A VISIT WITH CONNECTICUT-IANS

A colleague in my department (formerly a newspaper reporter in Connecticut) who now works for us from his home in Connecticut was in the office today, and he joined our public affairs director (i.e., lobbyist) and I for lunch. His take on the Lamont-Lieberman campaign is that Lieberman's edge is all about jobs -- the perception that Lieberman's been able to deliver protection for their military installations and contracts. He says he's been bombarded by calls and door-hangers from both candidates, but that Lieberman has dominated the news coverage. Our PA director (also a Connecticut native) and he started laughing when I asked about Lamont. "He's from GREENWICH!" they hooted. Ignorant me. I don't know much about CT, obviously, since I had no idea that Greenwich is 70% (at LEAST, they asserted) Republican. Greenwich, according to my buddies, is considered by Connecticut-ians as a "land beyond time," a wealthy, protected bubble.

Then we got serious. He and I asked our resident expert (the lobbyist, a moderate Republican) for her inside projections on the midterm election results. She reported that she has absolute confidence that the Dems will take the House by gaining 25-35 seats and fall short in regaining the Senate, though gaining 3-4 seats.

Sigh.