Ned Lamont, in an interview with Yale University's The Politic, talks about the 2006 Senate race, the netroots, and his plans for the future. Here's an excerpt:
"The online community did not line up behind the incumbent but was willing to take a look at me. They give challengers like me an opportunity. Over time the Hartford Courant, The New Haven Register, and WFSB television news picked up once we got momentum, but the online community helped us pick up that momentum. The other thing the online community does is fact-check. They challenge you; they say, this is inaccurate or this is misrepresentative, or this is different from what you said a week ago Thursday. ...[T]he mainstream media like the Hartford Courant and New York Times start reading these commentaries online, and they slowly begin to filter into the mainstream press."
...
In Darien, First Selectman Evonne Klein, a Democrat who won re-election in a Republican town, explains what really matters to voters: competence.
"Local issues are not rooted in party politics," Klein said. "It's about who's going to best lead us. Who's been able to get the job done for the town." [...]
"We always have to work harder because we're in the minority," Klein said. "We can't sit back and say, 'If all our folks show up, we'll win,' because we won't."
...
The story of Marine Staff Sgt. Terry Rathbun's struggle to recover from his injuries reminds us of why ending the Iraq War is so important:
Most of the time, when Rathbun talks about being a wounded Marine, it's not long before he redirects the subject to other people. "I know there are a lot of people out there a lot worse off than me." He wonders what National Guard soldiers - who left higher-paying jobs to serve - do when they come home with life-changing wounds. How do they keep paying the mortgage with the relatively low VA benefits?
"There are a lot of people out there that have families that are losing everything," he said.
Great job by the Hartford Courant's Jesse Hamilton in covering Rathbun's story.
MLN is powered by