I. The important issues of the day in this campaign
There's a war(s) going on outside, 45 million Americans go to bed each night without health care, and gas prices are approaching $4 a gallon in some places.  But to Senator Lieberman, there is no greater issue than Ned Lamont releasing his taxes.  Why?  Well, because they have nothing.  He's wrong on the issues people of CT and the country care about and that's why voters are changing their minds.  Does anyone really want to re-elect someone that thinks things are actually getting better in Iraq?

Me (middle) with Uncle Sam and Lieber-protestor

That's right, that huge banner says, "I want YOU to release your tax returns." Creative, and important [/snark].  Here's the deal with that line of attack.  This is a total distraction, and allows their campaign to keep asking "what does Ned Lamont have to hide?"  The answer is ... nothing.  Ned has agreed to release his tax returns.  Then they asked for the last five years of tax returns.  It will never end with them until they get Ned's third grade report card and find out Ned got a "B" in History.  They want to talk about ANYTHING but the issues.

II. Packed Houses
Meanwhile, everywhere we go, people are responding to Ned's message of progress.  Here are some photos from the past week.

At the Book Vault in Wallingord

Phone Bank in New Haven

Young Dems in New Haven

III. Who paid for that?
How many articles have been out there about Ned's ability to amplify your voice through his own personal contributions to the campaign?  Too many to count is the short answer.  But who is paying for Senator Lieberman's campaign ads, buttons and bumper stickers?

Is it the corporate CEOs? (link)
Is it big pharma? (link)
Is it pharma... again? (link)
Is it those who profit from waging war? (link)

As the latest financial reports become public, I think it's safe to expect aloud no shortage of articles investigating that quesiton.  On the flip side, over 15,000 individuals contributed to Ned's campaign last quarter alone, the vast majority in small dollar donations.

IV. Anti-Semitic Smear Campaign
It's too bad this topic has to start with a disclaimer, but it is what it is.  Those who seek to hitch an anti-Semetic agenda to the back of our campaign are not welcome to do so.

That said, there have been a number of articles in various publications quoting anonymous sources and Lieberman sympathizers as saying our online effort is being driven by anti-semitism.  One such supporter is former Lieberman staffer Dan Gerstein who more than hinted at it before being smacked down on the Young Turks radio show.  This is the most underhanded of campaign smear tactics, smacking of desperation. It's also not the only BS whisper campaign of its kind they are taking part in.  I just wanted to let you know that it's out there, and this is how they feel the democratic process is best served, by conducting the type of campaign befitting of Jesse Helms, not the senator once hailed for his intergrity and principle.

V. By the Numbers
The campaign blog gets a lot of hits daily. It's right up there with some of the more respected national blogs (no, not kos-like traffic). Anyway, it's worth noting that five of the top seven refering sites to this blog cover local politics.

1.) Lamontblog
2.) Connecticut Blog
3.) Atrios (national)
4.) Daily Kos (national)
5.) My Left Nutmeg
6.) Connecticut Blbo
7.) Spazeboy

Those 5 local sites account for some 37,000 individual visits over the first 16 days of the month. It's also worth noting that their audiences are decidedly more local than the national sites people like to focus on in their coverage of the race.  All can be found at the link above the fold.

VI Your Tools for Participation
Ned's Family, Friends and Neighbor Program
Ned's Myspace Page

Family, Friends and Neihbors is one of the most critical components of the field campaign.  Much like everything else in our effort, we are giving you the power to deliver victory on election day.  Find people you know in CT and send a personalized physical postcard to them talking about Ned and why you support this campaign.  The postcard itself is delivered on our dime!  After that, you'll receive a personalized GOTV call list via email to follow-up with your friends and remind them to vote for Ned before, and on, election day.  It's person to personal contact that allows us to beat back the corporate interest funded smear campaign.

Here's how our MySpace effort is different than other campaigns who have used it unsuccessfully or solely for free media. MySpace and FF&N are basically based upon the same premise ... keeping in contact with your friends.  If we can get 250 people total using FF&N on MySpace, each sending a personal postcard via snail mail (on our dime!) to 20 people, and then you follow-up and get them to the polls voting for Ned ... that could be as much as 2% of the vote we need to win on August 8. And in what will be a close election, 2% from MySpace is a big deal, and could be what puts us over the top. Imagine if we could get even more people using MySpace to participate in FF&N!

More Tools
Create your own personal fundraising page
Write a Letter to the Editor http://www.nedlamont.com/...]
Contribute

And that's that, folks.  I'll be around to answer any questions.  I'll try to make this a daily habit from here on out.  There's three weeks to go -- this is the home stretch.

Tim