Matthew met Lamont tonight :-/

I wanted to find a great graphic to head this one, but my imagination isn't in good form right now.

Anywhooo, the Malloy campaign folks went to an "open house" for Lamont. It was sponsored by the Young Dems in New Haven. I was so excited when Matthew told me about this. I asked him how it went. He said, "I wasn't impressed." "Well, what happened?" "I told him I was still on the fence about him." Lamont responded, "Well, get off." That was it. And this upset Matthew.

Well, geez. I asked, "What did you expect? You wanted the guy to give you his whole platform to you personally?" He said, "No, but I could have used more than that." I said, "Matthew, the guy has been in campaign hell these past weeks. Besides, he's a really funny guy. Did you hear him speak?" Matthew replied, "No." I said, "Well, I did. He's funny. He was cracking a joke."

I'm a bit frustrated because Matthew should know how this works -- given his own campaign work for Malloy. I cannot tell you the number of people who work for Malloy who have never met the guy. It's not about that. It's about spreading the message. And this is even more weird because Matthew REALLY wanted to intern for Chris Murphy here. He only took the Malloy job because it was a paid gig. But it does seem that Matthew has won the favor of Malloy over the course of his work.

I don't think Matthew is FOR Lieberman at all. He's a skeptic of new blood. That's the one thing I hear most on the "con" side of Lamont as a senator. But I still had the urge to slap Matthew upside the head for his stance. Hey, that isn't fair of me. He's entitled to draw his own conclusions. In fact, that's how I raised him (the skunk!). Totally kidding!

On another note, Matthew was interviewed by our local paper yesterday. The subject of the article is political activism in youths. This interviewer (I listened in) was a real idiot. He asked Matthew when he first became interested in politics. Matthew mentioned it was during the Clinton/Dole debates. The reporter said, "That was in 1990." Matthew said, "Noo, it was 1994." So, clearly, the reporter didn't have enough background (why the hell can't I find a job doing this kind of stuff when this idiot gets to do a half-assed job as a reporter?).

Then Matthew talked to him about how he met Billy Ciotto and Paul Doyle (our local congressmen) when he was in 4th grade. Yeah, I suppose it's weird for someone that young. But the reporter kind of gasped when Matthew said this (reporters are SUPPOSED to be objective and non-reactive). Matthew told him about his other political works (young dems President; head of First CD Young Dems; Founder of WPI Dems, etc.). The reporter was still acting like he was talking to an alien or something!

Matthew got off the phone, and he said, "That guy was a jerk." LOL! I agreed. I told him reporters are NOT supposed to interview by phone unless they are secondary (at least) or tertiary (at best) in a story. Matthew said he knew that. So, it will be interesting to see how this article turns out.

Meanwhile, Matthew's guy (Malloy) and the contenda (DeStefano) have their debate next week. It will be televised (I'll try and post when I get the exact info.). Matthew offered to get me and my friends tickets (he has connections, doncha know). I turned it down because it's in New London (about an hour away). Hey, if he's not gonna bend over for my guy (Lamont) then I'm not going to for his! But I will vote for Malloy since Destefano has some really crazy campaign commercials.

Matthew did say he spent some time talking with Lamont's daughter, who is also 19. I didn't get the substance of the discussion from him, but they seemed to have had a good talk. Don't read any more into that than what it is, though. He talks with a lot of folks that way.