(Cross-posted at Future Majority)

With record total turnout of over 275,000, Ned Lamont defeated incumbent Joe Lieberman in this week's Democratic Party Primary for Senator in Connecticut. The margin of victory was 3.8%, a tight race. Exit polling reveals that voters under the age of 30 were the critical difference for Lamont:

Graphic from politicalarithmetik. The break for the 18 - 29 bracket is 63% Lamont.

Without the big break from millenial Nutmeg-staters, the power of incumbency would have kept Holy Joe in office.

Don't count on the trad media to pick this up, but those of us paying attention realize this is further evidence that the vanguard Millennials are shaping up to be a a powerful backbone for the future progressive majority. In 2004 we saw that under-30 turnout made Kerry competative. In 2006, we're going to see that same generational cohort start to win races.