Lieberman's In Trouble

That's what the Hartford Courant's Kevin Rennie thinks. Here's some of his observations:
From the start of the Democratic state convention Friday night, there was something different from past gatherings of the faithful. Even U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, always a crowd favorite, could not work his usual magic with a speech nominating his senatorial colleague Joseph I. Lieberman for re-election. He sounded hackneyed compared to Annie Lamont's earnest seconding speech for her insurgent husband.

A Dodd tub-thumper on the virtues of being a Democrat is typically guaranteed to get the delegates in their seats and then on their feet. Not on Friday. His meandering address avoided getting to Lieberman until he had paid his respect to Democrats up and down the ballot and across the state. He even tipped his hat to challenger Ned Lamont. His nomination of Lieberman was more a tribute to diverse opinions in the party than a testimonial for Lieberman. It fell flat but raised an essential question: Can Joe Lieberman win over Democrats by acknowledging the public's hostility to the war in Iraq but not altering his support for it? Friday night's balloting bodes ill for the humble but haughty strategy.
If the wingnuts are stupid enough to defeat Lieberman, then they'll deserve to lose that seat in the Senate. If that happens, Lieberman will run as an independant. At that point, there's no reason left for him to caucus with Democrats. Make no mistake: This will still be Lieberman's seat come January, 2007. The MoveOn.org/Daily Kos crowd might think of Lamont as their savior but Lieberman is still the favorite of the vast majority of Connecticut residents.
Discomfort turned to pain for the Lieberman campaign when the first town in the 1st Congressional District began the roll call: Barkhamsted cast its two votes for Lamont. The challenger received votes in town after town, sometimes one at a time, sometimes considerably more. When once Lieberman-friendly Windsor cast 13 of its 17 votes for Lamont, a roar of surprise filled the hall. Lamont would sail past the crucial 15 percent threshold before reaching his 4th Congressional District stronghold. Lieberman ought to be grateful it was not a secret ballot. If it had been, some of the 100 missing delegates might have found the backbone to vote.
While this proves that a large portion of Connecticut liberals are moonbats, this doesn't change the fact that most centrist voters are turned off by the moonbats' tone and policies. And that there's more centrists than moonbats.

In the end, that's what will carry Lieberman to victory.



Posted Monday, May 22, 2006 4:45 PM

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