Tuesday in CT is not really about who wins. It is the beginning...

[madfloridian]

of a sea change in our party. Lamont would like to win, he very well might. So would Liebeman, and he has some very big guns on his side.

But I see some people here making it more a contest of winning, rather than a contest of trying and making a difference.

Because...trust me....this race got national attention. It will be spun to whatever advantage they want when it is over. That does not matter.

It matters that someone ran against the man who has consistently stood with the president, even saying that we question the president's credibiity at our nation's peril. Someone ran against him, got attention, and made a difference.

We who live in a world of reality know the president has had no credibility for years. That was the turning point.

Whether Lamont wins or not, we have started necessary changes in the party.

We should be proud no matter what happens. My last phone conversation with our state party chairman, and an email I was made aware of that was sent to committeepeople by the party political director....both made clear they are planning to squash any efforts at change. Now that's a shame.

They are very nice people, but they want things done the way they have been done for ages. They pick the candidates along with the committee chairs, and that is who runs. That's it, no debate.

Whatever happens Tuesday is more significant than you think, no matter who wins. We, the "netroots", or whatever the term is now...have reason to be proud.

[Iniquitous Bunny]

1. This is crucial to the future of our party.

Is our party going to be a continuation of "Let's be more centrist to attract more people."?

Or is it going to be, "Let's stand up for the progressive ideals that give people something different from the Republicans."?

I choose the second. Some people choose the first, but I'd like to think the ideas that Democrats stand for are strong enough on their own merits that we do not have to continue our political campaigns based upon the notion that compromise is our best bet.

[Burried News]

2. And most importantly we will take the fight to them every day.

Because Lamont is only the focus this month. We will not rest until justice is done and justice can only be done by voting the ReThugs out of office one by one ... the fifty state strategy, freedom and justice on the march.

[Arugula Latte]

3. I know what you're saying, and I agree to some extent, but

I really think we need a win to gain credibility. We've had many close calls and hopes that were dashed. We need to get a concrete example of true change spawned by the netroots.

[madfloridian]

4. It would be nice.

But against a former VP candidate, big odds.

[Robbien]

6. I was very worried, up until

Lieberman started having problems getting a GOTV ground team together. Lieberman had the support of the big unions so a GOTV should have been no sweat. The rumors must be true that even though the union leadership gave the nod to Lieberman, the rank and file said they didn't agree.

Without widespread union support, Lieberman will have a tough time this time.

[madfloridian]

7. Well, I can't access Kos now, but that was said not to be true.

That he did have a good ground game going. I have not been able to get into the Kos site since last night.

I hope you are right.

[Robbien]

8. I've been getting into dkos for the last couple of hours

Strange that you can not.

But on the GOTV front, Lieberman said he would get together a 4,000 strong team, but then couldn't get one together and had to hire a bunch of out of state college Republicans to help with the GOTV. In total, the most he got together was a team of about 800, all paid workers.

[BillZBubb]

5. Lamont must win. If he loses, the Democratic party is weakened.

A Lamont loss will be a disaster. It will reinvigorate the Vichy Democrats in the DLC. They'll know they can toe the corporatist, Repug lite line and still win.

A Lamont win is needed to force the Democratic party to move the "center" back to the real center instead of halfway across the right wing. Lamont's win would scare the pants off the Repug lite party members--they'll move to support the base instead of taking it for granted (and a ride).

[LaPera]

10. Absolutely! Lieberman wins it's business as usual, lifetime job and

republican ass kissing...

And what's worse it proves we have no power for politicians who cross party lines, say they are Dem's but so often on important issues, vote as republicans and praise republican presidents.

and if Lieberman wins the same good old boy DLC will continue the moderate control of the spineless losing democratic party...with no repercussions or accountability to republicans like Lieberman.

[regnaD kciN]

9. It's only "the beginning" if Lamont wins...

If Holy Joe comes back to eek out a victory, it will be held up as another example (along with Dean's collapse in 2004) that the bloggers, netroots, and those of us who consider ourselves "people-power Democrats" can make a lot of noise, but are impotent to change things. Our influence will be dismissed, and the business-as-usual forces in the DNC will be back in the driver's seat for at least one more election cycle.

This is one of those cases where the only choices for us are to win or go home.