Students for Lamont

Student News Updates:

2006-05-05T15:01:00.000-04:00

Southern News, of SCSU, has a piece on Lamont's recent visit to the SCSU College Democrats.

The New Journal at Yale has a fabulous profile of Ned in their last issue of the year.

The Yale Herald printed an op-ed by Yale Freshman Geoff Buller and a half-page feature on Ned.

And in his bi-weekly column, Josh Eidelson takes a swing at Lieberman's support on campus... ironically, all of which seems to be more anti-Lamont than pro-Lieberman!

Many of the same self-styled pragmatists who hurl the partisanship label are the strongest critics of a signal affront to party loyalty: the growing support amongst Connecticut Democrats for Ned Lamont's primary challenge to Joe Lieberman. Tellingly, rather than setting out to persuade Lieberman's critics that he has a better vision than Lamont, Lieberman's most vocal backers on this campus have criticized the very idea of voting for a candidate based on what he believes. Marshall Shaffer argued on this page last month that Democrats will become "closed-minded" unless we support candidates with "all types of viewpoints" ("Lieberman can help keep Dems diverse," 3/2). But contra Shaffer, robust citizenship does not lie in voting for the most reasonable-seeming candidate, whatever his beliefs, out of faith that evidence and equanimity will guide him to the right answers. Our responsibility as voters in a representative democracy is to consider conflicting viewpoints, choose ones we agree with, and pursue the election of qualified candidates who share them.

Lamont in New Haven: Followup

2006-04-06T10:40:00.000-04:00

The Yale Daily News article is, well, basically entirely neutral. Your standard journalism 101 piece, actually, with appropriately placed quotes, counterpoints and all that jazz. Wish they'd been able to capture a little bit better the excitement that was in that room!

There's a half-page Yale Herald piece on the the event and on the Lamont campaign that's coming out on Friday!

Lamont in New Haven, Wed. April 5!

2006-04-02T20:48:00.000-04:00

The New Haven Democracry for America chapter will be hosting Ned Lamont in New Haven on Wednesday, April 5th! The event is open to the public and to students! Here's the info:

Time: Wednesday, April 5 at 7:00 PM
Duration: 2 hours
Location: Naples Pizza (New Haven, CT); 90 Wall Street

Ned will probably be speaking at around 7:30. Here's the official campaign event listing.

Lamont at Wesleyan

2006-04-01T10:50:00.000-05:00

Justin Costa, on Lamont's Wednesday visit to Wesleyan: (Posted at myDD). We'll get Justin set up with an account on here in just a little bit!

I got to spend a few minutes with Ned Lamont on Wednesday, as he was nice enough to come by and speak at Wesleyan University, where I'm President of the College Dems chapter.

I must say that I went into the event with some doubts, seeing as the date was just two days after students had returned from spring break and there was minimal time for advertising.

My fears were more than assuaged. Not only were there plenty of students who turned out to see Lamont, but his performance was simply great. He spoke for about 20 minutes and then took every single question the audience had for him. He came across as knowledgeable and genuine, polished enough to be taken seriously, but not so polished that he seemed scripted.

The entire audience was genuinely impressed, and that includes both political junkies and students who I had never seen before at any political event, let alone a speech from a challenger. I've had students coming up to me for the last few days telling me how great the event was and how much they like Ned Lamont. Some are asking how they can get involved.

So to all the students out there: there are real opportunities to help. There's Students for Lamont, and there are internships and jobs that the campaign is looking to fill with enthusiastic young students. Unlike so many other campaigns, Lamont's seems committed to not wasting this support from enthusiastic young people.

Students, if you are reading this you can check out:

http://www.wesleyan.edu/democrat
http://studentsForLamont.blogspot.com and of course
http://www.nedLamont.com
to get involved yourself. This is one campaign where we can make a big difference.

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Keep your eyes open at Trinity on Monday, Ned'll be there, too!

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EDIT: thirdparty adds that spazeboy of the Ned Lamont Resource has added some pictures of the event!

SFL Visibility at Yale

2006-03-26T14:01:00.000-05:00

Yale Students for Lamont will be passing out information on campus this coming Monday (tomorrow!) from 10am until 3pm. We'll be right in the heart of cross campus. We have lit and stickers! :-). All are welcome!

Check out the campaign's official event listing for this (and sign up, using your nedlamont.com account!) here!

SFL (Re)design!

2006-03-25T19:31:00.000-05:00

So it's nothing special, but at least it's not just a generic blogger template anymore.

Your comments and suggestions are, as always, appreciated!

Thanks to LamontBlog for design assistance.

Lieberman Staffing Up

2006-03-24T18:56:00.000-05:00

Ho boy, is he scared!

Phil L., over at Friends of Joe Lieberman, is hiring 20 field organizers and 5 regional field coordinators. Top-notch pay, too: 2000/mo for organizers and 3000 for coordinators.

Basic math indicates that his campaign has committed to spending $220,000 for field operations in staff salaries alone. That's a pretty fair chunk of change.

Where's Joe?

2006-03-24T00:38:00.000-05:00

Joe Lieberman was in New Haven this Tuesday afternoon for a "public meeting." Seems he only bothered to tell DTC members though; we found out about his appearance from a New Haven DTC-er who had received a letter from his campaign.

We thought we'd call his office to confirm that this was a public meeting before showing up. We called his campaign office first. They had no idea the event was going on. We called his Senate office next. They had no idea the event was going on. Kind of odd, since there were about 5 staffers there... Draw your own conclusions, just let me first point out that it's far easier to hold a town meeting when you don't have people there to disagree with you!

But let me assure you -- for a "town meeting" there was no one there! With nothing to lose, we decided to show up to the event. He drew a total of about 15 DTC members. 15! For a sitting senator! When we arrived, we spoke with staffers and with DTC members, who assured us this was supposed to have been a "publicised, public town hall meeting". It was, of course, a very "civil" event. Which meant that no one asked him any hard questions.

But then again -- had anyone asked any hard questions, no one would have been there to hear him answer! Sean Smith was right -- he really hasn't had a dialog with Connecticut voters in a while!

Ned on Facebook!

2006-03-22T00:21:00.000-05:00

Check out the Yale Students for Lamont Facebook group! Starting one at your school is a good way to start getting students involved.

Also check out Ned's MySpace group, which Max Friedman put together. I don't do the MySpace myself, but some of you crazy kids must.

Campaign wants interns

2006-03-21T23:23:00.000-05:00

Now and for the summer. Paid summer positions are available (and you guys all know how rare that is for political internships). Email your resume and availability to volunteer@nedlamont.com.

Materials!

2006-03-21T23:14:00.000-05:00

Just as soon as he figures out how to host it, Kevin is going to put up some Students for Lamont fliers with fun Lieberman facts that you can print out and hang up on your campus.

We're also going to have an E-Z organizer kit so you can get your Lamont-loving friends to sign up and vote.

It's coming. I promise.

Ned in the (Campus) News

2006-03-21T23:05:00.000-05:00

Ned's speech at Yale on 2/27 made quite a splash.

Here's the Yale Dems Blog coverage. Daily News article here. Ben Simon, who's the co-chair of Yale Students for Lamont, had an op-ed in the YDN the same day. We also got into the New Haven Register, although for some reason that's not online.

One of the only Lieberman supporters on campus (he was an intern) pushed back with his own opinion piece, but it was swiftly rebutted.

Students for Lamont Launch!

2006-03-21T22:50:00.000-05:00

We're trying to recruit chapter leaders in CT and around the country. Here's the pitch:

Ned Lamont is taking his challenge to Joe Lieberman to schools all over Connecticut. In speeches at Yale and Fairfield (no link here yet), he's fired up students to support his primary bid. Ned forcefully denounced Lieberman and Bush's losing strategy for Iraq, Joe's support for illegal wiretaps and torture, and his approval of George Bush's radical Supreme Court nominees. Ned also emphasized his support for renewable energy, universal healthcare, and fiscal responsibility.

Ned has been reaching out to students because he knows that our support is essential for his campaign. Because the primary is in August, he needs to build a base of student support during this semester. Students are excited about Ned because they want a real Democrat representing Connecticut, not a Bush apologist.

To help Ned, Students for Lamont is organizing on Connecticut campuses and at schools around the country. College groups will identify Lamont voters, supply interns and campaign volunteers, and possibly host Ned himself (really just the Connecticut schools on this one, for obvious reasons).

Chapters are already up and running at several Connecticut institutions and at least one outside the state. But we need your help! No matter whether you like talking politics with your friends, writing for your campus paper, or putting together special events, we need YOU. If you want to get involved, please email studentsforlamont@gmail.com. We'll set you up with a simple kit for campus organizing and be ready to answer all of your questions.

Out-of-state schools are just as important as Connecticut ones! Students for Lamont groups in other states will contact people at their schools who live in Connecticut and make sure they know about Ned's historic campaign. Even if you don't go to school in Connecticut, you can still make a big difference in the campaign by emailing studentsforlamont@gmail.com.

If you're not a student yourself but know one who might be interested, forward this post to them and tell them to email studentsforlamont@gmail.com.

Summer internships on the campaign are available as well.