Ned Rocks the East Hartford Vote

Congrats to all the election winners for winning and the losers for going up against unbeatable odds trying to beat any Democrat in this town. The toughest race for a Democrat in East Hartford was the one for Senate. Ned Lamont managed to get 47% of the vote to Lieberman's 42%, almost the opposite of state results.

By voting for Ned Lamont East Hartford joined with the rest of the country in voting for change. Though Ned didn't win the general election, by winning the primary he sent a message to George Bush that his "stay the course" policy in Iraq was a mess. Ned gave others like Chris Murphy, Joe Courtney and Democrats across the country the courage to stand up and voice their displeasure for a war gone awry. Let's get our kids home.

As a Lamont staffer and East Hartford resident it gave me great pleasure to see East Hartford go for Lamont. Looking at the exit polls statewide 33% of Democrats voted against their party in the Senate race. My guess is East Hartford is a bit more loyal then most. When I first started working for the Lamont campaign in June I knew that our state and local Democratic leaders weren't behind us. They were being loyal to Joe and it was understandable. After Ned's primary win some did come and support him 110%, but many did not. Joe Lieberman isn't the only person who believes that party loyalty and primaries mean nothing. But it might make for an interesting strategy for the future. Primary against a Democrat, lose the primary but get free press coverage and name recognition, then run again as a third party candidate, such as a Working Families candidate. Sounds like fun.

Speaking of Working Families congrats to East Hartford for becoming sophisticated with the cross endorsement line. Senator Gary LeBeau received 7.4% of his East Hartford total on the WFP line and Representative Henry Genga picked up 5.4 % more votes. Especially interesting was Goodwin School District 6, where Henry got over 50% of his WFP total and Gary got 25% of his. For those who don't understand cross endorsing, voters use the WFP line as a way to keep politicians accountable to working family issues. Finally, congrats to WFP candidate Geronimo Valdez, a fellow union brother who ran a respectable campaign. Way to go, Bro!

Fear vs. Courage

Exit polls show people over 61 went for Joe Lieberman by a 2 to 1 margin. While the rest of America voted across the country for change, when it came to our senator, seniors voted to “stay the course”.

So why did Connecticut seniors vote to “stay the course”? Was it Joe’s experience? Would they “stay the course” with a doctor having 30 years experience but consistently makes misdiagnoses? Yes, I see some returning to that doctor irregardless of his ineptness. Would they “stay the course” and keep returning their car to the same mechanic, even after he continuously made faulty repairs? Yes, we all know people, young and old, who do that very thing. Would these same seniors “stay the course” and keep calling the same inept plumber or electrician? The answer is yes and most of us have done it. Having said this I guess it’s easy to stay with the experienced politician who makes bad policy decisions.

So maybe it comes down to the fear of the unknown, the fear of change. Working on the Lamont campaign it was uplifting to see our most ardent and loyal volunteer callers being seniors, perhaps knowing they needed to be doubly active to offset their peers. Many were veterans, not chicken hawks, of Vietnam, Korea, and even WWII. These seniors knew the difference between live fire and hollow rhetoric. One D-Day veteran pilot spoke of his missions over Normandy beaches and his need for “one more mission” to convince people of the failed policies of the Iraq War. Other seniors spoke of the terrible deficit bill being presented to their grandchildren because of these “failed policies”.

So I want to salute these seniors that had the courage to stand up for change. These seniors know that real change begins with a change in leadership, as did the rest of America. They know that sometimes, like in Connecticut on August 8th, and across America on November 7th, courage wins out over fear.