There seems to be an undercurrent of surprise that Howard Wolfson is now advising Ned Lamont in his Connecticut gubernatorial campaign, but it's worth remembering that this isn't the first time these two have teamed up.
Come back with me to the crazy days of August 2006, when establishment Democrats, having tried (and failed) to defeat Lamont in his race against Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary, were now rushing to Lamont's side--especially those Dems who were about to run for president. From an 08.25.06 AP story about Hillary Clinton's visit with Lamont at her Westchester home:
As if to illustrate the new Clinton-Lamont partnership, Wolfson, who is one of Clinton's senior political strategists, said Friday he would join the Lamont campaign as an adviser.
"She wanted me to do it, and I wanted to do it," Wolfson said. "It's vitally important that we elect a Democrat to that seat."
Of course, when things went sour for Lamont, some of his supporters who had been with him during the primary pointed their fingers at Wolfson. I guess Lamont didn't agree with them.
That's one thing about Lamont that's kind of interesting: He was always a lot more mainstream and establishment than his most fervent supporters--something I tried to capture in this piece I wrote about him early in his campaign against Lieberman. His gubernatorial race will be tough for him in that he won't have the advantage of having an opponent as polarizing as Lieberman. But, in a way, I think this campaign will be a better fit for who he actually is--a moderate-to-liberal Greenwich millionaire businessman, more John Corzine than, say, Paul Wellstone.