A few days ago I reported that the Groton Democratic Town Committee had endorsed Dick Blumenthal, along with a number of folks running unopposed for state or federal office. I noted, somewhat snarkily, that the vote was aimed at Merrick Alpert, which indeed it was. That post drew a rebuke from a “Serious Dem” in the comments1 , who spouted a number of Alpert’s talking points, including the schoolyard “Chicken Dick” taunt. Why, if I didn’t know better (which I actually don’t), I’d think that Merrill opened a gmail account just to post that comment.
So, let me indulge myself with an extended meditation on Alpert and his candidacy.
I met Merrick back in 2006, I believe, when he tested the waters for a congressional race. Concluding quickly that Joe Courtney had the nomination in the bag, he stepped back, most likely figuring he could wait for 2008, after Joe’s eventual loss. That didn’t pan out for him. He struck me as ambitious (not surprising for an aspiring politician), bright and self absorbed. He’s also charming, I’m told. He has, in short, all the standard flaws of most politicians, so one can’t fault him too much for that. (One reason I’ve always really liked Joe Courtney is that he is a genuinely nice guy, someone you can like unreservedly) When Merrick moved to Groton we encouraged him to join the town committee, and to get involved in local politics. But we had misjudged our man. Merrick heard a call, a call that only he could hear, to greater things. Not for him to earn his stripes. He had, after all, built his resume and there was no need to get involved in the nitty gritty of governing, when he could tell heartwarming stories about his return from Kosovo, etc. ad nauseum.
According to Merrick he spent an entire night in conversations with his wife, searching his soul to determine whether he had been called to take down a sitting Democratic Senator who was, in his opinion, seriously corrupt and extremely offensive to Merrick’s sensibilities. He felt so strongly that he had no choice but to roll out his campaign on Fox News, repeating the talking points on Dodd that they had been pushing for months. The commenter attacked our town committee for passing a resolution that implicitly attacked Merrick (we did not, in fact, endorse Dodd at that point, nor did we mention Merrick by name). I authored that resolution and I’m glad I did so. It barely squeaked by, to tell the truth, not because there were a lot of Merrick supporters (there weren’t ) but because some people thought it was premature. In my own opinion Merrick should have played up the razor thin margin; instead, like the amateur he actually is, he chose to play the victim. I think that resolution, and the press it received (largely because of Merrick braying about it) helped take some air out of his campaign at a critical time.
Dodd, in the end, stepped aside. He probably had a number of reasons, but one of them surely was his interest in seeing that the seat was retained by a Democrat. It was a hard thing to do, but he did the honorable thing, something rare in politics. Merrick Alpert was never more than a burr in his side as far as his re-election effort was concerned. To the extent that Merrick really entered the race because of his outrage and despair over Dodd’s alleged lapses, that reason disappeared after Dodd’s withdrawal. Had Merrick declared victory and withdrawn, he might have salvaged a bit of respectability. He might, in other words, have done the honorable thing. Instead he trained his guns on Blumenthal by validating absurd Republican attack lines. Merrick is seeking election to a post as a legislator. The primary function of a legislator (though you would never know it nowadays) is to enact laws. Alpert is currently attacking Blumenthal for spending his life enforcing those very laws. He has done it, not just by and large, but overwhelmingly, in the best interests of the people of Connecticut and with unquestioned integrity. I don’t necessarily agree with every stand he’s taken, but I can’t see how anyone who claims to aspire to the United States Senate can denigrate the importance of the office he has held. By definition, an attorney general engages in litigation. Blumenthal has done that, and done it well. Why is that bad?
Merrick is now running as the “progressive” in the race and I’ll grant him that his positions at the moment are as complete as his resume. Do I believe in his sincerity? Not really, but it’s a rare politician you can trust. I certainly can’t believe he’s as good as his word. Here he is a few months ago, speaking of the campaign to come against Blumenthal:
But how, he is asked, will he persuade people he’s the better candidate? “What I won’t do,” he says, “is speak negatively of him.”
He can hardly say Blumenthal attacked first. Blumenthal has ignored him, by and large.
My own overriding concern (I can’t speak for the rest of the Town Committee, but I’m fairly sure they would agree) is to hold the Senate seat for the Democrats. I’ve known Dick Blumenthal for years. He’s an honorable guy. I don’t agree with some of his positions, most notably on the military tribunals issue, but I’m a realist. Even if I assumed Merrick really believed the stuff he is saying (and I have reason to believe he doesn’t) I would be faced with the following realities:
1. Merrick was unable to raise money even when he was challenging Dodd. Even the right wing nutcases that you would expect to donate just to make trouble, took a pass.
2. Merrick is still unable to raise money, not from anyone, including the people who are pouring millions into Bill Halter’s campaign. Why is that, I wonder?
3. The eventual candidate will probably be running against Linda McMahon, who is ready to spend millions of her own dollars on this campaign. Better to have our candidate start out with a huge advantage in the polls, total name recognition, and high favorability ratings, than be someone running even or behind, with little name recognition, and a so far proven inability to make much of a dent in the public consciousness-someone whose public identity can be transformed into anything McMahon wants to manufacture, if he could ever get the nomination, which he can’t.
4. Merrick’s current campaign, when you get beyond the juvenile name calling, is a combination of bashing the eventual candidate and cynically appealing to the Naderite streak in the progressive community. Merrick has all of Nader’s ego without any of his accomplishments. The pure among us might differ with me, but I truly believe if Nader had butted out in 2000, rather than set his sights on assuring a Republican victory, we would be a lot better off right now. Merrick cannot win the nomination, and cannot be elected if he wins. That’s the practical fact of the matter. If Blumenthal were a truly objectionable candidate, like Blanche Lincoln, that might not matter. A challenge from the left, however insincere, might make sense. But Blumenthal is a good guy, and he’ll be a good Senator. He’s also running a serious campaign. Merrick might want to make a virtue out of his lack of money, but that argument is the last refuge of a failed candidate. Merrick can do only one thing in this race: weaken Blumenthal.
The commenter asked why the GDTC did not wait to hear what Merrick had to say, or wait until closer to the convention, to make our decision. On a practical level, we took the vote the same day we appointed delegates, which seems reasonable, and we have only one more meeting before the convention. But, getting down to cases, we all know Merrick. He hasn’t, to my knowledge, shown any interest in coming to see us again (he was a member until recently but hasn’t attended since the night we passed the resolution I authored) and nothing he could say could change the facts on the ground, to which I’ve alluded above. Why should we wait?
