New Haven Independent

The noon rally took place just hours after the release of a stunning Quinnipiac University poll. It showed Lamont doubled his support in just a month for his Democratic primary challenge to U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman. A month ago Lieberman led Lamont 65-19 percent among Democrats in the Quinnipiac Poll. Forty percent of likely primary voters in the new poll said they support Lamont, compared to 55 percent for Lieberman. And the campaign has just begun. It’s a remarkable turn of events for an unknown taking on a powerful three-term senator in the state’s first primary against an incumbent in 36 years.

One major reason for Lamont’s meteoric rise: the new Internet politics. His message — pro-universal health care; and tarring Lieberman as President Bush’s “favorite senator” because of his support for the Iraq war, his votes for the recent oil company-friendly energy bill and Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, his attacks on the patriotism of war critics — has appealed to progressive Democrats nationwide who follow liberal web sites.

Liberal organizations behind two of those web sites turned out the hundreds of supporters to the second-floor Omni ballroom Thursday: Democrats for America, the successor to the web-hatched group behind Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential candidacy; and MoveOn.org, which uses the Internet to mobilize three million Americans to lobby Congress and get involved in elections.

Uber E-mailer In The Flesh
The crowd got to see and hear in person the man behind MoveOn, whom they’d previously known as a typed name on the “from” line of their e-mails. His name is Eli Pariser. His members voted 85 to 14 percent to back Lamont’s campaign, which potentially means hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of potential volunteers.

Pariser spoke of an “energy crisis” and a “democracy crisis” in America.

“Joe Lieberman voted for a Republican energy bill that gave $14 billion in subsidies to the biggest oil companies,” he told the crowd. “Instead of demanding accountability, Joe Lieberman is getting kisses in the cheek from George Bush… Joe Lieberman is attacking people who question the war.”

“Instead of the insiders in Washington, D.C., you are going to decide who the next senator from Connecticut is,” Parise concluded, as cheers filled the ballroom.

Senior Netroots

Those cheers came from people who largely defied the stereotype of the new generation of web-propelled citizen activists seeking to revolutionize American politics through new technology and by taking power away from party insiders. The room was filled with senior citizens. And many said they do indeed come to electoral politics through the Internet.

“We live on the Internet,” said 69 year-old Kate Tepper of Wilton. She came to the New Haven event along with her friend Harriet Scureman and 76 year-old Scott Kimmich of Wilton (shown in the above photo with a Lamont bumper sticker-festooned straw boater). Kimmich came to the Lamont campaign through the DFA web site. He visits the pro-Lamont My Left Nutmeg blog at least once a week. The threesome ticked off their favorite political sites, including the Daily Kos, MyDD and the Huffington Post

Eighty-five year-old Estelle Davis (in photo at top of the story) goes online for two hours each night starting around midnight in her York Street apartment in New Haven. Besides the political blogs, she reads the London Times, the Guardian and Diplomatique.

“Most people think the Internet is a bunch of 20 somethings,” observed Aldon Hynes, the Connecticut Internet guru who began the campaign cycle working for John DeStefano’s gubernatorial campaign, then gravitated to the Lamont campaign. “They’re the folks who are involved. A lot of them are older folks who vote. They get out and do a lot of great stuff.”

Of course, the Internet and progressive independent campaigns draw their share of 20 somethings. Taiwo Stanback (pictured), for instance, just graduated from Yale. She showed up at the rally, and she has signed on to work for Lamont.

In his speech to the crowd, Lamont clearly basked in his new poll numbers and energetic grassroots support. His shpiel has noticeably improved over his first few months as a campaigner.

“People want fundamental change in Washington, D.C.,” Lamont said. “I’m gonna give it to ‘em.”

He spoke of how “we have 63 lobbyists for every Congressman in Washington, D.C. You wonder why we have an Omnibus Spending Bill with a Bridge to Nowhere?”

As he tries to define himself in voters’ minds — before Lieberman does with TV attack ads fueled by $7 million in campaign money — Lamont addressed the charge that he’s a “single issue” antiwar candidate. The war, he insisted, is not a “single issue.”

“There’s nothing more important that our country does than war and peace,” he argued. He spoke of the life and death issues for soldiers and their families and about the impact on the country’s moral standing in the world. Then he spoke of how the war ties into domestic issues. “Why can we spend $250 million a day in Iraq but we can’t afford universal health care for every American?” Similarly, he spoke of diverting war money to rebuilding roads and schools and ending the country’s “dependency on fossil fuels.”

Lamont spoke of how Lieberman has a reputation for seeking common ground with Republicans. “It’s time Democrats started talking about the common good” instead, Lamont said. “George Bush is fundamentally wrong. If Joe Lieberman doesn’t want to challenge him, I will.”

At the netrooted Omni Thursday, Lamont was speaking his audience’s language.