| Ned Lamont's investments in his own campaign are a double-edged sword. They've hyper-charged the small dollar donations he's gotten from more than 15,000 individual donors who invested what they could afford in the campaign: $50 here and $100 there. But they also made some supporters complacent, thinking, "Ah, he doesn't need my twenty bucks, he's just contributed a million himself."
Also on the other side of the double-edged sword is this, news that Ned's most recent investment in the campaign has triggered an FEC provision allowing opponents of self-financed candidates to double their contribution limits from individuals in order to compete.
It's an ironic provision in this case, since Joe Lieberman still has far more in his warchest than Ned Lamont and has FAR outspent Ned Lamont, whose campaign has turned down donations from corporate lobbyists and corporate PACS, the bread and butter of Lieberman's campaign wealth. And now because Ned has invested his own money in the campaign, Joe Lieberman can go back to the corporate trough and collect more $2,100 $4,200 checks from executives of pharmaceutical companies, energy companies, and defense contractors.
BTW, Ned Lamont has repeatedly offered spending caps in this race, which the Lieberman camp has turned down - clearly because they were hoping to do just this, go back to the deep well of corporate contributors and reach for more dough.
UPDATE: Just got an email from a friend informing me that Lieberman can actually get an collect an additional $4,200 from each wealthy donor, an additional $2,100 for the primary (which he promises to ignore if he loses) and additional $2,100 for the general.
UPDATE 2: Ray Hackett says Lieberman is ready to blanket the airwaves with an ad featuring Bill Clinton, and reminds us that it's all about the ground game now. Lieberman has the best ground game money can buy, and he'll be buying even more of it in the next two weeks. Review Neal Fink's five-step plan for Lamont victory on the ground. |
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