NED LAMONT IS GOING TO BEAT BUSH'S FAVORITE SENATE DEMOCRAT, JOE LIEBERMAN. NOW ENDORSES NED TOMORROW

Howie here, reporting live from... INSIDE THE BELTWAY!!!! So far I haven't turned into a corporate whore. But... I... just... don't... know... how... much... longer... I... can... hold... out. I have to admit that it's always a little thrilling arriving in the city and see the Washington Monument, the Smithsonian museums, even the Capitol is inspiring (maybe more palatable for me now that I feel so confident that the corrupt and extreme right is about to be swept out of power). But there's also the eerie feeling of driving by Brent Wilkes' congressional whorehouses at the Watergate and Westin, both kind of mediocre places for the mediocre men involved in this ugliness-- and that isn't as eerie as when I walked by a building emblazoned with the besmirched name Patton Boggs, where just hours ago Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald informed Karl Rove's attorney that Rove will be indicted and to tidy up his business.

But I'm not here for sightseeing. No, tomorrow I have a meeting of a Board of Directors I'm on, one that is concerned American's civil and social rights. And today I crashed a staff meeting their PAC was having about how to help candidates they want to endorse. If you're a DWT regular, you can probably imagine what a great time I had. I mean, for me, this is better than a World Series game or a Broadway show or a Green Day Blink 182 concert. After hearing me pontificating long enough about "Rahm Emanuel shills," I think I may have even gotten them to save some money of a few corporate whores and send it to needy progressives.

But I couldn't get any traction on Ned Lamont (not that I'm giving up, of course). I mean all these people are awesome, intelligent, caring progressives. But they live in the heart of the beast and they do get caught up in all the DC bullshit and spin. So it may take some work to make them cut through the Inside-the-Beltway conventional wisdom and hype that says Bush's favorite Democrat, Joe Lieberman, can't be beaten.

I have another shot at it tomorrow. So wasn't I excited when I got back to my hotel and found an e-mail that NOW is about to endorse Ned! That should shake some people up! This is what the press release in the e-mail said:

After extensive research and discussion, the National Organization for Women's (NOW) Political Action Committee (PAC) has made a decision about an endorsement for the US Senate seat in Connecticut.

NOW PAC will hold a press conference on Tuesday, May 16, 2006, at 1:00 PM to make official NOW PAC’s endorsement for the Democratic nomination to the US Senate seat in Connecticut.

Melody Drnach, NOW Vice President – Action, http://www.now.org/officers/md.html, will announce
this important endorsement. NOW PAC will mobilize both political resources and grassroots activists in order to make a difference in this critical Connecticut Senate race.

The NOW PAC endorsement is extremely important for Democrats in Connecticut, especially women, to consider. NOW has been the foremost feminist activist organization in the nation since 1966. The Connecticut Democratic Convention to nominate a US Senate candidate is on Friday, May 19th. After the convention, there will be over 2 months for Connecticut Democrats to review the Democratic candidates for US Senate before making their final decision at the Democratic Primary on August 8, 2006.

NOW PAC will gladly share with Connecticut Democrats the basis for its endorsement for this significant US Senate seat.

If you're not up to speed on Ned's grassroots campaign to send Holy Joe into retirement, please watch this awesome video. Friday, Democratic Party delegates get together in Hartford to endorse a candidate in this year's primary. If Ned can manage to get 15% of the vote, he automatically gets on the ballot, a ballot where Lieberman's Republican backers can't vote. Observers think Ned can get as many as 25% of the delegates support. If he doesn't, he goes the petition route--15,000 signatures, a piece of cake. August 8th is D-Day. If you live in Connecticut, please volunteer. If you don't live in Connecticut, you can help too.


UPDATE: LOWELL WEICKER ENDORSES NED LAMONT

Lowell Weicker was a popular Senator and Governor of Connecticut, a truly (as opposed to relative) progressive Republican. He was attacked from the right by an exceedingly vicious and corrupt Democrat and beaten for being "too liberal." That Democrat, of course, is George Bush's favorite Democrat, the execrable Joe Lieberman. Yesterday Weicker wrote an editorial in the HARTFORD COURANT entitled "Enough of War-- And Enough of Lieberman," endorsing Ned Lamont for his old Senate seat.

Ned Lamont has taken a clear stand on exiting this insanity. Sen. Joe Lieberman has made staying the course the cornerstone of his term. In his TV advertisements, Sen. Lieberman belatedly pleads for a civil dialogue on the war issue. How do you dialogue on a mistake based on a lie? A candid and wise man would have admitted his error and moved on in a new direction. Not so the incumbent senator.

Ned is challenging Sen. Lieberman for the Democratic nomination this week in Hartford. I know Ned from the years when we were fellow townsmen in Greenwich. Indeed, I appointed him chairman of the Investment Advisory Council to the state pension fund-- a volunteer job-- when I was governor. He is a highly qualified, idealistic individual.

He speaks to the issues of Connecticut's cities, health care and education - all issues that are on hold for lack of adequate funding because of the Iraq war. My sources inform me that most of the delegates from the big cities are voting for Sen. Lieberman. How is that possible when the senator has prioritized Iraq and not Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, New London, etc.? Ned Lamont understands the obscenity of the amount of money going to Iraq-- by some estimates, more than a trillion dollars - when juxtaposed against the needs of Connecticut's poor and middle-income citizens.

I want to see brave men and women stand up with Ned Lamont in the days ahead and say: Enough! We don't want to be cast in the image of President George W. Bush, of whom Sen. Lieberman is so enamored. America is better than the portrait painted by this Republican administration.

I speak as an independent who has seen the two-party system corrupt itself to the point of irrelevance during a dangerous time in our history. Ned Lamont can start the reform process by providing opposition to a Republican Party too long in power. What is needed is Ned Lamont's voice for health care for all, funding for our cities, and public education from kindergarten through college that works for our children.