Yes.

This has always been the case. Lamont supporters will unequivocally support Lieberman if he wins. Can the same be said of Joe Lieberman? Will he abide by the wishes of his Democratic constituents?

And oh, Lamont is going to win. In our eyes, Lamont is the underdog and is down by 15 points against Lieberman. We're not being complacent. We know what a solid GOTV operation can do.

Yes, but I won't say a nice word for him in the blogosphere, give him money, or do any sort of contributing to his campaign. As I'm not a resident of CT, I don't have to deal with voting for him.

But the way things are going, it's becoming increasingly unlikely that he will win the primary.

The only person who does not have a shot of winning the general election is the Republican, so the argument that Lieberman would do better against the Repubicans does not have much weight. And the Rasmussen poll shows that Lamont and Lieverman would do equally well against the Republican. I have read a ton of blog comments on this race and virtally all of those from Lamont supporters say they would support Lieberman if he wins the primary. This race is about democracy, the right of the people to choose rather than have their "leaders" choose for them. It is not distracting from the efforts to defeat the GOP; it is energizing people in a way that will do the GOP great harm in the Fall elections.

Of course.

I just don't like how Democrats are fighting amongst themselves when we should be focusing on our real opponents, the Republicans.

My advice then would be to lobby state legislatures to ban primary challenges against incumbents.

Whether it is Joe Lieberman or Ned Lamont.  

Aren't polls like this likely to cause some of Joe's political support to break away (particularly after the primary)?  I always thought part of that support was based on "well, he's almost certainly going to win, so I better stay on his good side."  But that appears less and less certain now.  

If it is a coin flip, do you really go with Joe if you don't like him?  

No!!

But then again, I'm British and live in the UK, so I get to express my disgust for Joe Stalin, or whatever, and don't have to pretend anything.

Sorry, but I just can't tolerate him under any circumstances. What was Al Gore thinking about?

Malcolm

I'm not going to phonebank for the guy, but for christ's sake, no one's going to jump in and play spoiler if the Lieb winds up winning.

It is better to get someone not perfect than someone horrible.  Joe has a better shot at winning the general than Lamont against the Republican.

This is ridiculous. The Republican only has a chance of winning if Holy Joe turns the race into a 3-way.

This is a stupid question- in that I can't imagine anyone saying no. The real question is not a hypothetical- why don't you Lieberman supporters tell him that if he loses the primary he should support the Democratic primary winner?

I have a question for "all you" Lieberman supporter(s). Are any of the conditions you listed applicable to Lieberman as well?

Are you going to support Lamont if he wins the primary?  If not, what kind of Democrat are you?

Are you focusing on our real opponent here?  In my mind Lieberman IS a Republican--not necessarily because of his political stances (which are firmly in the center, for the most part), but because of his utter refusal to stand with us in opposition to what I consider to be a criminal administration.  

Why does he take the lead in criticizing Democrats, and cozy up to the Bush Administration?  Is that what you call "focusing on the real opponent"?

Is Lieberman's intent to run as an independent YOUR idea of supporting the primary winner, and maintaining Democratic unity in the face of a common Republican enemy?  Wouldn't Lamont be a shoo-in as well if Lieberman would just agree to endorse him, like other good Democrats have done for years?

I'm not a Connecticut resident, and I am giving my campaign contributions elsewhere (Jim Webb mostly) since Lamont has plenty of money already.  If I were a Connecticut voter, yes, I would hold my nose and vote for Joe, just so the Dems might get a nominal majority in the Senate.  Unfortunately, that is a higher priority for me than it is for Joe Lieberman.    

Really?  Who might that be?  The guy who had his head handed to him by Dodd two years ago?  Get real!

No, the only Republicans who might have a shot at the Senate seat are Nancy Johnson or Chris Shays.  Johnson is engaged in a challenging race, whereas Shays is in a desperate bid to retain his seat in the House.  If Johnson jumps to the Senate race, the Republicans likely lose that House seat.  Ditto for Shays seat.  

The Republicans are trapped between a rock and a hard place on this one.  Even Rell's race is likely to tighten once the primaries are over and done with and the voters return from summer holidays.  She's got a nasty scandal brewing because of some financial shenanigans by her chief of staff.  Rell really hasn't done anything as Governor, so we'll see how she survives being painted with the same corruption tarbrush which every Republican politician carrys around with themselves these days.