nothin Lamont: I Won’t “Fight With One Arm” | New Haven Independent

Lamont: I Won’t Fight With One Arm”

Melissa Bailey Photo

On the heels of a new poll depicting him as a frontrunner in the governor’s race, Ned Lamont signaled to a New Haven audience that he won’t seek public financing.

Lamont, who’s exploring” a run for the Democratic nomination for governor, spoke Monday before 40 members of the Yale College Democrats at Yale’s Branford College on York Street. He appeared in the same room as he did four years ago, when he rallied the young anti-Iraq War vote to help him snatch the Democratic nomination away from U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman (before losing to Lieberman in the general election).

This time, Lamont found himself focused on a new issue — the state’s economy and jobs — and presented with a new question: Will he participate in a new public financing program, or use his personal wealth again to finance his campaign?

The topic came up during a question and answer period following Lamont’s hour-long appearance at the couch-filled common room.

As governor, would Lamont support and fully fund the state’s new public financing program? a student asked.

Lamont said yes, he would support the program as governor: I’m proud of public finance reform.”

However, as a candidate gearing up for a fall election, he indicated that he can’t afford to participate.

Candidates who sign up for public financing must stick to campaign spending caps and small-dollar fundraising.

Lamont said he looks at the field of candidates and sees at least one Republican who’s heavily raising money. U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley has already decided not to seek public financing, and has already chipped in $2 million of his own money to his campaign.

Public financing works only if everyone participates, Lamont argued.

Given the landscape this year, Lamont said, he doesn’t think Democrats can afford to go into the fight with one arm tied behind their backs.”

Lamont, a Greenwich businessman, spent $13 million out of his own pocket to finance his 2006 U.S. Senate run. The emergence of wealthy candidates bankrolling their campaigns has been a hot-button issue this election season in Connecticut: Besides gubernatorial hopefuls Foley and Lamont, two U.S. Senate candidates have emerged ready to spend millions of their own dollars: Republicans Linda McMahon and Peter Schiff. As a pro-campaign financing Democrat, Lamont has been on the defensive.

After his speech Monday, Lamont was asked if he’s prepared to spend another $13 million on his gubernatorial run.

His response: If he decides to run, he’s prepared to go into this race with both feet.”

He said he is keeping up with the spirit” of campaign finance reform by limiting contributions to $375 per individual and refusing contributions from lobbyists, state contractors, and political action committees. The campaign’s average individual donation is not above $100, he said.

Just As Important” As Iraq

In making his campaign pitch to students, the candidate acknowledged his task is very different from in 2006.

At that time, he had an easier sell, galvanizing a liberal constituency outraged by the Iraq war. This time around, he sought to convince students to rally around the state’s economic crisis.

I’m not that anti-war guy now,” he told the crowd.

He’s running as an executive prepared to take control of an economy that’s flat on its back,” he said. (Click here to read more of his thoughts on Connecticut’s budgetary woes.)

This campaign will be about righting the economy and creating jobs, he said. He urged students to stick around and become part of the solution.

Connecticut, the third-oldest state in the nation, has a brain drain” problem, he said.

The state would be better off if it could keep a higher number of Yale students in our state,” he said. We educate them and they leave.”

After his speech, he encouraged students to take their talent to Hartford as young legislators instead of heading to Washington, D. C. He tried to pique their interest in the drier subject of the state’s debt.

“The recession is not as dazzling as the war in Iraq,” he told a handful of students who gathered around him after his stump speech, “but it’s just as important.”

“Best Chance Of Winning”

In a Q&A session, Lamont was asked what makes him stand out from the other nine Democrats exploring runs for the governor’s seat.

He said he’s an “outsider” candidate who has good relationships with both business and labor unions. As such, he’ll “bring these folks together in a constructive way” to create jobs, he said.

He ended his pitch with a declaration: “I’ve got the best chance of winning.”

He was buoyed by a Daily Kos poll that came out earlier Monday. The poll showed Lamont leading the top three Republican front-runners by nine to 12 points.

The poll was taken Jan. 11 to 13, after U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd announced he won’t seek reelection, but before Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz jumped ship from the governor’s race to seek the attorney general’s seat.

The poll shows Bysiewicz in the lead of the Democratic governor’s candidates, outperforming Lamont and former Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy when matched against Republicans. Lamont isn’t far behind her. Given the poll’s four-point margin of error, Lamont’s basically neck and neck with Malloy.

Doug Schwartz, director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, said he hasn’t seen any polling data after Bysiewicz dropped out of the governor’s race, so as a pollster, he can’t ascertain who’s in the lead. He plans to survey voters “soon” about the shaken-up field of candidates.

In an interview, Lamont stopped short of calling himself the “frontrunner.” He said people know what he stands for based on his Senate bid. They’ll vote for him because he’s a “pro-jobs Democrat” and an “outsider,” someone who “doesn’t have their fingers all over the deficit stalemate,” he said.

For his part, Malloy said Monday he doesn’t “put much stock in polls or declarations of where one stands.”

“The person who can demonstrate that they have the ability, talent and track record is going to be the frontrunner,” he said. Malloy said he’s shown those qualities in his 14-year tenure as mayor of Stamford.

“The reality is that people will make the decision based on who is best, and they’re looking for someone who really knows how to run government,” he said.

One seasoned political activist opined that it’s too early for there to be a frontrunner.

“The Democratic field is still wide open, he said, noting that Simsbury First Selectwoman Mary Glassman and health care activist Juan Figueroa recently joined the race.

To break to the front of the pack, a candidate will need to secure a broad range of endorsements from grassroots groups, elected officials and labor, the activist said. And most will seek the Democratic Party’s nomination at the State Democratic Convention in May.

Malloy and Lamont are both “scrambling” to secure commitments from likely convention delegates, the activist noted. Lamont lagged behind Malloy and Bysiewicz in that task, he said. In 2006, he lagged behind, too: Lamont lost to Lieberman at the convention by a 2-1 margin, though he ended up winning the primary anyway.

Lamont conceded he “has some catching up to do” in securing likely delegates’ support, in part because he just joined the race about 60 days ago. He said he’s been touring the state, visiting Democratic town committees to build his convention support.

Malloy downplayed that part of his campaign. “Not a single delegate has been named” to the convention, so it’s impossible to have a delegate’s commitment yet, he noted.

Malloy said unlike other candidates, he’s fully committed to the public financing system.

“I have no fear about participating” in the program, he said. “I want that system to survive.”

 

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