How did Schlesinger become the GOP Senate candidate in Conn?

[TechBear_Seattle]

I asked this in another thread, which promptly died. I think this should be looked at, so here it is in a thread all its own.

The Republican Pary has all but endorsed Joseph Lieberman for the Senate. Their own candidate, Alan Schlesinger, has reportedly been ordered to drop from the race in order to clear the path for Lieberman and avoid splitting the Republican vote.

If the Republicans don't want Schlesinger to run for the Senate, how did he become the Republican nominee? Was he the only candidate? Was there a primary and, if so, how many votes did he get against which other contenders? Has he ever received endorsements from other GOP members and, if so, have they been revoked?

Any information on these questions would be much appreciated :hi:

[Awsi Dooger]

1. I think it was a voice vote

I read that somewhere. They had a party nominating convention in May and Schlesinger got the senate nod late in the proceedings via voice vote (Schlesinger claims it was unanimous) after Rell had already given her acceptance speech for gov and the hall had partially emptied.

[Nite Owl]

2. If the GOP is anything like

what it is in NY they may have had a hard time even trying to find someone willing to run.

[danalytical]

3. Schlesinger got the nod only

because he actually actively campaigned for it. He was the only guy to actually want to run against Lieberman. So the party nominated him. They were just happy that anybody would run. That's all there is to it.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. Nice way they are showing their appreciation

I hope the people of CT notice this as well.

[bleedingheart]

5. would that not be a hoot if Schlesinger dropped and made it a two way

between Lamont (The Democrat) and Lieberman (I am my own Party) ...it would all but prove that the Republicans are controlling Lieberman.

[invictus]

7. That is likely to happen

If the poll numbers between Lamont and Lieberman are very close, I expect Schlesinger to drop out so that he doesn't take the 2% of GOP votes that would otherwise go to Lieberman.

[TechBear_Seattle]

10. And it would be a Good Thing

Nothing could draw more attention to Lieberman being the Republican candidate than a two way race between him and the officially nominated Democratic candidate. And I doubt that will sit very well with Connecticut voters come November 7.

[LynneSin]

6. At the time, who thought that Lamont would have beat Lieberman

:shrug:

[invictus]

8. I did. :) n/t

[EST]

14. What a crushing disappointment this must all be for Lamont!

After all, when he made the choice to go up against Lieberman, all he had to do (not that it would be easy)was beat him in a primary...and become the next senator from Ct.

Heavy load.

[madinmaryland]

9. None of the other major GOP contenders in CT wanted to run against

Lieberman. There are only two major contenders on the GOP, Chris Shays and Nancy Johnson. (I don't consider Rob Simmons or Jody Rell a major player). Neither wanted to give up their House Seat and let another democrat win their seat to run a battle against an entrenched Senator.

[calico1]

11. I was reading an article recently on

the GOP convention and how the pick the Senatorial candidate. Senate seats have been considered a lock by the Democrats for a long time. It is supposedly a joke, with people making lamb "baaa" noises (lamb going to the slaughter) when the "winner" emerges. It is more like "who wants to get their ass kicked this time" than "who can we beat the Democrats with."

[CTyankee]

12. God, the repubs have such a lack of talent on hand!

They've got "wampum Al" Schlesinger this year with all his little peccadilloes of gambling debts. 6 years ago against Joe Lieberman they had child molester, Phil Giordano. What a crew!

Schlesinger is going nowhere fast. He is a joke.

This contest is all about Lieberman/Lamont. Don't even waste a thought on Schlesinger and the Republicans.

[Solon]

13. Just a guess, but I would say he won a game of dice. n/t

[No Exit]

15. I don't know, but my opinion is:

That in return for Joe Lieberman's rousing support of the repukelicans' failed and deadly warmongering, the repukelicans ran obvious losers against him so he could stay in the senate with very little effort. IOW, a fix. A bargain. A compact. An oily handshake. A kiss from the Gasbag-in-Chief.

[TechBear_Seattle]

16. Both parties readily admit to keeping some seats safe for the other

Thereby reducing the number of genuine contests to a few, easy to manage (and easy to fund) "pivots." I would not at all be surprised to find out that Lieberman was a party to one such "arrangement."