{news} more on Mertens

[David Bedell]

http://courant.com/news/politics/hc-new-opponent-dodd-0908.artsep08,0,4074981.story
    
U.S. SENATE RACE
    Independent's 2010 U.S. Senate Bid Causing Stir
    
       By DANIELA ALTIMARI
    The Hartford Courant
    September 8, 2009
    
    
    John Mertens says his independent bid for U.S. Senate isn't some vanity project undertaken solely to stoke his own ego.

The Trinity College engineering professor from West Hartford says he's in it to win.

"I know I'm a huge underdog," Mertens said Saturday, four days before he officially kicks off his campaign for the seat held by U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd. "I know you have to raise money. I'm going to raise enough to get my message out there."

Mertens is chairman of the Connecticut for Lieberman Party and is
seeking the party's nomination, along with the endorsements of three other minor political parties. Connecticut for Lieberman was launched by U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman after he lost the Democratic primary to Ned Lamont in 2006. But Lieberman walked away as soon as he won re-election, allowing his fiercest critics to seize control of the party that bears his name.

Now some of those very same activists are furious at Mertens for risking their overarching goal: Maintaining ballot access so that the party can be used to mount an offensive against Lieberman in 2012.

The goal was always "to use the party to hold Joseph Lieberman accountable, and it's vital that it remains in existence until Lieberman runs again," said activist Sue Henshaw. "To use the Connecticut for Lieberman Party for any other purpose than its mission diminishes both the politician and the party."

State election rules stipulate that the party must garner at least 1 percent of the vote in the 2010 Senate race if it hopes to preserve its place on the 2012 ballot. Mertens' critics say they doubt he would get anywhere near 1 percent in a highly competitive, three-way race against Dodd and a Republican opponent. Instead, they want the Connecticut for Lieberman Party to cross-endorse Dodd, the presumptive Democratic nominee.

But in a contest that's as closely contested as the 2010 Senate race is shaping up to be, there's the fear that Mertens could fill the same role that Ralph Nader played in the 2000 presidential election — that of Democratic spoiler.

"The number one mission of [the Connecticut for Lieberman Party] was supposed to be keeping the ballot line alive for 2012 against Lieberman," said Edward Anderson, one of the Lieberman critics who took over the party. "Of course, the secondary concern is that a Dodd race might come down to the wire, and that the CFL prankster vote could cost us a United States Senate seat, an outcome that Lieberman would enjoy, of course."

Those opposed to Mertens say their criticism is based on policy as well as process. They accuse Mertens of parroting Republican talking points and criticize him for speaking at a Tea Party rally in Hartford this summer. "Mertens is off in Nader-land, on a messianic trip that's all about him, with little regard for the left, or the founding intent of CFL," Anderson said.

And, said Henshaw, Dodd is a "very effective" senator whose 2008 presidential bid was endorsed by the CFL.

Mertens shrugged off the critics. He said he fully expects to receive more than 1 percent of the vote, thus ensuring ballot access for 2012.

And he scoffed at the Nader comparison. "If Chris Dodd has done such a poor job in such a blue state, after being in office for so long, it's time for him to step down and let Mr. Blumenthal run for U.S. Senate. If my candidacy encourages him to do so, so be it," Mertens wrote in an open letter to critics posted on the liberal blog, My Left Nutmeg, referring to Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

Mertens' website,   mertens2010.blogspot.com,  contains a detailed analysis of his stance on major public policy issues, from gay marriage (he supports it) to health care (he believes that a public option is "absolutely essential") to the stimulus package (he thinks we didn't get "very much bang for the buck") to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (he favors continued troop withdrawal in Iraq and working with Pakistan to come up with an "effective regional strategy" to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan).

Mertens said he plans to visit every college campus in the state to tap into a youth vote that he says is increasingly disenchanted by both political parties. "People need to stop being good Democrats or good Republicans," he said. "People are ready to hear somebody who just wants to solve problems."
    
    
        Copyright © 2009, The Hartford Courant
    

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