There probably aren't that many African-American primary voters -- maybe 10 percent of registered Democrats, with a smaller percentage actually voting on Aug. 8. On the other hand, this will be an election of small numbers. I'm currently guessing a turnout of between 100,000 and 130,000, though I lean toward the higher total. If 65,001 votes win the primary, you don't need to move a whole lot of votes to make a difference.
So Clinton is coming Monday, and Lieberman spent Sunday stumping in Hartford's black churches, where, according to the city's black leaders, nobody had previously seen him in his 18 years as senator. Lieberman staffers and Hartford Courant reporter Mark Pazniokas fell into an almost Aquinian discussion about Lieberman's connection with African-American voters. Was he "reconnecting," as many of the churchgoers were telling Pazniokas, or had he never disconnected at all, as the campaign kept insisting?
"His people will tell you he has been here, doing things quietly," former Hartford mayor and state representative Thirman Milner, now a Lamont supporter, told me. "He must have been really quiet."
Neither candidate, I'm sure, resonates much with black voters. Look at it musically. Lieberman became famous in 2000 for his plodding version on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" of "My Way," the whitest Frank Sinatra song ever. Lamont has recently unveiled some chops on the keyboards. He told me his best tune is John Lennon's "Imagine," which is ennobling but also white. I doubt Clinton is going to rip some serious Wilson Pickett on his sax in Waterbury, but you know one of his jobs while he's in town is, metaphorically, to play that funky music.
If Lieberman's sudden discovery of the black vote doesn't work, of course, the Clintons will cut Lieberman loose like a sandbag on a sinking balloon. They already have, sort of. Each has made separate statements promising to support the Democrat chosen by party voters in two weeks, so no matter how many nice things the ex-president says in Waterbury, we should understand that today's Joe Cool could be Aug. 9's Joe Who?
But maybe the ploy will work because Waterbury is, after all, a lucky charm for Democrats. And it's one that speaks to both Bill Clinton and Joe Lieberman's dimly remembered roots. In 1960, John F. Kennedy abruptly added a Waterbury stop to his campaign schedule, and 40,000 people stood around until 3 a.m. waiting to see him. He spoke from the balcony of a beautiful and storied old hotel, the Elton. The night was celebrated by historian Theodore White as a turning point, and Pierre Salinger called it the greatest moment of that campaign. It's a story both Clinton and Lieberman would know well, or would've known back in 1970. In the ensuing years, each has parked some of his youthful ideals and gotten behind the wheel of the shiny new centrism. And the Elton Hotel has become an assisted-living facility. Time is pitiless.
About the writer
Colin McEnroe hosts an afternoon radio show on WTIC-AM in Connecticut. He blogs and writes columns for the Hartford Courant.
Story finder (3 ways to search Salon)
Salon Directory (browse by topic)
