I just spoke to Ned Lamont, the Connecticut businessman and former Greenwich selectman who won the 2006 Democratic primary against Sen. Joe Lieberman, only to lose to the newly-independent Lieberman in the general election, and who has now formed an statewide exploratory committee for a potential run for governor.
My first question to Mr. Lamont: Does he expect to win the endorsement of the state’s Junior Senator?
“I, um, I wouldn’t expect that,” Lamont said, after a brief pause. “But I certainly reached out to Sen. Lieberman today, if he wants to hear why I’m doing this, and why I think it’s important.”
I asked Lamont how his potential campaign for state office would differ from his Senate run, which focused heavily on foreign policy. He talked about how his Senate campaign was much more than that. “I gotta tell you, outside the state everybody thought the debate between Sen. Lieberman and me was all about the war in Iraq, but it was really a challenge about how we’re doing the businesses in Washington, D.C,” Lamont said, explaining that it was also to a great degree about health care, transportation, and the overall economy.
“I was chairman of Obama’s campaign here in Connecticut, I traveled the state non-stop for him, and it was the same issues: It was transportation, it was health care, and it was jobs.”
So far, a lot of Democrats have either declared their candidacies for governor or are exploring it in a manner similar to Lamont: Former state House speaker Jim Amann, Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz, Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy, state Sen. Gary LeBeau, and Ridgefield Selectman Rudy Marconi. How will Lamont differentiate himself in that crowded field?
“Well on the one hand, I created jobs, made a payroll, paid health insurance, know what it’s like to grow a business,” said Lamont. “I’m an outsider, coming in from the standpoint of an entrepreneur, not a mayor or a legislator, and I stood up to the establishment.”
Will he be able to reactive the campaign organization that was built in 2006, when he came out of nowhere to win the Democratic primary? “I sure hope so. We’ve stayed in touch with the folks that were supportive of me back in ’06,” said Lamont. “Many of those same people got very involved in Team Obama. I mentioned I was chairman of Connecticut for Obama, we mobilized a lot of folks and won the primary and won the general here. So I feel like I’ve stayed very active in the state, and so did a lot of the people I met in 2006.”
