Joe Lieberman for Senate

(See here) where the Washington Post reports on Joe Lieberman's reception back in Washington DC after losing the Democrat primary in Connecticut and announcing he would run for the Senate as an independent.

In some ways, I almost feel guilty for expressing an opinion about the Connecticut political race, however if others who are not from Connecticut are free to express an opinion, then I guess it is OK for me to weigh in as well. The Post piece reports that this is what John Kerry had to say about Joe's running as an independent:

Joe Lieberman is out of step with the people of Connecticut.

Now is this statement by John Kerry even true or fair? Perhaps it would be if it was rephrased to "Joe Lieberman is out of step with the people of Connecticut who happen to be left wing extremists." How can I say such a thing? Well let us examine what has happened and what is going on in Connecticut. While Joe Lieberman might have lost the Democrat primary, it is not just a case of sore loser that leads him to running as an independent. Current opinion polls show him ahead by a few percentage points. How could this be so? Independent voters are not allowed to vote in either party's primary and there is a strong degree of support amongst these independents for Joe Lieberman. Independents were not permitted to register their preference in the primary so Joe Lieberman is going to give them the chance to register their preference in the general election. As I stated, Joe Lieberman currently is ahead in the polls. Joe's running is not going to guarantee the Republican candidate a victory by splitting the Democrat vote in the state. The Republican candidate lags far behind both Joe and the winner of the Democrat primary, Ned Lamont.

I am motivated to make this statement: John Kerry is out of step with the majority of Connecticut voters. Evidently most of the Democrat national leadership is as well. Perhaps what is going on in Connecticut is evidence of why Democrats are having such problems winning elections recently.

Perhaps if Joe wins the election, he will be magnanimous in victory and continue to caucus with Democrats in the Senate. However there have been rumblings that Democrats will withhold support from him for positions on committees if he is victorious. If this were to happen perhaps Joe might decide to not caucus with the Democrats? Seems to me Democrats need all the support they can get, and they should not be burning bridges behind them.