Lamont Inches Ahead Of Lieberman In Dem Primary,

Anti-war Connecticut U.S. Senate candidate Ned Lamont has surged to a razor-thin 51 - 47 percent lead over incumbent Sen. Joseph Lieberman among likely Democratic primary voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

This compares to a 55 - 40 percent lead for Sen. Lieberman among likely Democratic primary voters in a June 8 poll by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University.

In possible general election matchups: Lieberman defeats Republican challenger Alan Schlesinger 68 - 15 percent; Lamont beats Schlesinger 45 - 22 percent, with 24 percent undecided; Running as an independent, Lieberman gets 51 percent, to 27 percent for Lamont and 9 percent for Schlesinger.

"Lamont has turned what looked like a blowout into a very close Democratic primary race," said Quinnipiac University Poll Director Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D.

"Lamont is up, while Lieberman's Democratic support is dropping. More Democrats have a favorable opinion of Lamont, who was largely unknown last month, and see him as an acceptable alternative to Lieberman. But Lieberman's strength among Republicans and independents gives him the lead in a three-way matchup in November."

All voters say 56 - 31 percent that Lieberman deserves reelection, but likely Democratic primary voters split 46 - 45 percent on this question.

In an open-ended question, where voters can give any answer, 35 percent of those likely Democratic primary voters who say Lieberman does not deserve reelection list his support for the war in Iraq as the main reason.

Lamont does not have the "right kind of experience to be a U.S. Senator," voters say 39 - 24 percent, with 37 percent undecided. Likely Democratic primary voters split 37 - 37 percent on Lamont's experience.

"Among the 45 percent of likely Democratic primary voters who think Lieberman shouldn't be reelected, the biggest group, 35 percent, cite the war in Iraq as the main reason," Dr. Schwartz said. "And 45 percent of likely Democratic primary voters say they would vote against Lieberman solely because of his support of the war."

One letter to the Salon editor regarding "Lamont surges, Lieberman fades in primary poll":

Dean and his radical bigoted spoilers
by Piss on Dean and The Rabid Left
Thu, 20 Jul 2006 17:20:45 -0700
The only reason Joe Lieberman's in trouble today is because Howard Dean and his radical lefties are trying to maintain some sort of relevancy by doing what the left does best - splitting the vote and creating a circular firing squad in our own party and letting the GOP sail to victory laughing all the way.

Hoping we'll all forget Dean's promise to make red country competitive when he browbeat his way in as DNC chairman, he's again focused on offering red meat to his pack of rabid leftist followers in a similar way as he did after he spent through his primary coffers like a drunken sailor without winning a single state by foaming on unintelligably about moderate Democrats (who actually had their stuff together).

Dean's promises about "converting" red country sounded good on the surface. But some of us actually noticed he had no viable plan to do anything like that and that his premises were full of holes. For instance, how do you get your message out in the south where there is no labor presence if you won't set foot in a church because your rabid fans are all vehemently anti-Christian. (The rabid left apparently didn't notice there aren't many mosques in red country to make up for the lost votes - nor anywhere in America for that matter).

Unfortunately those of us who doubted Dean were right as not one Republican red state incumbant is in trouble in the fight for the Senate. Meanwhile Bill Nelson, the very last of the Southern Democrat Senators, may etch out victory because of Katherine Harris's mistakes, rather than anything that Dean has done for him. (In fact, Nelson like many Democrats, have had to work had to distance themselves from Dean and his pack of rabid followers).

As usual, any victories the Democrats have this Fall will be despite Howard Dean and his rabid supporters rather than because of them.

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