Terry Cowgill

Prepping For The Debate

July 6, 2006 on 2:29 pm | In Main, State |

Tonight’s debate between Sen. Joe Lieberman and Democratic challenger Ned Lamont should be revealing on several levels.

Lamont will face his first serious test since announcing his candidacy earlier this year. Does he have the gravitas and the grasp of the issues to go toe-to-toe with an incumbent senator with 18 years of on-the-job training? Can he avoid the label of “Johnny One-Note” in challenging Lieberman on more than just his record on the Iraq war?

These questions will be key in determining whether Lamont will be taken seriously as a candidate by more than the anti-war crowd. If Lamont attacks Lieberman too strenuously from the left, he risks pushing moderates away from himself and toward Alan Schlesinger, the likely Republican nominee — that is if Lamont can beat Joe in the Aug. 8 primary.

How will Lieberman handle questions about the war? Will he find refuge in his previous assertons that those who question that war are hurting its effort (and, by implication, giving comfort to the enemy)? Will he belittle Lamont again as “that guy who was on the Greenwich Board of Selectmen?”

Will he deftly handle the question of why he has decided to run as an independent if Lamont beats him? Or will he come across as the Joe we know — the one who simply can’t believe the Nutmeg State could survive without him? Stay tuned.

The one-hour debate begins at 7 p.m on Channel 30 (WVIT) in Hartford. Those on the New York side who are interested can find it simulcast on C-SPAN. It will be the only debate between the two men before the primary.

Check out this page tomorrow (or perhaps even late tonight) for my take on the exchange.