Nedrenaline!

by digby

Wow. I go off-line for a few hours and look what happened: Ned Lamont and his team, backed by the netroots activists like Hamsher and Stoller (didn’t they write “Hound Dog”?) got 30% of the vote at the Connecticut Democratic convention, which has to seem like a tidal wave to Joe Lieberman. And according to Colin McEnroe, local Connecticut journalist, there would have been plenty more where that came from if there had been a secret ballot:

The real number is lot worse for Lieberman than 33 percent. I don’t know how big the Lamont vote would get if you could tabulate the no-shows and the sleeper cells of delegates who plan to vote differently in the primary, but I do know it’s a bigger number. And the convention is full of party regulars, usually the easiest people to keep in line. Wisdom of the ages would suggest that the “amateur” voters are potentially much more rebellious.

I will admit that I have always believed it would be difficult for Lamont to win this race, as I’m sure everyone agrees. Incumbency is the most powerful tool in a politicians box. My main reasons for being enthusiastic is that I do not think Blue State pols like Liebermann should get a free ride when they consistently enable the opposition. (There’s a lesson here for other Blue State Dems who insist on letting their iconoclastic self-image sabotage the Party in a hyperpartisan era — Bob Casey, take note.)

After last night I think this might actually happen. Lieberman may break from the party if he fails to win the Democratic nomination and run as an independent — and he may win as an independent too, with his large Republican following. It would be tough to beat him. Bring it. It’s long past time for Democrats to draw some lines. This is going to be a brawl for the foreseeable future and we need Democratic partisans not Republican appeasers.

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