No matter what happens in or leading up to November, the candidacy of Ned Lamont (D-CT) has already lifted a huge burden from the shoulders of local and national Democratic candidates from Diane Farrell to Hillary Clinton. None ever again have to defend Sen. Lieberman's Cheneyist stance on Iraq, or Rovian rhetoric on the war on terror.

To take one example, the DSCC now seems gung-ho about running on national security issues against both the GOP and The Lieberman Party, something that would have been much more difficult with Sen. Lieberman as the endorsed Democratic candidate. (Check out their latest web-ad on their own site or on YouTube.)

And the Democratic candidate in the race is doing his own job combatting the right-wing neoconservative candidate:

"My God, here we have a terrorist threat against hearth and home and the very first thing that comes out of their mind is how can we turn this to partisan advantage. I find that offensive," Lamont said in an interview Sunday with The Associated Press.

But the DSCC still has to answer some questions, including: (a) Will they directly go after the Lieberman Party on national security issues in the CT race, as Ned Lamont (D-CT) already has? (b) Will Schumer specifically call on Joe to drop out of the race for the good of Democratic candidates across the state and nation? (c) What type of financial support will they give to Lamont?

And I had missed the update of this page on DSCC.org, but it looks good, doesn't it?



Update: More... the official DSCC blog links to this petition that could (and should) be addressed to Joe Lieberman as well as Vice President Cheney:

Dear Vice President Cheney,

All Americans are united in our fight against terrorism. The desire to vanquish those who would harm our homeland is universal.

And yet, you and other Republicans continue to insist that only you are equipped to defend us from threats abroad. This is not only blatantly untrue, but it is also subverting the Democratic process.

Voters cannot make informed decisions when they are faced with constant fear-mongering from their government. Because of the mishandled occupation of Iraq and other diplomatic failures, the United States is undoubtedly not safer than it was five years ago.

You owe it to the country to chart a new direction and that begins by no longer playing politics with our national security.