Since Joe Lieberman has decided to continue as the candidate of the Sixth Sense Party (politically dead but doesn’t know it yet), the euphoria over Lamont’s victory needs to dissipate pretty darned fast. Lieberman still leads in the polls, and he’s going to get a lot of “help” from the Republicans, who realize that he’s a tremendous asset to them. In their situation, I can’t blame them; it makes more sense than, say, running a no-hope Club For Growth candidate against a weakened-but-viable moderate.
But gosh, I gotta disagree with Josh Marshall’s reader DK on this one:
Look, one of the Dems’ problems in recent years is an inability to walk and chew gum at the same time…
Lamont v. Lieberman is a carnival sideshow, a titilating and distracting spectacle. Rove is the carnival barker. So ignore the hoopla and keep moving on down the midway, folks. The main event is still to come, and it will be in places like Montana, Missouri, and Ohio. We’ve come too far to get side-tracked now.
Interesting that the assumption behind this argument that money and attention are finite. But Kos has been all over Tester in MT; everybody hates Ricky in PA; Jim Webb’s running a good, tough race against racist troglodyte George Allen in VA, and they’re all getting good solid coverage in the blogs, at least. I think the heavy-hitting blogs could pay more attention to MO, NV, OH, TN, and even AZ — the problem is that these don’t have the food-fight factor that CT has. (Maybe the blogs should start a food-fight of their own in some of these places.)
As for CT, it’s been mentioned that Lieberman’s fate is now inextricably tied to that of three endangered GOP Reps in Connecticut: As the implicit GOP stalking horse he’s relying on getting out a strong Republican vote which would presumably help the GOP three as well. In bridge terms, taking out Lieberman is like finessing your opponent’s singleton king: a very high leverage move that makes other victories possible. In terms of 1. executing a regional strategy, 2. taking back at least one part of Congress, and 3. helping the Democratic Party think and act constructively on national defense, this one matters — a lot.
(Shake out the couch cushions and give to BMG’s Love Thy Neighbor regional ActBlue appeal.)
