It is hard to imagine that a three term senator who was part of the Democratic presidential ticket 6 years ago can now find himself on the verge of losing his party's primary tomorrow in Connecticut. Joe Lieberman is about to lose his seat to a millionaire "populist" with a political resume less impressive than your next door neighbor.
The latest polls in Connecticut have Lieberman trailing Ned Lamont by as much as 10 and as little as 6 points. There is a ray of hope for Lieberman as this is the first poll in a couple of months that show Joe closing the gap a bit. This might be attributed to the fact that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson were campaigning last week for Lamont.
It is difficult to assess the over all importance of this race as its implications extend far beyond the borders of Connecticut. Lieberman is a staunch defender of the war in Iraq and is also a pro Israel member of the senate.
With Israel still in conflict and our forces still very much engaged in Iraq what message will the Connecticut voters be sending if they jettison a moderate Democrat who a few short years ago was a darling of the party?
Is the possible repudiation of Lieberman a clear cut message to other Democratic candidates across the country that it is time to adopt a cut and run strategy in Iraq? Will our adversaries in the Middle East consider this a validation of Bin Laden's theory that if the Americans are hard pressed then public opinion will quickly change to run from conflict and abandon the mission?
On the home front will this mesh with national voter thinking and propel the Democrats to victory in the mid terms and a return to glory with majorities in the house and senate? Or will they suffer a backlash in the rest of the country with people who are disgusted by such a turn of events? Most importantly for the Democrats is whether or not a Lieberman defeat will play into the Republicans assertions that national Democrats are simply to soft to be entrusted with the security of the country.
If Lieberman does lose will he run as an independent and give the rest of Connecticut voters a chance to weigh in the subject or will he abide by the decision by the mostly left wing elements of the state that will be brought out in the primary vote?
Anti-war Democrats may be cheering tomorrow's result in Connecticut but the national candidates may rue the day that they allowed Lieberman to be defeated by an opponent with neither a political resume or a semblance of a clearly articulated platform on the simplest of issues.
