Lamont, Leading in Polls, Stops at Fairfield Diner to Encourage People to Vote on Tuesday

Ned Lamont may be leading in the polls in his bid to win the Democratic nomination for governor on Tuesday, but he's taking nothing for granted - campaigning hard and stopping off at the Circle Diner in Fairfield on Saturday to meet potential voters and sign a few autographs.

"He looks like a good man, so I asked him for an autograph," said Ruben Lemus, 28, a waiter in the Post Road diner where Lamont stayed for about a half-hour to talk with customers. "I'm very proud. He looks like a good man."

Lamont also signed an autograph for Jakob Newman, 8, who walked up to the gubernatorial candidate with his campaign literature as Lamont picked up an English muffin to go.

"Jacob tell Dad to vote Ned Lamont," the candidate wrote in his autograph.

Jakob thought it was great to get Lamont's autograph, but he was thinking of another brush with fame after Lamont left. "I got to meet the mayor and the governor and the president," Jakob said of Fairfield's Memorial Day Parade this year.

Eric Newman, Jakob's dad, laughed and corrected him. "The president wasn't there; the president of Little League, maybe," Newman said.

Chris Brennan, 35, of Fairfield, was glad to talk with Lamont in the Circle Diner. "He already had my support, but you never think the primary is important," Brennan said.

Asked if he planned to vote Tuesday, Brennan said, "I guess I would have to."

Kimberly Norris, 35, of Norwalk, said she met Lamont before and likes him. "Nothing in particular that I like about him, but I do, probably because he's a Democrat and I'm a Democrat," she said.

But Norris said she probably wouldn't end up voting in Tuesday's primary, like the majority of other voters across Connecticut.

As he walked out of the diner about 11:20 a.m., Lamont said he was "feeling optimistic" and had "a really good response" from diner customers. "I just want a good turnout," Lamont said. "I've got to get people to vote. I've got to make sure they know their vote counts."

Lamont described his approach to campaigning in the last few days as, "Just put on the track shoes and look people in the eye."

Quinnipiac University, in a poll released Thursday, had Lamont leading former Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy 45 percent to 40 percent, with 14 percent undecided and 43 percent saying they may change their vote before Tuesday's primary. The Quinnipiac poll had a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points.

Lamont was greeted at the diner's entrance by Devon Pfeifer, chairman of the Fairfield Democratic Town Committee.