Thanks to the miracle of Ti vo, I caught last night’s debate between Lamont and Lieberman.
There is, unsurprisingly, quite a bit of noise among the blogs I follow on the debate. The left-wing blogs are noisily playing up the idea that Lieberman is a mean, conservative politician while Lamont successfully articulated that he is the champion of Democratic party ideals (see Kos 1 2 3 4; My Left Nutmeg 1 2; Connecticut Local Politics; et. al.).
Blogs not stuck in leftie-land have taken a bit more neutral stance. For example, see the excellent roundup from The Moderate Voice.
The transcript of the debate is available at the Washington Post, FWIW.
Even though the online polls show Lamont won the debate (probably influenced by exhortations by Kos and others of similar mindset to go vote for Lamont), I think the outcome wasn’t quite as clear.
On Lamont - to me, he came across as radiating a bit of inexperience, and he seemed flustered at the beginning. He’ll gain support from more liberal Nutmeggers who hadn’t yet decided whether to support him because of not really having heard much about him previously. Realists/moderates and any conservatives who are registered Democratic will shy away from him because he seems like a nut.
On Lieberman - for good or ill, he came across as a politician. To his credit, he has experience. To his potential detriment, he is a politician, guilty of seeking pork for Connecticut and for shifting his stance/vote for political purposes. He didn’t hold any punches, but whether he comes off as being “mean and rude” or tenaciously pointing out flaws in his opponent’s rhetoric will likely depend on your opinion of politicians-in-general and personal taste in debate style. Personally, I was impressed, but I can easily see how some (many?) people would be put off by Lieberman’s performance.
My verdict - there wasn’t a clear winner, IMO, given that this was a debate for a party primary. Neither candidate swayed anyone who had already made up their mind about who to vote for next month. Whether the gap between the two narrows or widens depends on just how left-leaning the undecideds are.
I can say that I think it is extremely unlikely that Lamont will get to the Senate, given that Lieberman has said that he’ll run as a petitioning candidate if he loses the primary. Lamont is simply too inexperienced and too nutty to appeal to moderates in any race that Lieberman’s in.
1 response so far ↓
1 Treehugger // 7 Jul 2006 at 12:52 pm
I agree Lamont did not win the debate. His inexperience showed. Joe lost it- with his petty whining indignant vitriolic attacks. Ned took the high road. Joe took a page out of Karl Rove’s book. How dare anyone challenge King Joe and force him to come back to CT and have to listen to his constituents.
He has become the man he defeated 18 years ago.
I am a moderate registered dem. On some issues I lean left, on others I lean right. I consider Joe an extremist. I will be voting August 8 for Lamont. This congress has failed the American people.
It is not “just” about the war. I personally would vote out all the incumbents if I could.
Thank you.