August 9, 2006
McCAIN'S FIRST PRIMARY IS GETTING HIM TO SWITCH WHO HE CAUCUSES WITH COME JANUARY:
Lieberman Concedes to Antiwar Challenger: Three-Term Senator Plans to Run in General Election as an Independent (Dan Balz and William Branigin, 8/08/06, Washington Post)
In a stunning repudiation, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) lost the Democratic Senate primary here Tuesday night, falling to antiwar candidate Ned Lamont in a campaign that became a referendum on the incumbent's support for the Iraq war and what opponents charged was his failure to challenge President Bush's war policies.Lieberman conceded the race to Lamont late Tuesday, but vowed to run in the general election in November as an independent. [...]
With nearly all precincts reporting, Lamont had about 52 percent of the vote to Lieberman's 48 percent.
Given that the GOP candidate is under pressure to withdraw from the race because of scandal and how little he lost by -- even among the most deranged Deomocrats -- Mr. Lieberman doesn't have a particularly difficult re-election. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 9, 2006 12:01 AM
It has been said here a thousand times - the I next to Lieberman's name will have no impact on his voting - he will still vote with the Dems 90% of the time. All this race does is cause the Senate floor people to figure out how to get another I seat between the Rs and Ds.
Posted by: AWW at August 9, 2006 12:21 AMIf party loyalty becomes a non-factor for Lieberman, that 90% will fall a good bit. Probably not to less than 50%, but I can't see an "I" being unhelpful ... to the Republicans.
Posted by: ghostcat at August 9, 2006 1:04 AMFWIW.
Right Wing News (John Hawkins) just completed an open-ended survey of center-right bloggers on their favorite conservatives. Capt. Queeg got 4 votes and an honorable mention. Rudy got 20, coming in second to Condi's 22.
Posted by: ghostcat at August 9, 2006 1:27 AMGhostcat - yes it will probably drop from 90% but he's still from a very blue state so it won't drop far. Plus, as noted before, he tends to be like Moynihan in sounding independent but then voting the Dem line.
Re poll - doesn't matter as OJ will note that the right wing blogs don't represent the voting public. But I tend to agree with you that the GOP "base" isn't particularly fond of McCain.
Posted by: AWW at August 9, 2006 6:50 AMWhy the enthusiasm for a Dem castoff whose defeat, under normal circumstances and considering his party line voting record on all but one issue, would be cause for celebration? Other than the fact that in 2000 Holy Joe demonstrated that he could modify his beliefs if given big enough prizes and incentives. But if he did switch to the GOP, would he stay bought? I doubt it for some reason. At best he'd become Jeffords Chafee Jr.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at August 9, 2006 9:47 AMLeiberman will caucas with the GOP the day after Kweise becomes a Republican.
Will Conn. Republicans really be rushing to the polls to elect Joe? If so, how sad.
Posted by: curt at August 9, 2006 10:13 AMWhy can't the stupid party smarten up for once and take advantage of this god-given opportunity to field a candidate who can win!
Posted by: erp at August 9, 2006 10:14 AMMr. Mfume is a conservative--he could easily become a Republican and win the other Senate seat in MD.
Posted by: oj at August 9, 2006 11:32 AMNo one is more out of the GOP mainstream than bloggers.
Posted by: oj at August 9, 2006 11:40 AMoj: Remove the "GOP" and you're still 100% right. A political party that lets its candidate selection process be driven by bloggers is a political party that has no interest in winning national elections, and hence is a political party with no future.
Posted by: b at August 9, 2006 12:01 PMb:
Of course.
Remember how W could never be re-elected because of NCLB, CFR, Medicare Reform, the steel tariffs or stem cells?
Posted by: oj at August 9, 2006 12:06 PMSince Liebermann's loss was close, that's a win in blog terms. That's how it worked in Ohio, right?