Hartford Courant: "Lamont Decides To Back Obama"
by Mark Pazniokas, Hartford Courant, January 11, 2008
http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-ctendorse0111.artjan11,0,1184508.story
Ned Lamont, who remains popular among liberal Netroots activists for challenging U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman over the war in 2006, endorsed Barack Obama for president Thursday.
The withdrawal of U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd from the presidential race last week left Lamont without a candidate just weeks away from the Super Tuesday primaries in Connecticut and 21 other states on Feb. 5.
“I don’t want to sit it out,” Lamont said.
Lamont was courted by Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards after winning the Democratic primary in 2006. Clinton met him at her home in Chappaqua, N.Y., and offered consulting help.
The courtship resumed last week. But he decided to back Obama, the Democratic winner of the Iowa caucuses and runner-up in the New Hampshire primary.
“At the end of the day, it just seems to me that Barack Obama is the guy who can energize new voters, build coalitions and be in the position to get real change,” Lamont said in a telephone interview.
Obama, who accepted the endorsement of the 2004 Democratic nominee for president, Sen. John Kerry, earlier Thursday in South Carolina, praised Lamont in an e-mailed statement.
“Ned Lamont is a strong progressive leader who understands the power of the grass roots, and I’m proud to have his support,” Obama said.
“Ned and I have both refused to accept money from Washington lobbyists,” Obama said, “and we both took a stand against the war in Iraq that never should have been authorized and never should have been waged.”
But Obama also had strongly urged support of Lieberman during a speech in March 2006 at the Connecticut Democratic Party’s annual fundraising dinner.
“I am absolutely certain Connecticut is going to have the good sense to send Joe Lieberman back to the U.S. Senate,” said Obama, who was mentored by Lieberman in his first months as a U.S. senator.
Bill Clinton then campaigned for Lieberman in Connecticut, sharing a stage with Lieberman and Dodd. But the political landscape of 2006 is largely unrecognizable today.
Lieberman, who won re-election as a petitioning candidate after losing the Democratic primary to Lamont, is backing Republican John McCain for president. By his own admission, no Democrat wants his endorsement for president.
And Lamont, ultimately the loser in 2006, is a sought-after campaign surrogate among Democrats opposed to the war. He campaigned for Dodd in Iowa and New Hampshire. He also has worked for Tom Allen, the Democrat trying to unseat Lieberman’s Republican ally in Maine, Sen. Susan Collins.
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Full article at:
http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-ctendorse0111.artjan11,0,1184508.story