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October 20, 2006BELTWAY BLOGROLL
GOP Bloggers Celebrate A Democrat's Lead
Republican bloggers are fretting the prospect of their party losing control of Congress when voters go to the polls in 18 days, but I get the distinct impression they will be celebrating if at least one Democrat is re-elected.
A new Quinnipac University poll in Connecticut shows that Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a Democrat who is running as an indepedent after losing the Aug. 8 primary, has a 17-point lead over Democratic nominee Ned Lamont.
After word of the poll spread, it didn't take long for another round of the curious cross-party gloating from the GOP blogosphere that ensued a couple of weeks ago after another poll. That Reuters/Zogby poll actually showed Lieberman with a stronger, 20-point edge.
The reason for the joy is simple: To GOP bloggers, the race isn't about Lieberman, Lamont or the potential spoiler in the race, Republican candidate Alan Schlesinger. It's about their online enemies, the netroots who helped fuel Lamont to Democratic victory in August.
Hence post-polling statements like this at GOP Bloggers: "Do the liberal netroots feel stupid now?" Or this at Hot Air: "I'll ask again: Where are the nutroots now?"
Former Republican and enthusiastic Lieberman supporter Marshall Wittmann also scoffed at the netroots and their "the people-powered fraud." Writing at Bull Moose, he noted that Lamont is having to spend his own millions on the race.
"It appears that despite all of the fevered efforts of the nutroot community, the fervent keyboarders are a bit cheap," Wittmann said. "They may be 'crashing the gates,' but they aren't exactly making a rush on their bank accounts for their boy, Negative Ned."
Democratic bloggers aren't exactly ignoring the Connecticut Senate race. As I noted in today's "Blog Bits," Matt Stoller of MyDD is in the Constitution State now to cover the contest, courtesy of readers who paid his way, and blogs like Daily Kos and Firedoglake still write about the race.
But based both on the (in)frequency of their entries and the tone of them, the netroots simply aren't as engaged in the battle as they once were.
The troops simply didn't need stern lectures like this a few weeks ago: "If you aren't happy with what you are hearing about poll numbers or establishment Democratic support for the Connecticut Senate race, well, here's the solution: Get up off your butt and do something about it. You can volunteer for Ned's campaign, for canvassing, or calling, or whatever."
UPDATE: Democrat Jon Tester, another netroots favorite, has a good shot at defeating Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont. But if both Tester and Lamont lose, Jim Geraghty of National Review Online said, "I may need medical attention as a result of laughing so hard at the netroots."
Posted by Danny | 07:50 PM
