One Day Since Yesterday

Ned Lamont did it -- pulled off the political upset of the year.

And yet...

For some reason I'm reminded of a line at the end of the 1973 film "The Sting." After the big con has been pulled off, Robert Redford turns to Paul Newman. "You're right, it's not enough." Then he smiles, as only Redford in the early 70s could smile. "But it's close."

Lamont's victory last night was not enough. Polls had him leading Senator Lieberman by 14 points, and yet the winning margin was 52% to 48% -- hardly a landslide. I would have preferred for Lieberman to have received a more stinging rebuke from the voters of Connecticut. A four-point loss in the primary only emboldened Lieberman to declare that his loss was the victory of "partisanship" and that he intended to continue running as an independent. Lieberman last night sounded like a man in deep denial about the reality that was staring him right in the face.

I think it's time for people like Howard Dean, Bill Clinton and Chuck Schumer to call Lieberman and make the case that it's time to give it up and accept defeat gracefully. Ned Lamont is now the Democratic Party candidate for Senator from Connecticut. Lieberman should accept the will of the voters and step aside, for the sake of his reputation and the good of the party. Like the man said, it's time for him to go.

That having been said, what genius in the Lamont campaign saw to it that both Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson were standing directly behind Lamont at the podium when he made his acceptance speech? Now I know that Lamont's people might not have had anything to do with it -- both Sharpton and Jackson are noted publicity whores, and not averse to shoving their way in front of any camera within a hundred yards of them -- but is that really the message the campaign wants to send to the kind of moderate Connecticut voters you need to win a general election? That a vote for Ned Lamont is a vote for Al Sharpton?

These guys are in the big leagues now. They need to get their act together.

All that having been said, last night was a good night. We got the results we wanted, and now it's time to move forward. If Lieberman insists on being a sore loser and pouting his way to the polls in November as an independent, then Lamont will have to do whatever it takes to beat him again and send Lieberman into political obscurity.

But I'm hoping that Lieberman will be made to see reason and that it won't come to that.

Last night wasn't enough. But it was close.

Tom Moran