UPDATED: NJ Supports Ned Lamont

That's right (0.00 / 0)

And I somehow suspect that none of Lieberman's NJ donors are carpooling into CT to do GOTV either.

Hahahaha - just laughing at that visual.

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.  

---

by: Rosi Efthim @ Tue Jul 25, 2006 at 03:40:27 AM UTC

Imagine... (0.00 / 0)

...how much more support Ned Lamont would be getting from NJ progressives than he already is if our state's progressive organizations actually got off their bums and asked its members to contribute to his campaign and travel to CT to help with the GOTV effort?

Considering the fact that both of NJ's U.S. Senators have taken positions of opposition to the war in Iraq and many of our Democratic Congressmen have opposed it from the beginning or come around to opposing it in recent months, wouldn't helping to replace the most vocal Democratic cheerleader of the Bush Administration and its failed policies in Iraq with a true-blue antiwar progressive Democrat do more to bring about an end to the conflict than Iraq War Forums, which will be yet another opportunity for progressive elected officials and leaders to preach to the converted?

Or are they afraid that this would caused them to be alienated by Democratic leaders in NJ who are quietly rooting for Lieberman to survive.  If so, how truly progressive are our state's progressive organizations?

---

by: taxandspendliberal @ Tue Jul 25, 2006 at 12:37:08 PM UTC

Imagine... (4.00 / 2)

...if for just one diary, you would put your axe-grinding aside. It seems to be distorting your sense of reality. When you get over it, you'll realize that you were advocating that NJ organizations spend their time and energy focusing on CT rather than NJ.

---

by: Juan Melli @ Tue Jul 25, 2006 at 13:02:53 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Goodness gracious (4.00 / 1)

NJ's progressive organizations are doing what they can to build progressive community here in NJ, and have to do so with limited resources.  You are suggesting that they take those resources and put them in Connecticut.

NJ's groups could also focus their energy on getting people to Linda Stender's office this Saturday for canvassing, or pushing our Republican House members to back the minimimum wage bill, or supporting the coordinated effort to take Social Security off the table, or work for any number of progressive Democrats running in local and county elections.

Instead of taking on the world and fighting every fight, sometime it makes sense to change what you can and move on.

---

by: huntsu @ Tue Jul 25, 2006 at 17:38:31 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

P.S. (0.00 / 0)

Also, it is those Iraq War forums and other things like that which turned our D House delegation in the direction they are going. 

---

by: huntsu @ Tue Jul 25, 2006 at 17:39:43 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

one person's axe-grinding... (0.00 / 0)

...is another person's wake-up call.

Yes, I am proposing that NJ's progressive organizations could have encouraged their members to contribute to Ned Lamont's campaign and travel to CT in the month of July (one of the quieter months in NJ's election calendar), playing a role in putting him over the top against Joe Lieberman in the same way that the NJ supporters of Howard Dean and John Kerry and Dennis Kucinich traveled to New Hampshire and Iowa and many other states to support their Presidential campaigns.

For the same reasons that it is vital for progressives in the other 12 Congressional districts in the state to contribute money to Linda Stender and travel to the 7th Congressional District to volunteer for her campaign, it is just as vital for progressives throughout the country to support the ouster of Joe Lieberman in CT.

Rosi can laugh at the thought of Lieberman supporters traveling to CT all that she wants to, but while the David Steiners and Lionel Kaplans of the world and the members of organizations like NORPAC might not go door-to-door in CT or anywhere else to support Joe Lieberman or anybody else whom they back financially, ever since the school year ended, there have been hundreds of Orthodox Jewish families, who live in places like Lakewood, Edison, Livingston, West Orange, Passaic, Fairlawn, Englewood, and Teaneck, who have been loading up their minivans on Friday mornings, driving up to various places in CT, canvassing until sundown, resting during the Sabbath, and then getting back out onto the streets Sunday morning and canvassing well into the evening, because for them, Joe Lieberman is their standard bearer in the political world and his political career is under siege.  And if they are able to play a role in helping Lieberman retain the Democratic nomination in August, they will be the ones laughing.

Conversely, Ned Lamont should be a standard bearer for progressive Democrats in NJ and everywhere else in the country that are sick and tired of Democrats, who for ideological or other reasons, cease to act, talk, and vote like Democrats.  After Bob Menendez is re-elected in November, the surest way to ensure that he continues to be the person who was willing to filibuster and vote against Alito and voted against the Marriage Protection Act, instead of reverting back to being the same person who voted for the Defense of Marriage Act and the Bankruptcy Bill is if Ned Lamont beats Joe Lieberman in the August primary and the November general election.

There is a reason that national organizations like Democracy for America and MoveOn.org and national blogs have gotten behind Ned Lamont.  They hope that his victories in August and November will have a ripple effect on Democrats in the House and Senate, who have to run for re-election in 2008 and beyond.  It would be truly sad if progressives in NJ, one of the bluest states in the country, were the only ones who ignored the call.  At the very least, it would enable the Democratic establishment here to sleep well at night.

Unfortunately, if Menendez were challenged in a primary by someone more progressive than him, it is unlikely that progressives in NJ could expect too much help from progressives in CT or anywhere else, because when the time came for us to stand up and do the right thing, we were too busy organizing our political beauty pageants.  And if anybody thinks that an Iraq War Forum has more of an impact on the positions that an elected official takes during their re-election campaign than their polling data, they are truly delusional.

---

by: taxandspendliberal @ Tue Jul 25, 2006 at 19:23:30 PM UTC

Rosi? (0.00 / 0)

What the hell are you talking about?  No one named Rosi posted on this thread.

---

by: huntsu @ Tue Jul 25, 2006 at 20:27:37 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

A couple questions (0.00 / 0)

1) How much have you donated to Ned Lamont?

2) How many hours have you volunteered for Ned Lamont?

---

by: huntsu @ Tue Jul 25, 2006 at 20:28:36 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

zero dollars and many hours (0.00 / 0)

Not having much disposable income to contribute to political candidates and firmly believing in the public financing of political campaigns, I generally don't contribute money to political candidates, even those that I support wholeheartedly, unless it is required to attend a particular event.

While I haven't driven up to CT to go door-to-door, I have been in touch with a number of his operatives and have spent a significant amount of time helping the campaign develop a Jewish outreach strategy and writing talking points on Israel.  I have done the same for both Linda Stender's campaign here in NJ, Camille Abate's campaign earlier this year, and Bob Casey Jr.'s campaign in PA.  This being an area of expertise of mine, I am happy to help any Democrat in this way.

When I was still involved with New Jersey for Democracy, I had some initial conversations with DFA leaders in CT and NY about a possible quid pro quo where NJ progressives could help Ned Lamont in July and August and CT and NY progressives could help Linda Stender in October and November.  However, as a result of disinterest/resistance from colleagues in NJ, these conversations never went too far before I left.

Rosi, BTW, was the first person to comment on Juan's initial post.  Had her response not been so arrogant and dismissive of Lieberman's supporters, I would not have bothered to write what I wrote.  Considering the fact that Lamont has only just recently been able to creep ahead of Lieberman in the polling, I felt that the last thing anybody paying attention to this race should be is haughty and overconfident.  If nothing else, it is bad kharma.

I can remember being with Jim Florio at an AFL-CIO convention in 2000 and with Howard Dean when he accepted the endorsement from Jim McGreevey and the Democratic establishment in NJ and feeling very good because both were still flying high in the polls at the time, only to watch both campaigns crash and burn before all was said and done.  I will feel good when Ned Lamont wins in August and even better when he wins in November, but not a second sooner than that.

---

by: taxandspendliberal @ Tue Jul 25, 2006 at 21:21:44 PM UTC