Tomorrow is Election Day, and we'll be closely following both the Lamont/Liberman senatorial race in Connecticut and the McKinney/Johnson congressional race in Atlanta.
Our sympathies in both cases are probably pretty clear; first, and foremost we hope people will vote for Johnson - in fact we hope people will vote for him, and that you'll go through your address book and email or call anyone you know in the 404 to see if they are in GA-4 and can vote - and ask them to vote for Hank.
In Connecticut, my feelings are more complex. As I've noted, I don't much like Lieberman, but I think he's right on some critical points - first and foremost that politicking around the war is a horrible thing to do - and something that may well lead to a bigger, nastier war later on.
And I think the Kos/"Blackface" Hamsher wing of activists are heading the Democratic Party toward wider electoral disaster. They may be able to concentrate national attention on one race and have a strong impact. We'll see - my earlier prediction that Lieberman would lose the primary and then, if he chose, win in the general still stands. But I'll say without qualification that a national party led by the Kossaks would be a train wreck.
[Padding inserted to move the url in the comment back so it won't break the home page] Byron York makes a good point about the power of the Netroots relative to fundraising:
So will the Democratic party proper go along with a fringe group with remarkably little fundraising clout behind it? Or are the big donors waiting this one out, seeing if Lamont can pull off a primary win, before donating large sums to him as the candidate which matches their ideological goals?
Marc,
I doubt the outcome of Leiberman's primary will in fact be evidence of any national trend. Leiberman showed himself to be a hopeless loser when he did not capitalize on the "blackface" hanging curveball one of Lamont's idiot blogger supporters served up. Leiberman should have used that goof to put the race away. He didn't, and IMO that is because he and his campaign are a buncha yutzes.
Furthermore anyone who can blow something that big is likely to hose the small stuff too.
That particular primary campaign strikes me as more a race to the bottom by both Leiberman and Lamont. Outsiders might claim the outcome means something outside Connecticut, but I doubt it really will.
Man I'd kill for a piece of that action!
Joe loses a Dem primary despite having Clinton and the entire Dem establishment supporting him.
But he'll win in a general despite having Clinton and the entire Dem establishment opposing him.
In a state with more Democrats than any other affiliation.
Davebo -
$100 to the charity of the winner's choice in November?
Marc
"a national party led by the Kossaks would be a train wreck".
It is just a McGovern Party again. Whining cowards have NEVER GONE away, they have just hidden under rocks and in swamps!
I called my mom in CT today to see what was up. She's going to try to vote but she's 82 and needs help getting there and might not make it.
She's a lifelong Dem. She hates Bush. She hates the war. But she plans (if she can) to vote for Lieberman.
Because, she says, the ONLY thing she knows about Lamont is that he is against the war. But she knows Lieberman and except for the war feels he's been good for her state.
As an aside, she told me she almost didn't answer the phone when I called because her phone has been ringing constantly from activists trying to convince her to vote for Lamont and she's sick and tired of the calls.
678 can also be an Atlanta Area code.
And to date I've gotten auto-dialed calls every day for the past few days (from the Johnson campaign) reminding me to vote. There are also signs everywhere it's possible to put signs. I don't think anyone is going to forget.
Marc,
You've got a deal. But I'm 85% sure Joe won't run as an independant anyway.
Unbeliever: So will the Democratic party proper go along with a fringe group with remarkably little fundraising clout behind it?
I would say yes in the proper circumstances. The blog influence was early, both in money and in free publicity. You need money to raise money and while Lamont had his own money, the attraction of the millionare candidate is that supporters feel they don't have to engage in fund raising. (Which is how Illinois Republicans lost a Senate seat)
Or are the big donors waiting this one out, seeing if Lamont can pull off a primary win, before donating large sums to him as the candidate which matches their ideological goals?
The big stakeholders donate later and spread the contributions between all sides. I bet it started before today's primary, but too late to pick up in the reporting.