Believe me, I really hope that’s true and that Lamont will win in November.

But Lieberman has been serving in the Senate since 1989 and been in Conn. public life, almost continously since 1970. I guess what I’m wondering is, are there enough progressive voters in Conn. to toss a long time public servant and send Lamont to the Senate?

If not, and either a Republican or a loose cannon Lieberman is elected, we’ve lost one more seat in the Senate and possibly our ability to take it away from the Republicans.

I don’t care if the Dem Senator from Conn. is Gengis Khan. The goal in November should be wresting the Senate from the grimey little lunch hooks of Bill Frist. If we don’t do that, we’ll have about as much power (and ability to effect change) as a neutered cat.

Call me cautious but I guess I’m a “bird in the hand” sort of gal.

That is a statement worthy of the Oracle at Delphi. It can be taken any way the listener wishes to, and it still seems to have the moral high ground. It is no wonder Harry Reid is the Senate Minority Leader.

Joe knows he has to win the primary. If he can’t beat Ned there, his chances of beating him in the general election get worse, not better. Assuming a humiliating primary defeat, what would he have going for him? A. Name recognition. B. Ability to attract conservative votes from both major parties.

And consider: His name recognition on the ballot would be more than offset by Lamont’s gains as the Dems’ official candidate. The big problem with Joe is that he took state Democrats’ support for granted and hopped on the Bush bandwagon far too often. His cavalier attitude toward his Democratic constituents has finally come back to bite him — and even those conservative Dems who might vote for him in a primary won’t be pleased to see him running against the party and splitting the vote in Nov.

The interesting thing would be watching how Joe positions himself to grab votes from the Republican candidate — something he’d have to do to have any shot at defeating Ned. Would Joe run further right? If so, how far? More likely he’ll play the middle and risk getting squeezed on both sides. He’ll probably have to. He can’t outflank either opponent without alienating the left or right.

Last but not least, think about what makes for an appealing independent candidate — and why Joe doesn’t fit the bill: He’s seen as an outsider (Nope, not Joe). His party has gone astray (Perhaps, but Joe is the furthest off the reservation). He’s his own man (Sure, but unfortunately that’s not the man CT voters want).

Bottom line: If Joe loses the primary, he’s done.

Thank you for bringing up that Hair-Club for Men knock-off, the Club for Growth. If I hear one more media liberal express concern about left-wing 527s and/or bloggers hurting the Democratic party’s electoral position (as if it’s so good to begin with?) by dragging it out of the “mainstream” (TM) and to the left … if I hear one more pundit talking about the influence of such “liberal activist groups” with the implication that such influence is negative … if I hear anything like that with no more than a passing mention of Club for Growth, I think I’ll pull my hair out or something!

Won’t these self-proclaimed lovers of their own objectivity ever stop to consider how much could us lefties hurt the Dems considering that, if anything, the Club for Growth has helped the Republicans?

WARNING – POSSIBLE OFFENSE AHEAD

Not to speak ill of the dead, but these guys were no angels. They were there to kill Iraqi’s and they weren’t soldiers. They were just guys lookin’ for a fight. In fact, one guy was a one of those BigTime guys (major league asshole). He was arrogant and mouthy and may have said the wrong thing at the wrong time, as was his wont.

A few years ago a good friend of ours was invited to join an Eco-Challenge team. Remember those races? They took place in inhospitable climes, took days to complete and were broadcast on A&E (I think). One of those contractors, an ex-navy seal, was on the team, too. In just a few months, he had pissed everyone off so much that, in spite of the fact they had major sponsorship money, in spite of the fact they were all very jazzed about the experience, they disbanded the team. He then recruited a new team, which lasted a little longer before disbanding. We also saw him on TV, a couple of years later, on another extreme sport kinda team. All his teammates complained, on camera, about how abrasive he was and finally kicked him off the team.

WHile our friend’s team was still trying to make it work, Daddybrain took them all out on a local river to practice rafting, as that was one of the segments of the race. Contractor had never been in a raft before but knew it all anyway, tried to take charge and in five minutes managed to get them flipped (in 25 years of rafting, my husband’s first flip) and in the water.

We’ve wondered before if he might just not have been able to keep his mouth shut after they were captured.