LOSING THE LOWER NAUGATUCK VALLEY Looking at the town-by-town returns, it seems that Lieberman took the lower Naugatuck river valley quite handily. And to the extent that Democrats were drawn to Lamont primarily for his anti-war views, we anti-Iraq war liberals should be concerned by this. Connecticut has a reputation for being the land of Wall Street executives, hip-hop moguls, retired tennis stars, and Vince McMahon. But just to the northeast of the ridiculously wealthy towns populated by those types sits the predominately white working class lower Naugatuck valley. This includes the towns of Ansonia, Derby, Shelton, Beacon Falls, Oxford and Naugatuck. Lieberman won each of these towns (except Oxford) by a very solid margin. Of course, some of this can be explained by Lieberman�s long history of steering contracts for the Sikorsky plant in Stratford, which is nearby. Still, the lack of support for an anti-Iraq War message in white working class areas leads me to believe that this message is not at all resonating with an important Democratic constituency.
--Mark Leon Goldberg
