Election falls on November 7th this year. For the first time I will be exercising my right as a U.S. citizen to vote in the town of Woodbury. The polling location is in our Town Hall. Town Hall is a simple wood frame construction. It is similar in appearance to the clutch of churches that line the western side of Route 6 in Woodbury.
I have yet to be inside of Town Hall. But I like that at other times of the year, Town Hall is used for art shows, square dancing, blood drives and other selected entertainments.
But come Tuesday morning at 6:00AM, or thereabouts, I will step inside for the first time to cast my vote.
Much attention, much national attention, is focused on our Senatorial race. A race that is featuring two Democrats and a Republican after thought. Ned Lamont, the Democratic standard bearer is locked in a battle with our incumbent Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman, or should I say, locked in a battle again. You see, they already engaged in battle in the primary. A primary battle won by Lamont fair and square.
Usually, we would expect the loser, Joe Lieberman in this case, to graciously accept defeat, shake hands with the winner, and importantly, pledge his support in the upcoming battle against the champion of darkness from the Republican Party.
That’s what you’d expect. But that’s not what happened. You see, Ned Lampont did such a bang up job identifying Joe Lieberman as George Bush’s errand boy that he fooled both the Democrats and the Republicans in our State. Joe Lieberman has rather ungraciously decided to continue to defend his Senate seat from a “neutral” party.
We are now left with the Democratic Party divided against itself and the Republicans happily supporting Joe Lieberman who they have now, ipso facto, adopted as their own. The real Republican candidate, Alan Schlesinger is being treated like the fat kid in 10th grade running for school secretary.
Ya gotta love Connecticut. It should be pointed out that we do have a precedent for this election mish mosh. There was a time when Lowell Weicker lost the confidence of State Republicans and had to carry on as an “Independent.” I had no trouble as a “life long” Democrat switching over to vote for him. I voted for him even before he switched (my way of saying thanks for being the Republican on the Watergate Committee who had the cajones to stick it to Nixon). And I voted for him against Joe Lieberman in our Gubernatorial election.
To be honest. I would vote for Weicker today. Here is a guy who runs for Governor pledging not to put in a State income tax. He gets elected. And within 90 days tells the citizens of the State that he has just had a good look at the “books” and it is obvious that the State needs an income tax. He said that he had been wrong. He had to pursue a course that he felt was for the good of our State, that he would not follow an unwise path merely to get re-elected… further, he had no interest in running for a second term.
Bravo! A guy with cajones, doing something he felt was necessary regardless of whether it was popular,
Well, that’s all well and good. Weicker is not running.
So here it is… we have Joe Lieberman with a smile that is a cross between the Grinch-who-stole-Christmas and the Reverend Robert Schuler. Ned Lamont with Vulcan eyebrows, “mean lines” between his eyes and the worst haircut since Al Sharpton. Or the fat kid from the 10th grade.
I’m not loving my choices here.
But that’s not unusual. I rarely vote for someone I actually like, as opposed to voting for the “lesser of two evils”. But come Tuesday morning, I will take my position in line to exercise my right to vote. I do so with pride.
I suggest you do the same.