Over the past several months, the Connecticut Senatorial Democratic Primary between Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman has received a tremendous amount of attention. Liberal groups such as MoveOn.org and activist unions supported Lamont’s insurgent campaign before the primary, and after he narrowly scraped by, the traditional Democratic establishment endorsed his candidacy for Senate.
It is mostly definitely true that Lieberman doesn’t represent some of the views of the mainstream Democratic Party. His friendship and closeness with Conservatives and Republicans is unnerving to any Democrat or liberal. However, every single good Democrat in America ought to agree on one thing – the most important goal this year is to win back the majority in Congress. Winning a majority will certainly require presenting a good message, but just as important are the resources funneled into campaigns. With enough resources, Democratic challengers across the nation in competitive races can unseat their Republican opponents come November. But without the resources to get out the message and turn out the vote, even the best candidate will lose in November.
The great state of Connecticut is actually one of the most important states in this year’s midterm election. Connecticut has five representatives in the House, and three out of those five are Republicans. Those three races have been rated among the most competitive races in the nation, because there are strong Democratic challengers to the Republican in all three seats. With enough money and support, in November there is a chance that Connecticut’s Congressional delegation will become entirely Democratic.
This year, Connecticut Democrats were given a task – to do their part to help us win back the majority Congress. They had to focus on unseating the three Republicans in their Congressional Delegation – Rob Simmons, Christopher Shays, and Nancy Johnson – and replace them with good Democrats – Joe Courtney, Diane Farrell, and Chris Murphy, respectively.
Ned Lamont’s primary challenge against Joe Lieberman cost over $13,000,000 and now millions more are being wasted in the general election. Although a great deal of the money comes from Washington lobbyists, millions of dollars are coming from Connecticut donors. That money shouldn’t be funneled into a Democratic primary when there are three extremely important races taking place in the same state. The fate of our nation rests on who gains control of the majority this November – this is the first time EVER that there would be a real check on the Bush administration – however, rather then help us accomplish that goal, Ned Lamont is wasting Democratic resources in his so-called “crusade” against a moderate Democrat. He and his supporters have lost sight of the big picture. Rather than work towards gaining a majority, they have risked sacrificing that goal in exchange for a personal vendetta against a fellow Democrat.
The most important vote that any legislator makes is his or her first vote in the start of each new session. This is the vote that will determine which party has the majority. The majority party gets to decide what issues are voted on. They get to decide what issues are debated. They get to decide what amendments are discussed, and what proposals are pushed. The majority party determines how our tax-dollars are spent, and they dictate what ethical and legal abuses in our government are investigated. In a time like this, the Democratic Party needs to think pragmatically. For the sake of our nation, we need to gain the majority. Although Ned Lamont is right on most of the issues, his campaign is fighting against our overall goal of gaining the majority. He is squandering money, volunteers, and media attention in order to beat a fellow Democrat. We need to be using everything at our disposal in order to take back control of Congress.
Don’t get me wrong – I am no fan of Joe Lieberman, but I am a fan of getting back the majority in Congress. This year is too important for us to waste millions in a primary when those millions should be going to Democratic candidates seeking to unseat Republicans. We have to look at the big picture. Ned Lamont selfishly ignored that bigger picture. The end result is that the Democratic Party and its chances of gaining the majority in November are weakened.
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