The Connecticut primary for Senate

As of 9:40pm CDT it’s past my bedtime and I’m about to pack it in.  It looks very much as though Lamont will defeat the incumbent senator, Joe Lieberman, for the Democratic slot on November’s ballot, I’m guessing by slightly over 1%—a very narrow margin of victory.

This is clearly a victory for the Democratic Party insurgents and they have a right to celebrate it as such.  But I suspect that it’s a much narrower margin of victory than many hoped for or expected.

I’ll go out on a limb and predict that within the next few days Joe Lieberman will  announce his candidacy for his old job as an independent.  It’s been my experience that politicians, once they’ve held high enough office long enough, have a remarkable ability to equate their own fortunes with the public good.  I doubt that Joe Lieberman is an exception to this.

We’ll see what the morrow brings.  G’night y’all.

7 comments… add one
  • kreiz Link

    It’s been my experience that politicians, once they’ve held high enough office long enough, have a remarkable ability to equate their own fortunes with the public good.

    That’s exactly how I felt but didn’t have the words to say it. Very nicely written, Dave. My sense is that Joe’s ego clouds his vision.

  • I also believe that Bill Clinton still doesn’t think that he “had sexual relations with that woman—Miss Lewinsky” and that O. J. thinks he didn’t do it.

    Human beings have a truly remarkable ability to convince themselves.

  • I like Kaus’ comment: moveon.org finally got their first victory…by defeating an incumbent Democrat.

    What really interests me, though, is not the fundraising and coordination through blogs: that is, essentially, just what has been done all along in campaigns, but applied to people who were politically unreachable before. While community blogs for partisans are certainly a good tool that wasn’t available, it doesn’t change the fundamental dynamic of American politics. No, what interests me is what this says about the Democratic Party, which as far as I can tell is, you cannot be for the campaign in Iraq and be supported by the party’s base.

    A couple of years ago, I made a prediction that I’m too lazy to look up the link to — actually, two predictions. The first was that the Democrats would schism. The second was that the new political alignment in the US, once the dust truly cleared and we took stock of the world as it is today, would be between those who view the war as a long struggle against implacable foes that must be won, and those who view the war as a distracting sideshow. What I’ll be interested to see are how many Democrats jump ship to support the Republicans, and how many of the isolationist Republicans jump ship to support the Democrats. Even more interesting, and I think not too much of a long shot, will be if McCain loses the Republican primary in 2008, will Lieberman and McCain form a third party, pro-war and socially liberal?

    To my mind, those are the interesting questions about the Lamont victory tonight.

  • kreiz Link

    I agree with your first prediction, Jeff- not only for the Dems but for the GOP (with its moderate v. religious right schism). But I hold little hope for a political realignment for moderates. I don’t understand why, since there are many centrists who long for a middle way. But I don’t see it on the horizon, probably because moderates, by definition, aren’t activists.

  • Jeff, I strongly doubt the likelihood of a third, centrist party emerging from the increasingly fractious political situation. It’s my belief and part of a lengthy analysis piece I’ve been working on is that what we’re seeing is the end of relevance of political parties as such.

  • kreiz Link

    That analysis sounds much more plausible to me, Dave. Can’t wait to read your piece.

    By the way, I really like this- sign me up:

    Once upon a time there were right-leaning Democrats and left-leaning Republicans holding higher office but those are becoming increasingly scarce. That tends to leave those, like me, who are less interested in partisanship and ideology without a comfortable home.

  • “what we’re seeing is the end of relevance of political parties as such”

    I would like to be convinced.

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