You've probably heard that Ned Lamont, the guy who last week knocked off three-term Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut Senate primary that politicos are still buzzing about, is coming to town. He'll be in Burlington Friday night to headline a fundraiser for Democracy for America, the grassroots party organizing operation that spun off from Howard Dean's presidential campaign after his bid for the White House crashed and burned.

At first glance, it seems odd that a guy who hasn't even been elected to anything yet is already going out on the road to do fundraising gigs for others, but it all makes sense the more you know about Lamont.

First off, he owes DFA bigtime for its help in his primary campaign. If you don't believe it, check out Lamont's gushing praise for DFA just two weeks before his big win. To hear, and see, him tell it, he couldn't have defused Joe-mentum without DFA's help. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p6QMatwUio&mode=related&search

DFA, it seems, was the first group to endorse Lamont and the first to drop serious money on him. DFA's Tom Hughes tells us DFA gave Lamont $100,000 for his primary effort, more than any other DFA-backed candidate this election cycle. Hughes also said DFA staffers emptied out of the DFA headquarters the last two weeks to go to Connecticut to knock on doors for Lamont.

Reason Number 2? It seems Lamont has a soft spot for Vermont. In his speeches on the stump, he often mentions the time spent editing the now-defunct Black River Tribune in Ludlow after he graduated from Harvard in 1976 and before going to Yale's School of Management for his master's degree in 1980.

Lamont says his time in the Green Mountain State gave him “real world experience” and the opportunity to see small-town democracy in action. “I came away with an appreciation for what a difference good government can make,” he is quoted as saying in the April issue of the New Journal, a Yale University periodical. For more, check www.yale.edu/tnj/content/apr06/profile.

The Friday DFA event featuring Lamont will be at 6 p.m. at the Main Street Landing Co. in Burlington. It's $50 a head for the reception, probably a lot more to attend the private dinner afterward. For more info on that, go to www.dfalink.com/lamont

-- Sam Hemingway