Here's an Idea for Ned Lamont: Attack Alan Schlesinger [View All]

[Skinner]

I know what you're thinking: Alan who? Isn't Joe Lieberman supposed to be Ned Lamont's biggest opponent?

Indeed. But I believe Lamont can help his campaign and hurt Lieberman by building up Republican candidate Alan Schlesinger. According to an August 17 Quinnipiac Poll, here's how the CT Senate Race currently stands:

Joe Lieberman (I) 49%
Ned Lamont (D) 38%
Alan Schlesinger (R) 4%

I know that Connecticut is a blue state, but a Republican really should be polling higher than 4 percent -- even in a three-way race. Back in 2000, Philip Giordano, Joe Lieberman's Republican opponent for US Senate in Connecticut, received 35% of the vote. In my opinion, that should be considered the baseline of support for a Republican when Lieberman is on the ticket in a Connecticut US Senate race.

Considering where things stand now, I think it's highly unlikely that Schlesinger could possibly get 35% of the vote. But I don't think it is unreasonable for him to get himself up into the low 20s, if only he would make some effort to get his pathetic campaign off the ground. I suspect that at least 20% of Connecticut voters are anti-choice enough, anti-gay enough, or anti-environment enough to the point that voting for Lieberman would be considered an unacceptable compromise (or even immoral). If they knew they had a "moral" choice who shares their extremist ideology, they would likely vote for him. The problem is that all of the media coverage has been on Lamont/Lieberman, so nobody knows who Alan Schlesinger is. (Heck, I don't know a thing about the guy and unfortunately his website is down right now so I have no easy way to figure out what his positions are on issues like abortion, gay rights, or the environment. Still, I think it is safe to assume that he is worse than Lamont or Lieberman on these issues, or could be easily made to look that way.)

Alan Schlesinger does not seem to be doing much of anything to support his own candidacy, and neither is the GOP. So the only person with any hope of raising Mr. Schlesinger's profile is probably Ned Lamont. And how would Lamont do that? One way is by giving money to his campaign, but I think that's a little too obvious. A better way to raise Schlesinger's profile would be for Ned Lamont to attack him relentlessly, on TV and at all his campaign stops:

- Attack him for his opposition to abortion rights.
- Attack him for his opposition to gay rights.
- Attack him for his opposition to environmental protection.
- Attack him for being a strong supporter of the Bush Agenda.

The point is of this approach is NOT to peel supporters from the Schlesinger column and put them into the Lamont column. The point is to peel supporters from Lieberman and put them into the Schlesinger column.

If Lamont's attacks can move Schlesinger from 4% to 6%, then Lamont can argue that Schlesinger is "surging in the polls by 50%" which provides a self-fulfilling justification for attacking Schlesinger. It also gives Republicans a reason to believe that maybe Schlesinger isn't such a big loser -- After all, he's got Ned Lamont so scared, he's attacking him.

If by election day Schlesinger can be moved from 4% to 20%, then the vast majority of the 16% swing is going to come from Republicans who are currently supporting Lieberman. If they all came from Lieberman, the final vote would look like this:

Joe Lieberman (I) 33%
Ned Lamont (D) 38%
Alan Schlesinger (R) 20%

Which would make Ned Lamont the winner.

Connecticut voters are already well informed about both Lamont and Lieberman, so focusing the campaign there is going to have diminishing returns. If this can be turned into a three-way race, and conservatives can be made better informed about Schlesinger, then Lamont wins.