Contribute here to support Schlesinger's candidacy.
Following today's debate performance (which has been sufficiently blogged elsewhere), there's a very real chance that Alan Schlesinger is going to pop up on the radar screen. Heretofore an orphaned politician who can't even get his Republican governor to endorse him, Schlesinger's commanding performance in today's debate might be enough to pop his support up into the low double digits.
Is it a smart idea to support the candidacy of a Republican candidate? Ordinarily a question that answers itself, it's a thornier question here in the Nutmeg State today than it was a few days ago.
The rationale for supporting Ned Lamont by supporting Alan Schlesinger seems clear: Schlesinger's meager support has thrown a lot of moderates and Republicans into Lieberman's corner, and Holy Joe's campaign is a reflection of that. "Legitimizing" (for lack of a better word) the candidacy of Schlesinger will bleed support away from Lieberman, and may make a 45% or 46% showing on Election Day sufficient to carry Lamont to victory.
The risks? Well, there's an outside chance that such a move would energize the GOP base sufficiently to jeopardize small leads that might be nurtured by Diane Farrell, Joe Courtney and Chris Murphy, our three Connecticut challengers for the House seats currently occupied by sitting Republicans. From where I'm sitting, though, Schlesinger isn't a captivating enough candidate to GOTV in Connecticut. The only votes likely to gravitate towards him are currently going for Lieberman, and switching moderates and conservatives back from Lieberman to the GOP candidate is unlikely to affect any House votes OR to increase the turnout from people currently likely to stay home.
I know that some people have moral qualms about opportunistic mock support for a candidate whom we would otherwise vigorously oppose. I have even been told that we don't want to be "like them," i.e., that dirty party that tried to put the Green candidate on the ballot in Pennsylvania in hopes of bleeding Casey's support enough to prop up Rick Santorum. All I can say is that I had begrudging respect for the strategy as it was unfolding. If it had worked, the argument goes, Santorum might have won an "illegitimate" victory, and surely we don't want to win like that, do we?
My answer: I want to win. I want to build a Lieberman-proof Senate majority, since I have zero confidence that Holy Joe will follow through on his word and actually caucus with the Democrats if he wins. I think he'd be highly susceptible to a Bush/Cheney phone call welcoming him to the other side, especially if the Democratic majority stood at 51-49 on Nov. 8th.
And so I say again, with not a little bit of trepidation... show Schlesinger a little love. It might just be the thing that puts Ned Lamont over the top.