The "hot rumor" out of the Branford DTC meeting was that half of New Haven's 69 delegates were going to Lamont, according to BranfordBoy at MLN.

Meanwhile it surprisingly appears that Manchester, a town which overwhelmingly passed a censure of Sen. Lieberman for his unconditional support of the Bush Administration on Iraq back in January, may now be planning on supporting Joe at the convention.

At the same time, it's telling that a prospective 17-10 split for Lieberman is actually being called "good news" for his campaign at this point. As are quotes like this one:

Nevertheless, [Town Chairman Ted] Cummings said, Lieberman shouldn't take Manchester's support for granted and the town committee should send its message clearly. He urged the delegates to split their votes 17-10 for Lieberman.

"We have our self-respect to come to grips with," Cummings said. "Joe Lieberman ought to have to work."

Still, when it comes to backing Lamont, Cummings said he's not willing to risk losing a Democratic seat in the Senate based solely on principle: "I'm willing to be Joe Hypocrite all over the place ... because of the greater good."

Many Democrats in the state obviously prefer Lamont but are having second thoughts about "risking a safe seat." As Ned likes to say, Connecticut is a blue state, and they won't be losing a senator, they'll be gaining a Democrat.

It's important for all to come to grips with the fact that the GOP will not put up any serious competition in November. Alan Schlesinger, the state GOP's preferred candidate, is only slightly less of a complete joke than Paul Streitz.

Voting for Ned Lamont at the convention or in August will not endanger this safe Democratic seat in November. Joe Lieberman will be the one who endangers the seat if he decides to leave the party to run as an Independent.

Update: Welcome, Eschatonians. If you're just checking out LamontBlog for the first time, be sure to visit the official campaign site as well as these other unofficial local sites doing an excellent job covering the campaign: ConnecticutBlog, Ned Lamont Resource, and My Left Nutmeg. See the blogroll on the left for more.

If you live in Connecticut, the petition drive will kick off next Wednesday, April 26th, in towns across the state. There will be a petition drive for signatures regardless of how the delegate count looks.