Joementum Down To The Wire
Even the New York Times, which has taken the highly unusual step of endorsing a primary challenger in an out-of-state race, notices that Joe Lieberman seems to have gained momentum going into election day.
Mr. Lieberman, the three-term incumbent whose support for the Iraq war has cost him voters, held nine events over 13 hours and exuded fresh optimism on the ninth day of a statewide bus tour. He also spent tens of thousands of dollars on an unconventional two-minute television ad in which he aligned himself with Democratic anger over Iraq and President Bush — an attempt to neutralize Mr. Lamont’s signature antiwar message.
Mr. Lamont, a millionaire businessman from Greenwich, made the unusual choice of limiting his public events and instead called undecided voters and tried to reach them through interviews with reporters. At a news conference last night, Mr. Lamont also tried to remind voters a final time of his political theme, saying he believed voters were “ready to change course,” in the Senate and, implicitly, in Iraq.
The Connecticut race, which has been regarded by some Democrats nationally as a referendum on the party’s wartime posture, had been tilting in Mr. Lamont’s favor in the last two weeks, according to public opinion polls and anecdotal evidence from voters. Yet Mr. Lieberman seem buoyed yesterday by a new poll from Quinnipiac University that showed him down by 6 points, within the poll’s margin of sampling error.
More than in recent days, the senator came across as both contrite and self-satisfied yesterday. He lamented that he had not “clarified” his criticism of the war and the White House earlier, but he also argued that Republicans were “salivating” over the possibility that Democrats would pick an antiwar liberal instead of Mr. Lieberman.
Of course, they couldn't avoid that little dig at Lieberman. This will be a very long day indeed for both candidates and their supporters. I've been saying for a while not to count an old pro out too soon. Now it's down to the wire and who can get more of their supporters out to vote.
By TC@LeatherPenguin, August 8, 2006 @ 6:36 am
“Even the New York Times, which has taken the highly unusual step of endorsing a primary challenger in an out-of-state race,….”
Gaius, nobody, not even the Old Gray Hag’s most ardent supporter, considers them a “New York” newspaper–beyond those two words being part of the masthead–except for attenuated precincts flanking the upper parts of Central Park. Even the Times admits it, renaming the Metro section “Regional,” and piling all the “NJ/Conn/Everywhere Not Manhattan” stories in that one newshole. The only outer borough they even acknowledge is part of their little world is Brooklyn, and that is only because so many Manhattan residents fled there in reaction to the insane Manhattan realty market. And anything north of yonkers mat as well be Mars.