Blue Mass Group

(Cross posted on Blog for Cambridge)

As I write this, about 84% of the precincts in Connecticut have reported, and Ned Lamont holds a 4% lead in the Senate primary there.  So I’m not sure what happened in Connecticut, for sure, yet.  But I do have some idea of what happened in Connecticut.  Sort of.

The Leiberman campaign, for the last two months or so, has claimed as its sworn enemy the crazy liberal blogosphere.  They kept this line of attack open to the very last day, when they claimed that they had been of the victim of what, in the blogosphere, would constitute some kind of capital offense: a denial of service attack against their server.  (By the way, speaking as a web professional, that claim is the stupidest thing I ever heard.  If the campaign had called our office yesterday at 3 pm, we would have had their website back up by the close of business yesterday.)

Tell you what though: Leiberman was right, the liberal blogosphere is behind this.  Sort of.  What’s really happening?

Check C-SPAN, if you don’t have access to CT stations. “Stay the course: that’s not a winning strategy in Iraq, and it’s not a winning strategy for America.” “A few things we gotta do.  First, we’ve got a health care system in this country that’s broken…. It’s time we fixed health care.” Ned – you won.  Smile, for God’s sake! “63 lobbyists for every congressman in Washington DC.  Let’s send some leaders to Washington DC to start fighting for the common good.  It’s time to fix Congress.” “One more number.  We have 132,000 of our bravest troops stuck in the middle of a bloody civil war in Iraq, and I say it’s high time we bring them home to a hero’s welcome.”  [Crowd chanting "bring them home."] “It’s time we fixed George Bush’s failed foreign policy.”  Quotes JFK: we never negotiate from fear, but we should never be afraid to negotiate.  “We deal with the rest of the world with respect.” “That’s the America that CT voted for this evening.  I want to say one thing in all seriousness.  I want to thank Senator Lieberman for this campaign…. And I’m hoping over the course of the next few days that [...]

Speech ongoing now. Thanks supporters, says they made it a “much closer race than all the pundits were predicting.”  Hmm – an odd spin on a race he was supposed to walk away with.  Whatever. HE HAS JUST CONCEDED THE RACE TO NED LAMONT! But he says he’s going to run as an independent in November.  So much for that whole “loyal Democrat” thing. “I am of course disappointed by the results.” “For the sake of my country and my party, I cannot and will not let that result [of Lamont winning] stand.  I expect that my opponent will continue to do in the general election what he has done in the primary: partisan polarizing instead of talking about how we can solve the people’s problems.” Blah blah blah – I want six more years.  You get the picture. Says he’s angry about the direction in which this country is moving.  Fed up with partisan bickering in Washington.  “I’ve been there, and I am fed up too.”  Memo to Joe: try not kissing the guy who’s responsible for most of it. “Tomorrow morning our campaign will file the necessary petitions with the CT Secretary of State’s office so that we [...]

Current numbers (this will be the last update): with 97.99% reporting, it’s Lamont 51.79% (144,005 votes), Lieberman 48.21% (134,026 votes). Source.

CT Return Data… You can follow the results as the various precincts report… BTW the DailyKos site is quite slow… Mark

Remember the great $295 debate? That’s the per-employee annual assessment for employers that don’t offer health care — the linchpin that held the whole deal together, in spite of Romney’s cynical, toothless veto. Well, apparently that’s too much for a lot of employers, and they’re working pretty hard to water down that part of the law, really beyond recognition: At issue is a rule proposed by the state Division of Health Care Finance and Policy to define what constitutes a “fair and reasonable” health care contribution for employers with 11 or more workers. The law uses that language as a benchmark to determine which employers must pay the $295 per-worker annual assessment to help finance the initiative. The rule is expected to be made final next month. It would enable companies to avoid paying the $295 if they agree to contribute 33 percent of the cost of an individual employee’s health care premium. As an alternative, employers could avoid the fee if at least one-quarter of their full-time employees choose to enroll in the company’s group health plan, regardless of how much coverage is included. Employers can’t meet the 25 percent requirement by counting workers insured through spouses. There’s no [...]

What the heck, there’s no money at stake here … I say Lamont romps: 56%-44%. Not close. Early night for all. Joe says, “Oh yeah? You and what party?” before 11:30pm, starts his Zell-Miller-on-methadone act immediately. The death spiral of a once-noble public career continues. Any other guesses? Update: AP results are here. This seems to be the best source. Taegan sez results will be here: Official results. Update: Wow, that server is getting rocked. Good luck on that one. Where are all those counties, anyway? Click through for demographic data from the US Census. Very cool. AP’s results. Just an AP wire finder, really. Should be fun! Martinis all around, one way or the other. UPDATE: Ball is rolling! Lamont jumps out to an early 426-281 lead. (Margin of error approximately 6000% — must be a Zogby.) 8:43pm: I swear I’m not liveblogging this… MyDD and Kos are also hosed. This thing is big.

The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke, a/k/a Ray Rogers, is coming from his New York home to Massachusetts, apparently tonight, according to State House News Service. The SHNS story reports that Rogers is “planning to disrupt Deval Patrick campaign appearances this week.”  And, in a potentially important development, Rogers told SHNS that “other campaigns had shown interest” in his activities.  That could be important because, under state campaign finance law, even “issue advocacy,” which normally is unregulated, becomes regulated if it is “coordinated” with a political campaign.  I didn’t discuss the “coordination” issue in my previous post on Killer Coke and OCPF regs, since I assumed that Rogers was acting completely on his own, but that assumption may prove to have been unwarranted.  Curiouser and curiouser. Also fascinating is the involvement of John Bonifaz in all this, as reported by SHNS.  I had noticed in reading Killer Coke’s materials that the attorney in charge of the litigation against Texaco on behalf of Ecuadorians claiming injury from Texaco’s environmental practices was named Bonifaz, but hadn’t realized that the attorney, Cristobal Bonifaz, is John Bonifaz’s father.  Silly me.  Anyway, John Bonifaz was also involved in the case: Bonifaz, who along with his [...]

Cross posted at my blog, Beyond 495

The Mass blogsphere is all over the recent attempt to swiftboat Deval Patrick over his prior employment with Coca-Cola.  To get up to speed, go read David’s post at Blue Mass. Group “Who is ‘Killer Coke?’” and Ryan’s post at DailyKos, “Democrats Swiftboating Democrats.” Go ahead, I’ll wait.

The assorted news articles and blog posts raising questions about Deval Patrick’s role in corporate America are, I  believe, largely a smoke screen.  I recognize that there are intelligent and honorable people who are skeptical of him, or who have made thoughtful and principled commitments to one of the other Democratic candidates.  Some of these folks post to this site, and I respect a number of them.  That said, it is hard for me to believe that there are too many voters for whom allegations about Deval’s corporate connections are likely to matter, at least negatively, and so it is hard for me to accept the analyses of those who try to claim that it is or should prove to be a big part of this election.  I’m going to take some time to explain why.