And Bringing up the Rear

Blake, Whitney

And Bringing up the Rear The asterisk in the Connecticut Senate race. by Whitney Blake Lieberman vs. Lamont is the Senate race the whole country is watching. But seldom mentioned amid all the...

...They have "tried to hijack the election and turn it into a Democratic primary," he says, meaning a fight over whether "the liberal left has taken over the Democratic party...
...This phenomenon is all but unprecedented in recent history...
...He also expects to benefit from the location of his name on the ballot in November—on the top line, next to popular Republican governor Jodi Rell, while Lieberman is on line 5. Schlesinger's fundraising goal is $2 million, of which he has raised, as of June 30, $113,581 (including a $50,000 personal loan), according to the latest figures from the Federal Election Commission...
...Joseph Lieberman, running as an Independent, and Ned Lamont, who defeated him in the primary—is the fact that it is actually a three-way race...
...Schlesinger says the mainstream media are "rooting for Lamont," and he accuses the White House and Republican party chair Ken Mehlman of rooting for Lieberman...
...The fact that all of this occurred almost 15 years ago, he insisted, shows that he's "probably one of the cleanest politicians around...
...Socially, he's more moderate...
...Schlesinger asserts that his candidacy presents voters with a "moderate conservative choice...
...Sabato has a similar assessment: Apart from the Iraq issue, "Lieberman is really a traditional liberal Democrat...
...Schlesinger recalls recent remarks by Lieberman touting his Democratic voting record...
...But seldom mentioned amid all the chatter about the two Democrats—the incumbent, Sen...
...To ban it is like prohibiting Tiger Woods from playing golf...
...Republican Senatorial Committee...
...Add to that Republicans' strong distaste for Lamont, and, says Sabato, "Schlesinger has no chance...
...Schlesinger takes strong exception to the introduction of this old news into the campaign...
...The White House, deferring to the state party, has declined to endorse Schlesinger, as has the National Whitney Blake is an editorial assistant at The Weekly Standard...
...troops over the course of the next year, while Lamont would withdraw all of them...
...Schlesinger himself dismisses reports of tepid support among Connecticut Republicans...
...he cites a letter released by state chair George Gallo urging Republicans to back him...
...Larry Sabato, a leading authority on national politics at the University of virginia, describes Schlesinger's predicament as "truly extraordinary...
...Former GOP vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp is planning to speak at campaign stops and fundraisers for Lieberman, and Connecticut representative Chris Shays, a Republican, announced his vote for Lieberman...
...On Iraq, he calls for a withdrawal of 50 percent of U.S...
...At the mere mention of the word "scandal" in our interview, he became irate and defensive...
...Schlesinger feels he's "being singled out for a legal activity that brings money to support Connecticut" and that the state "encourages" through advertisements...
...In the debates expected this fall, Schlesinger hopes to capitalize on the inevitable "bickering between Lieber-man and Lamont" and to emphasize his conservative positions on domestic issues...
...he's pro-choice, but favors parental consent for minors, and voted against partial-birth abortion...
...Explains Sabato, "The root cause is that the GOP is grateful to Lieberman for his support of Bush on Iraq...
...The forgotten candidate, Republican Alan Schlesinger, polls in single digits and has consistently rated as an afterthought, save for a short time in July when a flap over gambling debts and card counting put him in the limelight...
...and that he paid more than $28,000, including interest, to settle two lawsuits brought by casinos, a figure Schlesinger disputes...
...As for the national Republican party and the White House, they have a "different agenda," according to Schlesinger, with the main goal of "being vindicated on Iraq" by a Lieberman victory...
...Card counting, he said, "should be applauded...
...Schlesinger's meager poll numbers are due in large part to Republicans' abandonment of their party's nominee in favor of the hawkish Lieberman...
...Lieberman has refused to set a timetable...
...He criticizes the White House for embracing a "Ted Kennedy-type Democrat" who is moving toward the "Kerry position" on Iraq...
...Schlesinger then proceeded to instruct me as to The Weekly StanDARD's proper role in his campaign: "I'm surprised that you're asking me about this...
...I talked to you because you're supposed to do something positive...
...He toes the traditional conservative line on immigration— he's against President Bush's guest worker proposal and advocates stronger border protection and a "seasonal worker benefit" program, allowing documented migrants to work eight months out of the year in the United States, provided they pay income taxes and become proficient in English...
...While some town committees have endorsed Schlesinger, others are standoffish, with a few actually endorsing Lieberman...
...On top of Lieberman's dividing the Republican base, Schlesinger has been faced with media scrutiny of his past gambling, which Schlesinger considers irrelevant to his campaign...
...He plans to hammer Lieberman for "accentuating a cruel hoax"—the so-called lock box on Social Security—in the 2000 presidential campaign...
...He's conservative when it comes to fiscal matters, lashing out at both parties for their "handling of tax and spend policy...
...In July, the Hartford Courant reported that Schlesinger had used an alias while gambling at Foxwoods casino in the early 1990s, when he was a state assemblyman, then the mayor of Derby...
...He claims that if he gets his poll numbers up to the mid-20s—a feat in itself—he will have all but won the election...
...One town, Killingworth, gave Schlesinger the nod, then withdrew its endorsement...
...Schlesinger estimates his polling numbers to be "grossly understated" because of his lack of name recognition, which he intends to remedy in part through advertising, targeting the relatively conservative Fairfield area...
...To underscore the double standard, he brought up allegations against his opponents—that Lamont's wife had been "involved in stock-dumping fraud" and that Lieberman "had a lot of problems with tenants" and substandard maintenance of apartment units he rented...
...I was hoping your paper would say there's one conservative in this race, and here's what he stands for...
...that he enhanced his blackjack game with card counting (which is legal, but often banned by casinos...

Vol. 12 • September 2006 • No. 1


 
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