Lieberman abandons GOTV operation.

[Euphen]

I saw this on Kos:

Lamont Leads Lieberman by 13 Points in New Poll
Democratic Senator Shifts Strategy for Tuesday's Primary as Antiwar Foe Soars
By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 4, 2006; Page A05

HARTFORD, Conn., Aug. 3 -- Democratic challenger Ned Lamont, riding strong antiwar sentiment, has surged to a significant lead over embattled Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) heading into Tuesday's Senate primary, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released here Thursday.

<snip>

Facing a likely defeat, Lieberman has scrapped plans for a massive and costly get-out-the-vote operation on primary day, according to several Democratic sources. Instead, he will shift some of his resources into more television commercials designed to highlight his accomplishments for the state, in hopes of boosting his battered image.

<snip>

The Lieberman campaign, fearing that low voter turnout in the primary would favor Lamont, had plans to build a get-out-the-vote operation bigger than any seen in a state race in Connecticut. But in the face of discouraging polls, campaign officials concluded this week that the money likely would be wasted.

Lieberman plans to spend the remaining days of the campaign making a positive case for himself through television ads and a series of media interviews, according to campaign officials. He has decided not to attempt to discuss the war in his final commercials.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/03/AR2006080300597.html

If true, I guess this means it's pretty much over for Lieberman in the primary. He must expect to not only lose, but lose big.

on edit: added more from the article.

[Dr Fate]

1. No GOTV? Yet he accuses his opponents of being "net roots" only?

I'm not suprised at all.

[MissWaverly]

2. will send Gotta Go Joe to the Greatest Page

[ReadTomPaine]

3. I'm waiting for the 'bombshell' smear from the Lieberman campaign people..

It's the only tactic we haven't seen out of the playbook he's borrowed from his kissing cousins.

[Cronus Protagonist]

13. Doesn't Lamont have a black bastard child?

Oh, sorry, that was McCain...

:evilgrin:



Educate Your Local Freepers!
Flaunt Your Opinions With Buttons, Stickers and Magnets from BrainButtons.com
>

[MarkDevin]

21. No, no, no! Lamont got a black woman pregnant and forced her to abort it.

Get your damn lies straight, will ya? :evilgrin:

[Cronus Protagonist]

23. Sorry, I didn't get the memo from Karlie Boy this morning

I'll try to do better....

:evilgrin:



Educate Your Local Freepers!
Flaunt Your Opinions With Buttons, Stickers and Magnets from BrainButtons.com
>

[Cha]

4. Ned Lamont needs to

GOTFV in the primary and the General. We gotta win this thing!

And lie-man needs a Zap gun to repair his image.

[DODI]

5. Our local liberal commentator does not believe this for a second

If you combine this with the story about Lautenburg saying if Joe looses by 10 or more points he won't run as an indy. It makes no sense for him to give up on the GOTV. He needs to get out the vote. I still think he will loose by more than 10.

[Euphen]

10. It's possible that he realizes he will lose by a large margin regardless,

and would rather save his money if he is determined to run as an independent no matter how badly he loses the primary.

[MarkDevin]

22. Was that McEnroe?

Must've been. After all, how many liberal commentators does Hartford have?

[DODI]

29. Yes, it was Colin. He and Bruce are going to be doing

primary coverage on Tuesday on TIC and CTN. Colin will be with the Lamont camp, Bruce will be in the studio. It should be pretty good.

[Rose Siding]

6. Might be pure spin -an attempt by Joe's campt to lower expectations

Here are some reports from local sources-

Don't Believe The Last Minute Lies - Volunteer!
by: Maura
Fri Aug 04, 2006 at 16:16:53 PM EDT
I've been getting a lot of email from friends about the exciting news they're reading that Lamont is so far up in the polls that Lieberman is scrapping his GOTV operation entirely.
I call bullshit. Don't believe it for a minute.

I've had to drive by the Lieberman HQ in my city twice today. This morning, it was a beehive of LieberStaffer activity - the kind of crowded chaos that any experienced political volunteer recognizes as a healthy sign in the last few days of a campaign. This afternoon, I stopped in to pick up a Malloy bumper sticker (Lieberman and Malloy share the building) and it was somewhat less busy, presumably because teams of canvassers are on the street. There were no Hamburglers there, just two extraordinarily nice (and tired and hot) Lieberman canvassers, who very kindly offered me water even though I had just come from an air-conditioned car and they had been pounding hot sidewalks all day. A dozen or so people were busy phonebanking.

They're not giving up. Don't buy this spin for a minute.

http://www.myleftnutmeg.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2529

snip>
This race is very close, and Sen. Lieberman has by no means given up. Given the constant spin from the insane amount of local and national media coverage, it's impossible to divine what he's up to, if anything. He may only now be realizing that winning on August 8th is his only route to victory in November. The extent to which the field campaign is being cut seems to have been greatly exaggerated by their own campaign. Lieberman staffers are taking their $60 a day and knocking on doors and making phone calls at this very moment.

http://lamontblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/gotv.html

[robbedvoter]

14. LieberStaffer? Is this better than Lieberwurst?

I am sure that the PNACers are funneling lots of funds in his campaign, let's just hope the count will be honest.

[Nite Owl]

7. Moveon.org

is helping Lamont in a GOTV effort.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1819619

Lamont needs to win this big. I think he will!

[Kagemusha]

8. The FDL crowd thinks this is just propaganda

dirty tricks to fool Lamont voters. Well whatever.

[I_Make_Mistakes]

9. Please see this thread it is good news for Lamont

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1822350&mesg_id=1822350

[rodeodance]

11. even David Brooks said Joe will lose "and prob. big time" (pbs tonight)

[Zhade]

12. Man, I am LOVING watching Lieberman crash and burn!

Take THAT, D*******, you stupid rightwing FUCK. I can't wait until your boy loses.

[David Dunham]

15. I think Diebold will make sure Joe wins by 5 percent in the end.

[Zhade]

16. If he wins, yes. Polls like this don't lie.

NT!

[calico1]

17. Diebold can't help Lieberman.

We don't have Diebold in Ct.

[BrotherBuzz]

18. I've been informed that Connecticut doesn't use Diebold

That's not saying they won't try tweaking the numbers another way to save Lieberman from a total humiliating defeat. :shrug:

"I am stopping the purchasing process for electronic voting equipment in Connecticut," Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz. "The state will use lever voting machines in the 2006 election." - 1/4/2006

[MissWaverly]

34. I wish they would send their lever machines to Baltimore

Okay, maybe there was some hokey pokey with the old lever machines but at least it was not
a total wipeout.

[MarkDevin]

20. For the 500th time: WE DON'T USE DIEBOLD MACHINES IN CONNECTICUT!!!

How many times do I have to say that before it finally sinks in around here? Christ!

[Awsi Dooger]

24. That's what they want you to believe

They could have removed and replaced the word on the machines. It's a Diebold world.

[MarkDevin]

25. I don't know why I bother.

:eyes:

[calico1]

28. Hey, what would you know!

You just LIVE in CT. :eyes:

:sarcasm:

[Awsi Dooger]

30. I was slightly kidding

Tomorrow I'm voting on a Diebold machine in Nevada during early voting for our primary. If anyone around here is not petrified of the machines, it's me. i damn sure prefer them to punch cards.

[LincolnMcGrath]

19. Joe thought NUTroots meant something else!

[annabanana]

26. "We'll fix it in Marketing" - typical repub reaction. . . . . n/t

[Pale Blue Dot]

27. Folks: evidence is showing otherwise.

http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/08/04/party-on-garth/

I was typing my little fingers to the bone telling people to come to Connecticut for the big GOTV push for Lamont when the Kevin Rennie piece came out, essentially saying "Lieberman’s throwing in the towel and trashing his field staff." The bullshit meters went off instantly. Shortly thereafter Dan Balz ran the same thing in the WaPo, and we all know their talent for right-wing stenography.

It felt like an extremely Rovian attempt to suppress and discourage the Lamont GOTV effort. If he’s going to win by a landslide anyway, and Lieberman isn’t putting up a fight any more, why bother, right?

Except according to people on the street, that isn’t what’s happening. Rather than take dictation from Marion Slimefels, we contacted folks who actually took the time to check out the claim. Maura visited the Stamford office for Lieberman this morning, and has this to say:

{i]This is BS designed to lower Lamont turn-out. Don't buy it.

[Awsi Dooger]

32. It makes no sense for Lieberman to abandon GOTV

He can't spin a huge loss. That would put even more pressure on him to abandon the indy run. Even if he exhausts all his finances the correct handicapping is to try to make this as competitive as possible.

[MarkDevin]

33. "This is BS designed to lower Lamont turn-out. Don't buy it."

Bingo!

[KurtNYC]

31. 11,500 independents have gone "dem" in order to vote Tuesday

if they really think there will be a "low turnout" Lieberman very well may lose big. The conversion of independents thing is likely to have repercussions in other races across the country.

[Terre]

35. HEADS-UP People!

But the WAPO article, and the recent NYTimes article is pure BS and spin:

http://www.norwalkadvocate.com/news/local/state/hc-04171424.apds.m0541.bc-ct--connaug04,0,4688642.story?track=rss">Lieberman vows aggressive end to primary campaign

Lieberman, a three-term senator who's seen his popularity plunge in part because his support for the Iraq war, is buying more radio and television time in the campaign's final days, but denied reports that he's abandoning other get-out-the vote efforts, such as phonebanking and voter canvassing.

"We're going to have more paid workers on Election Day, not even counting volunteers, than I've ever had in any campaign I've had before," said Lieberman, following a rally with a building trades union in Hartford. "All I can tell you is, we are focused on the most aggressive get-out-the-vote operation that I have ever had."

No time to rest on our laurels.