Originally Posted - September 30, 2006

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The candidate endorsed by right-to-die proponent Michael Schiavo for the Senate race in Connecticut is losing steam as incumbent Sen. Joseph Lieberman has widened the margin between himself and Schiavo-supported challenger, Ned Lamont.

Lieberman, running for reelection as an independent, holds a 49-39% likely voter lead over Democratic candidate Lamont, with 5% for Republican Alan Schlesinger and 7% undecided, according to a Qunnipiac University poll released Thursday.

This compares to a 53 - 41% Lieberman lead over Lamont, with 4 percent for Schlesinger in an Aug. 17 poll by the independent Quinnipiac University.

In this latest survey, Lieberman leads Lamont 69 - 15% among likely Republican voters, with 12% for Schlesinger, and 50 - 36 - 4 percent among likely independent voters, while likely Democratic voters back Lamont 57 - 37%.

Lamont, who has money but little political experience, defeated Lieberman in the Aug. 8 primary, basing his campaign on anti-war sentiment and claiming that Lieberman was too supportive of the Republican policies and the Bush Administration.

Connecticut voters say 47 - 38% that Lamont does not have the right kind of experience to be a U.S. senator.

"Ned Lamont has lost momentum. He's gained only two points in six weeks. He's going to have to do something different in the next six weeks or Sen. Joseph Lieberman stays in for another six years," said Quinnipiac University Poll Director Douglas Schwartz. "Lamont wins among those who say Iraq is the most important issue to their vote, but that is only 35% of the electorate. Lieberman wins on all the other issues voters say matter most to them, including terrorism and the economy."

Connecticut likely voters give Lieberman a 51 - 24% favorability rating, with 22% mixed.

Lamont gets a split 31 - 28% favorability rating, with 23% mixed and 17% who haven't heard enough to form an opinion.

The war in Iraq is the most important issue in their vote for senator, 35% of Connecticut voters say, followed by 25% who list the economy, 13% who list terrorism and 10% who list health care.

The U.S. is losing the war in Iraq, voters say 55 - 25%, and losing the war on worldwide terrorism, voters say 43 - 38%.

The Quinnipiac University Poll conducts public opinion surveys in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Florida and the nation as a public service and for research.

Schiavo is supporting Lamont because he's mad at Sen. Lieberman for supporting the bill last March that had the intent to grant the parents of Terri Schiavo a de novo review of the Schiavocase in the federal court and to reinsert the feeding tube of the disabled woman, to err on the side of life, an effort quickly shot down by district court judge James Whittemore of Tampa who had been nominated to judicial power by a commission of which one of Michael Schiavo's lawyers was a member and chairperson.

Schiavo has been traipsing around the country, trying to flex what he considers political muscle, claiming to be endorsing candidates through his political action committee, TerriPAC which, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission in June was close to insolvency.

Schiavo has latched onto Lamont because Lamont has basted Lieberman for supporting the Schiavo bill passed last March and signed into law by President Bush, for "invading Michael Schiavo's privacy" after Schiavo himself took the matter to court for an order to kill his wife after his two private efforts failed by trying to withheld medical treatment from her.

The House passed Terri's Law 203-58 while the Senate passed it on a voice vote. Not one Democratic Senator voted against it.

Lieberman called the Schiavo debate a "heartbreaking case" and says it illustrates the importance of everyone having a living will. In 2003, when the Florida Legislature adopted Terri's Law which gave Gov. Jeb Bush the authority to order that Terri's feeding tube be reinserted, Lieberman said he supported the lawmakers. "I believe that certainly in cases where there is not a living will….I feel very strongly that we ought to honor life and we ought not to create a system where people are being deprived of nutrition or hydration in a way that ends their lives" Lieberman said.

Schiavo may feel a kinship with Lamont because Lamont seems to have a problem with being accountable, refusing to disclose his financial records and tax returns, just like Schiavo refuses to make pubic the accountings of the monies received in the malpractice award that was earmarked to provide therapy and rehabilitation for his wife that instead, Schiavo used to hire attorneys to obtain a court order for what he considered legalized homicide. The financial records of Terri's trust fund have been sealed by Judge George W. Greer on the request of Schiavo's attorney George Felos who received over a half million dollars of the money that a jury earmarked for Terri's medical care. Instead, Felos, the attorney who hears voices and believes that he can makes planes crash, pocketed the money for arranging her death.

In an article this summer about the race, The New York Times portrayed Michael Schiavo as a man with a vendetta, fueled by anger, hate and bitterness, a need for revenge and still focused on money, not the proceeds of the malpractice trial anymore but now pandering to the public to fund his campaign for revenge.

Afte the NY Times article appeared, both Schiavo and his "political consultant" Derek "Fig" Newton crowed and bragged about receiving an injection of $10,000 into TerriPac but there have been no new postings or announcements of new political activity involving Schiavo at TerriPac since early September.

The Times had rightfully portrayed Schiavo as a bitter man with an explosive temper, bitter because he had to use all of the money he envisioned would be his to instead pay lawyers to effect Terri's death cause she didn't die fast enough to suit him.

That's because she wasn't terminal.

She was disabled.

The Terri Schiavo case wasn't a political issue then and isn't now. It was and is a moral and social issue dealing with disability and human rights.
9-30-06

© 2006 North Country Gazette