Lieberman Blogged Down in Connecticut

Aug. 9, 2006 — -- There are any number of reasons why Sen. Joe Lieberman got slaughtered like a Paschal Lamb on Tuesday night in his primary battle to hold on to his Senate seat, losing to anti-war multimillionaire Ned Lamont, 52 percent to 48 percent.

Chief among them: the former Democratic vice presidential nominee's support for the extremely unpopular war in Iraq.

At Lamont headquarters Tuesday night, crowds chanted "Bring them home!," a reference to U.S. troops.

An anti-incumbency mood is also sweeping the nation. Private polls indicate that more than 90 percent of Connecticut Democrats feel the United States is on the "wrong track" -- a staggeringly high number.

In addition, Lamont, worth several hundred million dollars, was able to give his own campaign at least $4 million.

There is also no question that bloggers -- those online diarists simultaneously celebrated as a bold, new generation of citizen activists and derided as nasty socially challenged scribblers on a virtual bathroom wall -- played a major role as well.

On highly trafficked national Web sites such as the Daily Kos, bloggers sent Lamont money, roused activists, drew attention, and influenced public opinion.

Their love was not unrequited.

Lamont featured Daily Kos' Markos Moulitsas in one of his TV ads and had a special suite for bloggers at his Meriden, Conn., victory headquarters Tuesday night.

"The best benefit that blogs can provide a campaign is actually to build buzz," Moulitsas said on "Nightline" last month. (LINK)

"We write about them. We talk about them. The traditional media now start picking up on races, you know, and generate local stories. … We're really a buzz machine, and if you create enough buzz, then … one of the side effects of buzz is money."

Other blogs and liberal Web sites provided bloggers with lists of voters, so as to encourage "Get Out the Vote" activities.

Lamont, loath to be portrayed as a fringe blogger candidate, is currently downplaying how important blogs and online activist groups such as Moveon.org were to his campaign.

At a campaign stop in Bridgeport, Conn., just hours before his victory, however, he said that bloggers had been key early on when the traditional media didn't think he had much of a chance.

"There were these guys on the netroots -- guys on the Internet -- that sort of took a look and said, 'Look, I don't know a lot about Ned Lamont, but I know a lot about Lieberman, so go hear what Lamont has to say, he'll be up at Naples pizza at 5 p.m. this evening,' and all of a sudden we had not 25 people but 125 people, and that was the beginning of something."