the candidate of their choice.

This is the lesson to learn from last weeks faux pas. A 13% lead has been cut to less than 4% at the voting polls. Lieberman is conceding defeat but has decided to run as an independent.

Memo to Jane Hamsher : Lamont won't be able to win without black or jewish voters or republicans for that matter. A republican may not win the election but he may end up wedging Lamont out and putting Lieberman back in the Senate. And, do we really need him to fulfill his dream of becoming the next Zel Miller?

Serious food for thought about such an amazingly important election for the liberal blogosphere.

More than 71% of the precints are in and Lamont is squeaking a win by less than 4% --not good to be within the margin of error.

[via courant.com | Lamont Leads Senate Race In Early Returns]:

Ten minutes before the polls closed Tuesday, primary Lamont's supporters were predicting a "landslide" victory.

"You know how you feel something in your gut?" said Laura Gallo, the former deputy mayor of Meriden as she wrapped up phone calls at Lamont headquarters Tuesday night. "We're going to win."

Others, like former state Democratic party chairman George Jepsen, were relying on something slightly more reliable than gut instinct - he had word from people in the field that returns were coming in overwhelmingly for Lamont.

As the party began at the Sheraton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson made his rounds in the press room talking up Lamont's commitment to urban schools, universal health care and other progressive issues.

"I hope he can win. The nation needs a new direction, new priorities and the values that Lamont represents," Jackson said. "He's taking on a bigger Goliath than just Lieberman."

As if I don't enjoy enough, making an ass of myself, I am going to pull a Jerome "Karnark" Armstrong and come up with my own predictions: Ned Lamont is going to win by a conservative margin or 6 +/- points.

Go take the poll y'all!

Slate.com's John Dickerson reports that the woman who founded FireDogLake and who has become the annointed 'woman of the liberal blogosphere', published just the other day the following piece of pro-Ned Lamont crap :

[via The blogger who isn't helping Ned Lamont. By John Dickerson]:

Ned Lamont wants to be a senator from Connecticut and that means reacting quickly to issues that get overblown by bloggers and the media. He got his first test Wednesday. Right as Lamont was busy campaigning with Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, one of his most strident supporters in the blogosphere posted a picture of Lamont's opponent, Joe Lieberman, in blackface. Go!

It pains me to no end that this appeared on none other than The Huffington Post, because I honestly can't believe Arianna Huffington would be a willing party to such racist trash. This may not make me any friends at the HuffPo but, seriously, someone at HuffPo needs to come out and address Hamsher's actions immediately.

I searched high and low in the blog and could not find anything from Arianna or an editor apologizing for allowing such an image to be posted on their blog. They need to do it and fast because, unfortunately, The Huffington Post (like most mainstream media; and believe me, they are) is not a bastion of diversity. The longer they try to brush this aside, the deeper it will hurt the reputation of the blog among the "other" side of the blogosphere.

Arianna, the ball is on your court.

It also pains me I read about this at Slate as I was ready to post a couple of things about Mel Gibson's "I hate Jews" drunken rage. Why because I was thinking about the timing on running a poll asking people if they think Ned Lamont is going to win (which I hope he does). There is something freaky about how my free associations always end up having a deeper meaning.

Let's go back to Hamsher.