CT Sen: What The Q Poll Means

The reactions to the Q Poll by Josh Marshall and Ezra Klein strike me as wrong headed.

Josh thinks "What does surprise me though is that Lieberman didn't take more of a hit from the mere fact of his primary loss." Ezra says "It would be bitter irony for the left if their successful challenge to Lieberman left him more powerful than he'd ever otherwise dreamed of being."

I don't see the logic in either observation. My thinking on the other side.

Josh seemed to expect Lieberman to take a hit among Republicans after losing the primary. I didn't. I expected him to be even stronger among Republicans. The hit Lieberman has taken so far, is among Democrats. From 48% support in the primary to 35% now. Expect that number to continue to fall.

Why? Because Lamont won the post primary week, in my view, due to Lieberman becoming the de facto GOP candidate.

What of Schlesinger? Well, Schlesinger was a stinker no matter what, but the GOP has dumped their nominee, making Joe their man. Bush's man. Will being Bush's man win in Connecticut?

What Lieberman has given up, stupidly in my estimation, is the cover of NOT being the GOP choice. He chose to be the GOP candidate this week. And so he shall remain through November.

Now Lamont should, in my amateur opinion, stick to his message - you like what Bush is doing? Vote for Joe. Want a change? Vote for me. A vote for Joe is a vote for Bush.

Why? Because there are many Dem and Dem-leaning indies superficially for Joe who will come home to Lamont on that message.

Why? Because Joe will have to go against Bush and offend GOP voters if he wants to counter this message.

Why? Because Schlesinger is the GOP candidate and will slash Joe from the Right. In that vein, Lamont is smart to attack Schlesinger, but I would do it on the GOP agenda more than the personal. We'll see what Lamont does.

When Joe is under attack from Lamont and Schlesinger, he will no doubt argue that this proves his point - that politics is all nasty partisanship nowadays. I think and hope it will prove MY point, that the Bush GOP invented nasty partisanship and Lieberman has enabled it.

Make a vote for Joe a vote for Bush and let's see what happens in November.

As for Ezra's claim that Lieberman may be empowered if he prevails in November, not in any way that would matter in my view. Joe's power has been as an enabling Democrat. That power has been crushed. If Joe decides to caucus with the GOP, and he has unequivocally said he would not, then he is one more Rubberstamp Republican. If he caucuses with Dems, he is the same guy, only having been unmasked as the Bush enabler he is.

I don't see that new power that Ezra is fearing. Will Joe be given a Chairmanship of some powerful committee as a price of caucusing with the Dems or the GOP? Well, which committee is that? And if he gets it, will he then be more powerful than the current Chairmans? How so? No, I don't see it.