As high as 40% of eligible voters may turnout to vote in the Democratic primary today (as opposed to the more usual 25%), according to Connecticut’s Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz:
With a historic U.S. Senate race on the ballot and a choice for governor, state and local elections officials say a record number of Connecticut Democrats could head to the polls today to vote in the party’s primary.
In a race widely regarded as a referendum on the Iraq war, Sen. Joe Lieberman is facing possible exile from the party that chose him as its vice presidential candidate in 2000. Lieberman, a key Democrat who backed the war, trails Greenwich cable television entrepreneur Ned Lamont in the polls entering today’s primary. […]
“You can’t turn on the television, pick up the newspaper or listen to the radio and not know there’s a primary,” Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz said.
A Democrat who is in charge of all elections in the state, Bysiewicz said turnout for the primary could reach 40 percent, well above the 25 percent historic average for primaries featuring a governor’s race on the ballot.
I’ll go on record as predicting this is good news for Lamont. It means a lot of people who never bother to vote in primaries are suddenly engaged enough to go to the polls. And I don’t think the chance to confirm Jolting Joe Lieberman as their party’s candidate for a 4th time is the reason. I think that this really is a referendum on the Iraq war in the minds of many of these new primary voters.
Of course, I may be overly optimistic. We shall see. But if I were Senator Lieberman, I’d start preparing that concession/”I’m running as a candidate for the Connecticut for Lieberman Party so the voters can kick me to the curb again in November” speech if I were him.
