Joe's problem

Who will stand with the commander?

Lieberman Organizes...And Worries

Hartford Courant columnist Kevin F. Rennie 's latest exclusive dispatch from Connecticut.

Joseph Lieberman is hoping to use fear where work where persuasion has failed. Life on the ropes has caused the three term incumbent to call in Washington pro, Tom Lindenfeld to put together an organization to call, identify and inspire Lieberman primary voters for the August 8th showdown.
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One of Lieberman’s problems became evident in aftermath of meeting: lots of local leaders are quietly opposing him and were eager to share tales of the event. Plan is to hire workers to make calls and hit the pavement. Fears are growing that Lieberman will have no chance of winning in a low turnout. Twenty percent, the number batted about, is thought to be fatal to his chances.

The three term incumbent’s people concede that he has no effective organization of his own. He has brought in a pro to gin up his ground game with only three weeks left and several million dollars to spend. Lamont manager Tom Swan, an organizing legend in Connecticut, has put together a formidable machine for the challenger. It had a test run in the spring when it prepared to petition Lamont’s way onto the primary ballot, which became moot after his strong convention showing.

Lieberman needs a pro like Lindenfeld . His camp has been infiltrated by hostile Democratic officials who are surprised they get invited to his meetings when they have no intention of doing any work for him, let alone giving him their votes.

He's got greater problems then that.

He doesn't have a field operation now? With weeks to go? And he wants to make an independent run? Who is he kidding?

Look, this is amazing. If the locals aren't going to help him, who can he get. He would normally reach out to the locals, who would put their people on the street and get paid for it.

Without that help, he's going to be grabbing anyone who comes along and that doesn't get you the best staff. In fact, it can lead to trouble. In many of the small towns, he won't be covered at all. And from this article, Lamont will be getting unexpected help. He should have had a field team in place after the convention, not wait while Swan reached out to the pissed offs.

This also means that that any talk of an indy run is so much bullshit. If he doesn't have the party now, who the hell is he going to have when the Dems turn on him full force. And there is A LOT of non-blog anger at him. There's also talk of the GOP endorsing Lieberman, which would be the end of his political career. How much more craven could you be.

The idea popular within politics is that people are stupid. They aren't. They see Lieberman in action and when given a choice, they want change.

I think, if this hold's up, Lieberman is going to lose by more than a narrow margin. If anyone has worked campaigns, they have to know how desperate Lieberman is. He's holding a meeting where any number of people are calling the Lamont campaign afterwards. Which is amazing, I've never heard of such a thing.

I think that a lot of the dissatisfaction comes from his high handed manner in doing constituent service. That makes enemies. And when Lamont proved he wasn't a flake or a one issue candidate, a lot of people who had issues with Lieberman finally had a safe harbor.

When national commentators make this about the blogs and the war, they miss the fact that when you don't serve the people who elect you, they usually find someone else.

This was posted in comments and needs to be read

Speaking as a DTC member in northeast CT.

Lieberman was invisible for years - didn't even come into this part of the state. When you call his office with a question you get a form letter response, and no personal contact. The first time I was offered a chance to hear him speak was right before the primary - when he was frantically calling DTC members. By then, we'd all met Lamont on multiple occasions, gotten a chance to interact with him and a feel for his leadership style.

Lieberman sent someone to our last meeting - a kid who didn't know any of his positions, and sounded terrified to be out in public.

Lamont has locals making his calls - you get a call from someone you know in your hometown, coordinated by the local DTC. (We'll be doing GOTV on primary day as well, though not at Lamont's request.)

All of the campaign calls from Lieberman have come from out of state, paid operatives. Mostly, the only visible sign of Lieberman is constant glossy negative mailings. There are Lamont signs all over, but I have yet to see a Lieberman lawn sign anywhere.

Just thought you might want a view from the ground... (I'm supporting Lamont, but not working for his campaign.)