CHAFEE DECIDES ON PARTY LOYALTY AS LIEBERMAN CHOOSES TO KICK CT DEMS TO THE CURB AND DO HIS OLE SELF-SERVICE TWO-STEP (AGAIN)

Unlike his hypocritical next door neighbor, Lincoln Chafee decides to not bolt from his party and run as an Independent. The Chafee-Lieberman situations are kind of mirror image in some ways. Both are on the ideological edges of their respective parties. Chafee's voting record is the closest to the Democrats' of any Republican senator. And Lieberman is widely considered to be George Bush's and Ann Coulter's favorite Democrat, more for his stealthy and duplicitous maneuverings in support of the GOP/corporate agenda than for his voting record per se. And each has a strong insurgent challenger more inline with their respective party's mainstream.

In Chafee's case he has to face the right wing Mayor of Cranston, Steve Laffey, who is getting all the money he needs from the fanatical Club For Growth. When the Rhode Island Republican Establishment endorsed Chafee, overwhelmingly, Laffey took to hate-talk radio, forever the last bastion of the rascal and the right-wing loon, to denounce them and celebrate their impending deaths. He referred to the party elders as an "elite" groups and gleefully exclaimed that "Luckily, those people are getting older and they're dying."

Rumors that Chafee-- long the object of Senate Democrats' enticements to leave the hate-filled party he was born into but has only limited affinity to-- would bolt and seek re-election as an Independent in this very Democratic state, ended Friday when he formally filed to seek re-electon as a Republican. He will face off against Laffey on September 12. It is a bizarre situation since it is statistically impossible to win a statewide race in Rhode Island without Democratic grassroots support, often available to the relatively moderate Chafee. An extremist like Laffey could expect virtually no Democratic support and almost no independent support were he to beat Chafee in the primary. In fact, the latest polls show likely Democratic nominee Sheldon Whitehouse beating Chafee by just one point but trouncing Laffey 55%- 25%.

Just over the border... well, you already know. Lieberman found himself facing a challenger, Ned Lamont, with views very similar to most Connecticut Democrats, particularly when it comes to Bush's and Lieberman's Iraq agenda and when it comes to Bush himself, of whom only 30% of Connecticut voters approve. Faced with a daily whittling down of his own job approval numbers among Democrats-- though very popular with the state's Republican voters-- Lieberman filed with the Secretary of State today to start collecting signatures on petitions that will allow him to run as an Independent after Lamont kicks his ass from Windham County to Stamford. Connecticut blogger Star A. Decise dubbed Lieberman "'Elasticman' for stretching what it means to be a Democrat beyond recognition'... In deciding to challenge Lamont if he wins the Democratic primary, Lieberman is putting ego and personal ambition ahead of conviction and principle. Ultimately, he's saying 'democracy be damned.' He is claiming 'le droigt du seigneur,' and, stealing from Louis XIVth, proclaiming 'L’Etat, c’est moi.'"

When Lieberhund published his little-read political biography, IN PRAISE OF PUBLIC LIFE (on sale at eBay for one cent-- and that's the "Buy It Now" price!-- right now but there are dozens so no need to rush over there), he actually made some good points that explain the situation he's in now. He claimed that although a politician could start his career as a sincere idealist and with honorable intentions, they sometimes, over time, "become vulnerable to a host of pressures and forces that can skew their purpose, sometimes without their awareness. It is these forces-- partisanship, special interest groups, the need for money, the demands of campaigning, the power of the media-- that can twist a politician's priorities and make keeping one's seat become more important than what one does while sitting in it. That is when the voters should, and usually do, vote the wayward politician out of office, because that's the way the system cleanses and corrects itself." Judging by his steady erosion in the polls, it looks like Connecticut Democrats have their brooms and mops out and are eager for a long overdo cleanse.

If you want to help them buy some cleaning supplies, even $5 or $10 helps send a message to the Inside-the-Beltway power mongers that people outside DC do not accept the cozy "Business As Usual" minuet between lobbyists, Big Business, and the two sold-out political parties. Electing outsider, grassroots candidates who are looking to fix the system, not enrich themselves from it-- men and women like Ned Lamont, Jon Tester, Jerry McNerney, Donna Edwards, Coleen Rowley, Paul Hodes, Al Weed, Rick Penberthy, Bruce Braley, Patrick Murphy, Joe Sestak, John Laesch, Lois Murphy, Larry Kissell, Bernie Sanders, etc-- is all we as citizens can do to peacefully put the brakes on the Bush Regime between now and 2008. In essense that has a great deal to do with the Connecticut primary on August 8. Lieberman, no matter what he calls himself-- "petitioning Democrat," Republicrat, Independent, plain old Republican, which in so many ways is what he has twisted himself into (for all the reasons sited in his book)-- is Bush's and Big Business' "stay the course" cat's paw. Ned Lamont wants to change the course.


8:15AM UPDATE: SCHUMER WAVES THE WHITE HANKY

Under intense pressure from Democrats from around the nation, Schumer had a DSCC "spokesperson" confirm that the DSCC "is likely" to back Lamont if he wins the Democratic primary August 8.


UPDATE: LIEBERMAN CARES ABOUT CONNECTICUT DEMOCRATS NOT AT ALL

Jane moved to Connecticut from now until the primary. She's been helping the local bloggers keep the rest of us posted about the what's really happening on-the-ground in the Lieberman vs the Democratic Party situation there. The spin out of the Lieberman camp has been that unless Lieberman is at the top of the ticket in November, the Democrats will lose the 3 House challenges they are making to Nancy Johnson, Chris Shays and Rob Simmons. Lieberman allies are falsely claiming that CT Democrats are worried that without George Bush's and Ann Coulter's favorite Democrat, they can't win. Jane's been talking to these Connecticut Democrats herself and this isn't what they're telling her at all! "NOBODY was talking about the need for Joe's leadership at the top of the ticket; just the opposite. Joe's support of the war has them all tongue-tied over the issue because their Republican opponents keep using it against them. The hurdle they were deeply worried about was Lieberman continuing in the race after August 8 as an independent, and about that prospect they were quite furious."

After Lieberman loses the primary August 8, if he continues running as some kind of "Republican Democrat" it will suck all the oxygen, energy, volunteers and money away from the Party effort to win the 3 seats which are crucial to Democratic Party strategy for taking back the House in November.