A new poll shows Joe Lieberman falling behind Ned Lamont by a double digit margin in his Deocratic primary fight for the party's nomination for the US Senate.

As one writer pointed out the other day, a Lieberman loss in the primay could be a  plus for the GOP in helping defend three endangered House seats in Connecticut. Connecticut has become a solid blue state at the Presidential level, and most statewide races, except for the very popular Republican Governor Jodi Rell, headed to a big re—election victory this year.

But of the state's five House seats, three are moderate Republicans— Nancy Johnson, Chris Shays, and Rob Simmons, and all are being targeted by Rahm Emmanuel and the DCCC this year. If Lieberman loses the primary and runs as an independent, encouraging ticket splitting among moderate (and some Jewish?) Democrats, it could also encourage the same voters to support the three incumbent GOP congressional representatives.

Richard Baehr   8 03 06