Dammit! I was "this" close to going a day without a full blog post on the Connecticut Senate race. I could taste the victory this would represent. But Lieberman's campaign
refuses to let me take a day off from the race. Aaarghhh!
So what pulled me in today was the seriously unhinged Lieberman press operation. Colin McEnroe started things off, writing about Lieberman's "kooky" press secretary. TAP's Ben Weyl piled on:
KOOKY? YES. I just got off the phone with Lieberman's press secretary, and I can confirm that yes, she is a bit "kooky." I had called to find out simply what polling company the senator was using, and she nearly jumped down my throat: "Are you working on a story? Is this for a process story?!" She then ranted about how the campaign was focused on the issues of Connecticut voters, all the while growing more agitated. She terrorized me for a few minutes, asking why I had called, until I told her that I was only a lowly intern who knew nothing and oh, would she please let me go ...?
Needless to say, she didn't answer my question.
Next up, that kooky press operation tried to make hay yesterday of Ned Lamont's brilliant ad man Bill Hillsman for working with independent candidates like Ralph Nader and Jesse Ventura (all the while slily suggesting that Hillsman worked with Republicans).
Well, the Lamont Blog (not affiliated with the campaign) decided to return the favor and look into Lieberman's ad firm, the Glover Park Group. My, my, guess what he found?
Their recent work includes ad campaigns for such staunchly Democratic and progressive interests as Pfizer, Smirnoff Vodka, MCI-Worldcom, and the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers Association of America.
Most interesting is Glover Park's stealth work for Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp., at whose behest Lieberman's firm secretly created a fake grassroots organization ("Don't Count Us Out") in order to pressure Nielsen to refrain from making changes in their TV ratings system.
Glass houses and all...
Finally, and this is great news for the Lamont campaign, the Lieberman campaign failed to get the AFL-CIO endorsement for an independent bid.
Connecticut's labor movement goes into the Democratic primary campaign for U.S. Senate deeply divided. As expected, the state AFL-CIO endorsed Sen. Joe Lieberman for reelection at a convention at New Haven's Omni Hotel Tuesday. But in the face of vociferous opposition, it decided to limit its endorsement to the primary, not the general election, said state union chief John Olsen (pictured after the vote).
As recently as yesterday, state AFL-CIO President Olsen said he expected the organization to endorse Lieberman not just in his primary against challenger Ned Lamont, but in the general election, too - even if Lieberman loses the primary and runs as an independent.
That changed in the hours before the federation voted Tuesday afternoon. At a lunch meeting of the organization's Committee on Political Education, delegates from the machinists, teachers and auto workers' unions, who support Lamont, convinced the group to change its mind and limit the endorsement to the primary.
When it came for the voice vote in the Omni ballroom, the "aye"s to endorse Lieberman rang loud and clear. But so did the no votes.
The decision to limit the endorsement to the primary represents a victory of sorts for Lamont's challenge to the three-term incumbent. It leaves open the option that the federation could support Lamont in November against an independent Lieberman candidacy.
The AFL-CIO did endorse Lieberman for the primary, which means Joementum will have their support in August. This was never in doubt. What was in doubt was the November endorsement. And by withholding that at this point, Lieberman's decision to go independent has just gotten a whole lot more difficult.
Lieberman doesn't have a homegrown people-powered movement to help manage his ground operation. He needs the AFL-CIO to help out with that. And they'll only do it (at this point) as long as he remains a Democrat.