Nelson's almost on the red team

Good luck getting Nelson to endorse Lamont. Although he hasn't been vocal in his support of the administration like Lieberman, he certainly hasn't done much of anything against it. Bill Nelson is a Democratic senator from a Republican state, and I don't think he'll do anything that could make him seem too far left. I'd be shocked to see him endorse Lamont. I'll be voting for Nelson over Katherine Harris though. It's a choice between someone who will vote with Republicans part of the time, versus someone who will all the time. Nelson's votes on things like Supreme Court nominations and more recently the estate tax rollback disguised as a mimimum wage increase, as well as his refusal to endorse the Feingold censure resolution lead me to feel this way. Hopefully with a Democrat majority he will stop worrying so much about being a Democrat.

OK, this is cross-posted on the DFA-Tampa Bay blog...

...but here is my letter to Sen. Nelson:

Dear Senator Nelson,

We are writing to ask you to please be vocal in your support for Ned Lamont, your fellow Democrat who is running for Senate in Connecticut. Mr. Lamont is running against tremendous odds in a contentious race, and could use the support and encouragement from his future Senate colleagues.

Not only that, but the Bush Administration has been merciless in vilifying the new Democratic nominee for Senate in Connecticut, and the mainstream media has been giving the Bushites a free pass. All of a sudden, simply participating in the political process here in our democracy is viewed by the Bush Administration as enabling the terrorists, depending on the candidates that American voters support. In the fallout of the Connecticut primaries, the Bush Administration is behaving very irresponsibly and shamefully--to say the VERY least.

Moreover, Lieberman has shown his true colors in the aftermath of this race: that he is NOT loyal to the Democratic Party, or to "little-d" democratic values, for that matter. The Democratic voters of Connecticut have decided that Senator Lieberman is not responding to his constituents' needs; and have thus chosen a candidate who promises to do so if elected as Senator.

Simply for pragmatic reasons, the Democratic Party cannot afford to lose the Connecticut Senate seat that Lieberman is vacating as a Democrat. Instead of a Bush-supporting Independent (Lieberman) or the Republican candidate (Schlesinger), Ned Lamont is the candidate who needs to fill this Senate seat to ensure that we move closer to a Democratic majority in the Senate.

Thank you in advance for reading these concerns. We appreciate in advance your overt support of the new Democratic candidate in the Connecticut general race for Senator.

Many regards,
Michelle and Jon Kenoyer

Nelson and Lamont