So Lieberman made a big deal today about calling for the restructuring of FEMA, and if you take one look at his campaign site, it's hard to find a headline which doesn't include a phrase like "leads charge against Bush." As blogger d-day notes, this is partial evidence of the Lamont campaign already paying dividends in its nascent weeks and months:

So Lieberman's moving back to the left to secure his primary spot. He's coming out in a high-profile way to criticize the President. He's "showing leadership" on Katrina by calling for major changes to Homeland Security. And this means that we've already accomplished something pretty big in Connecticut. Without a primary challenge, I don't think you'd be seeing any of this happen. I'm not actively pushing for Lieberman's ouster (I'd rather focus on defeating Republicans), but I think primaries are great because it keeps politicians honest. By putting this kind of pressure on Lieberman we've made some tangible changes in his behavior. And that will continue even if he succeeds in his primary fight and continues to serve in the Senate.

Now, no one should be naïve enough to think that this primary challenge will change the stripes of a senator like Lieberman, who has built his entire career on his particular brand of smarmy self-righteousness and with the active support of the far right. But, still, political expediency necessitates that, for the next few months at least (and unless he decides to bolt the party), he emphasize his disagreements with Bush instead of, say, his friendship with Sean Hannity. And that can't hurt. (Speaking of which, Mike Stark dug up a November 2005 interview between the two "pals" where Joe again agreed to come on his show every month, yet it's been over two months now and Sean is censoring any mention of his buddy's name this week.)

But win or lose, the benefits of the Lamont challenge will not be merely temporary, and they will not be limited to Connecticut, as Chris Bowers points out in a must-read post on primary challenges nationwide:

The Connecticut Senate primary... is the immediate, short-term target in what must be understood as a long-term strategy. Ned Lamont's campaign in Connecticut has been overwhelmingly netroots fueled, and started form a point of seeming hopelessness. Winning, or seriously, seriously threatening, Lieberman in Connecticut would send shockwaves through the Democratic ecosystem around the country, changing the behavior of many of its constituents parts. It would demonstrate that progressives, reformers, and the netroots have emerged as serious players in primary elections outside of the Presidential race, and that a Democratic incumbent must view the threat of a netroots challenge as something to worry about. Success in the Connecticut primary will also provide us with a template to conduct other primary challenges, along with knowledge about what worked, and what did not.

...In 2006, I do not want the netroots to over-extend in primary challenges, and end up both looking and being ineffective in generating serious challenges. Because of this, for now, I believe we need to focus our national efforts in primaries against problematic incumbents entirely in the Connecticut Senatorial primary. Let's do one right before we decide to run a full slate. The best-case scenario is that we succeed internally in Connecticut in August and then succeed nationally against Republicans in November. If we can accomplish both of those goals, then the political world will never be the same, and 2008 will be an entirely different ballgame for problematic Democratic incumbents.

No, we may never be able to change George Bush's Favorite Democrat (née William F. Buckley's Favorite Democrat). But we will be able to change the Democratic party. And the successes of that long-term effort are becoming apparent even now.