The question now is how deep into the gutter Mr. Lieberman’s ego will drag him.

There’s an overwhelming consensus among national security experts that the war in Iraq has undermined, not strengthened, the fight against terrorism. Yet yesterday Mr. Lieberman, sounding just like Dick Cheney — and acting as a propaganda tool for Republicans trying to Swift-boat the party of which he still claims to be a member — suggested that the changes in Iraq policy that Mr. Lamont wants would be “taken as a tremendous victory by the same people who wanted to blow up these planes in this plot hatched in England.”

In other words, not only isn’t Mr. Lieberman sensible, he may be beyond redemption.

Shirley Surgeon, Hartford's Democratic registrar of voters, said she is verifying 59 pages of signatures delivered to that city's town clerk last week.

Although each petition contains room for 30 signatures, Surgeon said the majority of those she received contain about half that, and several have been disqualified.

"Out of 15 on this first page, nine were good," Surgeon said.

In Norwalk, Town Clerk Andrew Garfunkel said he received one petition page Wednesday.

Norwalk Democratic Registrar Betty Bondi said if the rest of Lieberman's petitions are as "sloppy" as that one piece of paper, his chances to make it onto the ballot do not look good.

How did 29 people collect over 18,000 signatures?
Were people paid to collect signatures?
How much were they paid per signature?
Is Senator Lieberman trying to buy a line on the ballot?
Is he using money donated by Democrats for his campaign as a Democrat?
Were the signature gatherers residents of the great state of Connecticut?
Is Senator Lieberman still a Democrat?
Is he registered as a voter in the Connecticut for Lieberman party?
What is the platform of the Connecticut for Lieberman party?
Where can CTBob get a Connecticut for Lieberman button?

See, almost identical levels of traffic. The difference being that the Lamont people had competent people to keep the site up and running despite the easily-predicted traffic rush, while the Lieberman people are still sitting around twirling their thumbs.

I hope the FBI makes the results of its investigation public, because every indication is that the Lieberman campaign overreacted and used their own incompetence to score political points.