Swing State Project

« CA-11: Former Rep. McCloskey to Announce Primary Challenger to Pombo | Main | On Internal Polls »

Thursday, January 19, 2006

CT-Sen: Debating the Wisdom of a Primary Challenge

Posted by DavidNYC

In discussing whether we should support or oppose a primary challenge to Lieberman, there are tons of issues at play. Allocation of resources is far from the only one. Matt Stoller thoughtfully analyzes all the reprecussions we might see if Ned Lamont mounts a challenge to Lieberman, and especially what kind of fallout is likely if the blogosphere (or much of it, anyway) gets behind Lamont. I encourage you to read it in full.

Posted at 12:39 PM in 2006 Elections - Senate, Connecticut | Technorati

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.swingstateproject.com/mt/mt-track-ssp.cgi/2095

Comments

I'm pretty swamped this week and wasn't able to read Stoller's article, but I would generally not welcome a primary challenge to Lieberman. If a revered pol like Lieberman was defeated in a primary, it would spun as a "warning sign" to independents that Democrats can't abandon party orthodoxy without being sabotaged. In the current political environment where there is an undeniable rising conservative tide, we're dependent upon the votes of as many independents and moderates to win elections. If Lieberman was defeated in the primary, it would have the potential to be a PR nightmare for the party that could extend far from Connecticut.

Posted by: Mark at January 19, 2006 07:14 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

If a revered pol like Lieberman was defeated in a primary, it would spun as a "warning sign" to independents that Democrats can't abandon party orthodoxy without being sabotaged.

I dunno. I certainly don't think Toomey's near-stunner took away votes from from people like Snowe, Collins, etc.

Posted by: DavidNYC at January 19, 2006 09:32 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

And is Lieberman even all that "revered" or liked by average Americans? I'm guessing that most don't care about the guy. Would they feel stung by an effort to "take him out"? He's no Obama.

I'm a little more concerned about the possibility of losing Jewish votes nationally--maybe Jewish voters revere him more, and would be offended at replacing a Jewish leader with a WASP. But that's just speculation.

Posted by: HellofaSandwich at January 19, 2006 10:41 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I'm a little more concerned about the possibility of losing Jewish votes nationally--maybe Jewish voters revere him more, and would be offended at replacing a Jewish leader with a WASP. But that's just speculation.

Eh. I severely doubt it. Most Americans don't follow politics nearly that closely to care about their OWN senators, let alone a senator in another state. Yeah, Lieberman was VP, but a) he lost and b) that was 6 years ago, a lifetime in politics.

Put another way: Look at how little support Lieberman got in the primaries in 2004. Now divide that sliver into even smaller slivers to see if there are any out-of-state Jews still holding a torch for Joe. That's not to say that plenty of big-name Jews wouldn't get together to fundraise for him if Lamont looked like a serious challenger, but in terms of voting, I doubt anyone not from CT would care.

Posted by: DavidNYC at January 19, 2006 10:58 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment