Ned Lamont

Arianna Huffington has this up on her site on Lamont. I fully agree with her point. Ned hasn't pulled ahead in this race as he should have, carrying his momentum after his primary victory. She focuses on some contagious disease that the Democrats just can't seem to escape. And since these points can't be made often enough, I think we need to hear them again.

This is part of a hypothetical concession speech she believes Ned will be reading on election night:

Like Al Gore and John Kerry before me, I forgot how high the stakes were. And I played it safe. I played not to lose rather than to change the country. I forgot that I had to give people a reason to vote for me -- or a reason to vote against my opponent -- every single day, every single hour. I forgot --and how could I forget? -- how dirty the other side would play to win. I forgot that in building a successful business of my own, I had relied on my own gut instincts, not on advice from some M.B.A. textbook. I should have stuck with my gut; instead I let consultants tell me what to do and what to say.

. . .

I especially regret having allowed myself to be cowed into believing that the way to win was to appeal to the indecisive middle by adopting a tone of fake Senatorial civility -- like the time I said of Sen. Lieberman: "I know the man. I respect the man. He is a man of integrity." The words should have burned my tongue as soon as I said them. That's not what was in my heart; indeed, I spent millions of ad dollars trying to convince voters of exactly the opposite. But it was suggested by some of my Greenwich friends that I should scale back the outrage -- and the truth. As if watching the mounting death toll in Iraq shouldn't fill us with rage and cause us to direct it at those who sent our young people off to die in an immoral war -- and who are stubbornly keeping them there. When you deal with the unscrupulous, it's best to roll up your sleeves, put all thoughts of comity aside, and stop praising them for their integrity. Indeed, I sacrificed mine by pretending that my opponent had an ounce of it. And for that I am more than sorry; I am ashamed.

Let's hope Ned can turn this around so this prophesy isn't fulfilled.