Nobody's man but ours?

It was rather cheesy of Ned Lamont to lift the old Lowell Weicker slogan, “Nobody’s man but yours,†for his campaign for governor and now, by refusing to debate his opponent, he’s looking more like nobody’s man but his.

Lamont is the Greenwich millionaire whose inherited fortune has made him the front runner for the Democratic nomination, which will be decided in a primary on Aug. 10.  Do not confuse him with Tom Foley, the Greenwich millionaire whose inherited fortune has made him the front runner for the Republican nomination, which will be decided in a primary on Aug. 10.  Diversity isn’t exactly the name of the game in the Connecticut gubernatorial race.  

Having sorted out our Greenwich millionaires, let us return to picking on Lamont, who pulled out of the live, television debate, scheduled in New London July 27, two weeks before the primary.  A Republican debate the next day is still on.  

In ducking the debate, Lamont has denied Democratic voters their best opportunity to compare and choose between him and former Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy in what is surely our most important gubernatorial election in 20 years.  

He also revived memories of his own unsuccessful attempts to get Joe Lieberman to debate him and the criticism Lieberman received for being a chicken before he defeated Lamont for U.S. senator six years ago.      

This time, Lamont’s playing the poultry, lamely claiming he’d rather spend the time talking directly to the voters on the campaign trail, his way of saying he prefers talking directly to the voters without fear of contradiction in television ads.  

Why risk looking dumb in an hour-long TV debate when your millions allow you to look like nobody’s man but ours in your very own 30-second spots?  

Spots by Lamont and Foley have so dominated the campaigns for governor that pre-primary debates are a must if the electorate is to learn anything useful.

Fortunately, Republican front-runner Foley can’t pull Lamont’s stunt because he has two opponents and the sponsors of the Republican debate July 28 would probably feel obliged to hold it even without him if he too opted to play it safe.  So, we’re assured of at least a Republican gubernatorial debate that will give that party’s voters a chance to see how Foley stands up to Lt. Gov. Mike Fedele and businessman Oz Griebel.  

As a registered Democrat, I have to choose between Malloy, who has 14 years’ experience running the only prosperous Connecticut city, and Lamont, who has his failed effort against Lieberman to his credit but hasn’t run successfully for anything but selectman.  I still await evidence that either of them can stand up to public employee unions or handle a Democratic legislature that has acted so irresponsibly in the recent past.  

Nevertheless, on Aug. 10, I expect to vote for Malloy and then see what develops in the general election campaign.

Had there been a debate, nobody’s man but yours may have convinced me that he was more deserving of my primary vote. Now, we’ll never know.

Dick Ahles is a retired broadcast journalist from Simsbury. His e-mail: dahles@hotmail.com.

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