MoveOn.Org Endorses Ned Lamont Today

MoveOn.org members in Connecticut voted in their own senate primary this week and today every member got an e-mail from Eli Pariser, the Executive Director of MoveOn.org Political Action. Here is part of the letter:

Dear MoveOn member in Connecticut,

I wanted to share the results from our online primary with you before we tell the media.  Drumroll, please: By a whopping 85% to 14%, MoveOn members supported Ned Lamont for Connecticut's U.S. Senate seat—securing him the MoveOn endorsement.

Now that we've decided together to support Lamont, please consider making a contribution to his campaign by clicking on the link below.  Senator Lieberman has a war chest of over $4.2 million— so Ned will need all of our help to wage a good campaign.  Can you chip in a few bucks to help elect a new Democratic senator for Connecticut?

Your endorsement of Ned Lamont means that we'll raise money for him and help get folks out to the polls for the August 8th primary.  We'll bring some national focus to the race as well.  But how well he does in August will depend largely on our Connecticut members.  Now's the time to get involved.

So why did the vote come out the way we did? Here are a few representative comments that illustrate what we heard from a lot of you:

"I do not see that Senator Lieberman actually cares about Connecticut voters. He has treated them with contempt and complacence. I don't have a problem with Democrats who don't vote the party line, but I do have a problem with senators who treat their offices as an entitlement, and this is what Sen. Lieberman seems to be doing."
        -Dara from New Haven, CT

"Lamont is exactly the sort of candidate MoveOn should support: a true progressive running against the forces of Beltway conventional wisdom and accommodation of the Radical Right."
        -Greg from Watertown, CT

"I'm impressed with the 'fresh approach' that Ned Lamont seems to bring to the table.  I think that he's correct when he says that the Democratic party needs to stand out from the Republicans (and the 'W' administration). At first I was leaning towards Joe Lieberman because I can see that he is an established senator who has many contacts and perhaps has the power of persuasion within Washington, but I'm willing to take a chance on a 'new guy' who better fits the voice I'd like represented."
        -Meegan from Waterbury, CT

"Ned Lamont articulates my values about Iraq, health care, the environment."
        -Marion from Branford, CT

Ned's been having a couple of really good weeks. NOW endorsed him 2 weeks ago and then this week DFA endorsed him and now MoveOn.org. And on top of all this, the official Democratic Party Convention, where no one thought Ned could even get the 15% of delegate support to get on the ballot without going through the onerous and costly signature collection procedures, gave him 33% of the vote, stunning Lieberman and his old line Democratic Machine. (Even SpongeBob Squarepants is supporting Ned in his campaign to replace Bush's favorite Democrat with a real Democrat.)

Oh, and by the way, MoveOn.org has 50,000 members in Connecticut. They are all registered to vote and they are all fired up to get America back on the right course. Getting America back on the right course means getting rid of rubber-stamp Republicans (and Democratic enablers) who have given Bush free reign to ride roughshod over the Constitution and who have supported Bush's catastrophic policies at home and abroad. If you'd like to join your brothers and sisters in Connecticut fighting for our liberty, please visit the ACT BLUE Page and donate whatever you can directly to Ned Lamont's campaign.