news on ned

we MUST defeat liebs. WE MUST

Lamont to pull out all stops in 'grassroots' campaign for Senate


By Don Michak , Journal Inquirer
Edward "Ned" Lamont, the Greenwich cable executive challenging three-term U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, says he is pursuing a two-pronged "grassroots" strategy to secure a place on the Democratic primary ballot. In a Journal Inquirer interview, Lamont said Friday that he not only would seek the support of 15 percent of the delegates at his party's state convention in May, but also attempt to petition his way onto the primary ballot by gathering the signatures of least 15,000 Democrats.
A wealthy man whose great-grandfather was chairman of the J.P. Morgan investment bank, Lamont estimated that his Senate bid could end up costing $10 million or more and said he was prepared to "put some money on the table now" to prime the campaign cash pump.He declined to say exactly how much of his own fortune he was prepared to expend, but emphasized that he would spend whatever it cost so that he, rather than Lieberman, would define his candidacy from the start."I'm no Jon Corzine," Lamont said, referring to the New Jersey governor and former U.S. senator who spent millions of dollars he earned as chairman of the Goldman Sachs investment firm on his and other political campaigns. "But I'm going to do enough to get this off to a really good start and we're going to defend ourselves."Lamont said he already was weary of being described simply as a "Greenwich millionaire" or single-issue candidate concerned only with opposing the war in Iraq.He said that after appearing before several Democratic town committees across the state, "people aren't asking me about the details of an exit strategy for Iraq anymore," but rather about health care and the problem-plagued Medicare prescription drug benefit in particular..........