The Eyes of the Political Junkie World Are on Connecticut
Polls in Connecticut close in just three and a half hours. Let me say right now, before any exit polls or results come in, that I predict Lamont will win by 6-10 points .
Ned Lamont, alleged future senator
The big news across the Internet about this campaign has been some sort of dark allegations by the Lieberman campaign of web-site hacking on the part of Lamont. Whether the Joe2006.com Web site was even hacked or not, though, seems largely in dispute. In fact, political blogger Kos relates that, more likely, the site crashed simply because the campaign was only paying $15/month for a Web site with limited bandwidth. Thus, when election day hit, the sheer traffic caused Joe's site to crash. You get what you pay for.
But who cares, really? This sort of last-minute sniping by campaigns goes largely ignored by the general voting public. Moving back to my early prediction that Lamont will win, I'd also like to say this: I'll be damned glad if he does.
Mind you, my Lamont support doesn't neccessarily stem from similar outlooks on the Iraq War (though there is that) or any other issue. I just like when the system gets shaken up. It appeals to the wicked anarchist in me. A Lamont win over Lieberman probably wouldn't change much for Connecticut -- if Lieberman loses and goes Independent in the general election, he'll probably wind up winning anyway -- but I like what message it would send to the Democratic Party. A Lamont win says, "We are sick of the status quo. Change something, bubba, or you're next!" Hot damn, nobody wants to be the next head on the chopping block, do they?
Possible fate of other Democratic political careers
No sirree, Bob! A Lamont win means that other Democrats who have largely gone along with this revolting war-crime-in-progress in Iraq will have to look at themselves in the mirror and decide if they enjoy wielding power -- and if you're a politician, you most assuredly do. And as the Democratic Party veers left, it'll open the door for more chaos and bloodshed between it and a Republican Party that's so far to the right it's beginning to make those Nazi comparisons, once discounted as ludicrous, seem pretty apropos.
But, hell, I like just about anything that shakes up the system. A colleague and I were talking about this today, and he recalled Oliver North's senate run in Virginia. "As a citizen," he said, "I was repulsed. But the reporter in me was like [picture gleeful rubbing of hands]."
Former senate candidate Oliver North
I can't help but agree. In that way, Oliver North's senate run and Ned Lamont's are similar. The difference, though, is that Lamont makes the citizen in me happy, too. All sides are appeased. But, really, it's the writerly side that usually wins out in political battles. And it's dying to see what happens next.