He has merely won a primary. He is some distance from being a senator yet, as there is still plenty that good go wrong between now and the election. He does sound ghastly, though.

I agree that celebrating a victory for Lamont is premature, given all that could happen between now and November (when I plan to proudly cast my vote for Joe).

I can't believe that Fred Sanford's son won a primary. But I guess having Aunt Esther as his negative campaign ad writer did the trick.

Hope's not lost for the November election. Lieberman can still pull it out.

The New Democrat cannot be trusted with National Security.

The New Democrats cannot be trusted as reliable allies of Israel.

That's twice in a row you put an unnecessary prepositional pharse at the end of a sentence.

Kent:

Guilty. Guilty.

Um, you spelled phrase wrong.

I couldn't say I am a huge fan of Lieberman. He comes across as far too sanctimonious and at times moralistically authoritarian for me to find him terribly appealing. But anyone who has just lost a primary for not belonging to the Michael Moore wing of the Democrats deserves a certain amount of support out of principle.

If it genuinely comes down to a race between Lamont and Lieberman, I doubt that the Democrat treasury nor the endorsement of a few party grandees will account for much. In that case, either way the election goes the end result is a Democrat in the senate. Party energy and money will go elsewhere, and grandees will not want to upset Lieberman too much in case he actually wins. Plus they have personal relationships with him already, which they don't with Lamont. (The Democrats don't typically spend too much party money on rich states, which is why Democrats who get elected in these sorts of states tend to be rich people who fund their own campaigns with personal wealth). Apparently Lieberman still has about $2m in his kitty, and there are certainly some rich lobbies in Connecticut who will support him. (Can I mention the likely Jewishness of a fair portion of the Greenwich hedge fund manager constituency here?). Put that together and Liberman to me looks to have a chance of capturing enough of the centre and soft Republican vote to get elected.

The one thing that would upset this would be a strong Republican candidate, in which case Lieberman would have no chance. In that case, the Democrat support would polarise to Lamont, the soft Republican vote would not vote for Lieberman and either Lamont or the Republican would get elected.

However, there does not seem to be much sign of that.

Michael:

The demographics of the race were interestng. Lamont captured the moneyed precincts, the college-educated, hedge fund, Kos Daily folks. Joe got more of the working class, old fashioned Dems.

A Republican has no chance in Connecticut. None.

The Jews in Conn. have yet to wake up. They are still voting for Roosevelt. Except for the Orthodox who have gone Republican, but they are in a distinct minority. The Conservative and Reform Jews are simply hopeless, in complete denial. I have no idea what it will take to wake them up. Even this war against Hizbullah is not a wake-up call.

I don't understand the comment about Lamont winning. It should be obvious that Lamont has very small chances of winning. The mindless anti Iraq war people (about as mindless as pacifists in 1940) are concentrated in the Democratic Party.

What will be interesting to see is if the Democratic caucus in the Senate tries to remove some odf Lieberman's positions or seniority. Anything like that would really resound against teh Democratic Party and klikely cost it 3 or 4 Senate seats in 2008.

Sammy:

As I have said: the Democratic machine in Connecticut have lined up behind Lamont. This is not insignifigant. Add to this the shadow party of George Soros and his billions, the radicals of the Daily Kossack and Lamont is sitting pretty.

I'd love to be proven wrong and for Joe to win. We'll see.

Thanks so much for writing.

Connecticut is such a strange place. Keep in mind the 14,000 Republicans who switched party affiliation by May 8th in order to vote in the primary. In addition, 14,000 unaffiliated voters switched to Democrat (I think by Monday). That's 28,000 "New Democrats" and I can't get a handle on who these people voted for. Is this what brought Joe's numbers up on Tuesday...or did they vote for Lamont the empty suit? Most of my Democrat friends want Lieberman because they feel whatever his stance on the war, he has done a good job over the years for Connecticut. Also, you don't change horses mid-stream and give up power and seniority while the country is involved in a war. Of course, I'm in Litchfield County which is a little more agricultural and a weekend destination for many. Fairfield County is where the money is...(new and old)!

Basically I think Joe is a good man and I feel very sorry for him. I hope he does win...and that he holds a grudge against the party and people who dumped him.

All in all I'm excited, even if Lamont today has more momentum. Primary elections usually showcase the more radical elements of either party. Yesterday was no different. The outcome of course is bad #1 for America and #2 for the Democratic Party. It's up to pro-war on terror citizens -- of any party -- to help Lieberman pull out a victory in November. If a Rovian strategy were to torpedo the Republican nominee's effort from behind the scenes, to boost Lieberman's chances, that would be OK with me.

And that link about Corliss Lamont as Communist fellow traveller is red meat to me! All Lieberman's backers have to do is show that his flag is red-white-and-blue and Lamont's is pink-white-and-blue. Hammer that home, get out the vote, and it's 6 more years for Joe!