3/04/09 Greenwich Resident Ned Lamont tight-lipped on possible Senate bid

Asked whether he’ll run for U.S. Senate again, Greenwich Democrat Ned Lamont told members of Democracy for America at the Silver Star Diner in Norwalk Wednesday night “when is a door not a door?”

”(But) I’ve really gotten involved in the whole (state) budget thing,” Lamont said. “And the politics is, even if you leave the door open a little bit, all of a sudden everything you said is made (serious).”

Lamont, who shook up Connecticut politics by defeating incumbent Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman in the 2006 Democratic primary, spoke to more than 60 Democrats about President Barack Obama’s first six weeks in office, the economic stimulus package and Hartford lawmakers’ efforts to tackle the state deficit.

“It’s really important … that we’re not afraid to talk about spending, that we’re not afraid to talk about labor reforms and we’re not afraid to talk about taxes,” Lamont said.

Democracy for America, the grassroots political organization launched by former Democratic president candidate Howard Dean, invited Lamont to the Connecticut Avenue diner.

“Everyone here worked on Ned’s campaign,” Kate Tepper, DFA chairwoman for Fairfield County, told The Hour. “We’re hoping that he will run (again), but he hasn’t said yea or nay.”

Lamont, although winning his party’s endorsement in August 2006, lost to Lieberman 450,844 to 564,095 in the general election in November that year.

John Hartwell, the Westport Democrat who served as Lamont’s campaign treasurer, said Lamont’s primary election victory in 2006 “sent a shock through the whole country” and made Barack Obama’s victory in last year’s presidential election possible.

SOURCE: ROBERT KOCH, The Norwalk Hour, March 4 2009
http://www.thehour.com/story/465971

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