Such a possibility was floated on MSNBC earlier today, according to the Huffington Post:

UPDATE: Forty-five minutes after the Oval Office announcement, and moments after the Wall Street Journal's John Harwood wonders on MSNBC whether Joe Lieberman might a candidate to replace Goss (Extra! Langley Gets Joementum!)

But, alas, it was not to be:

UPPERUPDATE: ... Oh, and what a relief: Joe Lieberman says that if asked, he will not serve.

Is there any possible Bush Administration position for which Lieberman would not immediately be mentioned as a possible candidate? Over the last few months, he's been floated as a possible Sec. of Defense, Sec. of Homeland Security, UN Ambassador, and now CIA Director.

Why is his name always in the mix? Easy: because he's George Bush's Favorite Democrat.

(Updated and Bumped: Boots on the ground are needed this weekend! Show up at either of these events or contact the campaign to learn about petitioning).

• Waterbury: Sat. 5/6 (tomorrow), 9am, at the Labor Center (Palladino Center), 30 West Main St.


• New Britain: Sun 5/7, 11am at a private home (click for details).

CNN was at campaign HQ in Meriden today, and a report from deep within the bowels of the Situation Room should be airing between 4-5pm today.

Unless Dick Cheney shoots someone else in the face or another Kennedy crashes a car.

Update: Or, unless, say, the sitting CIA Director resigns amidst a scandal involving prostitutes at the Watergate hotel.

Sorry I didn't forsee that one.

It's not binding on delegates in terms of their vote at the convention, but it's obvious from stories like this, as well as from Ned's great reception at DTCs and Joe's desperation in paying a phone bank to call delegates, that the rank-and-file is fed up with Joe across the state:

The Lamont resolution won on a 16-14 vote after spirited and thoughtful discussion, which mostly centered on the Iraq war. No one who spoke, even if they were for Lieberman, endorsed Lieberman's position on the war....

Previously, Windsor delegates received phone calls from a Lieberman paid-phone bank inquiring about support. A PAID PHONE BANK! No volunteers?

I couldn't let Bob have all the fun today.

Connecticut Bob has an brilliant idea for Lieberman's next mailer:

"In Connecticut, it shouldn't take more than a short ride to get to another hospital," he said.

Well Joe, that's not very helpful. I mean, I know that you'll never need emergency contraception at two o'clock in the morning after having been brutally raped. So I guess it's easy for you to disregard any woman who is unlucky enough to have gone through that trauma.

But here's a suggestion: Why don't you provide maps for the victims, so they can walk out of the Emergency Rooms of the various Catholic hospitals around the state, hail a cab, and take that "short ride" to another hospital?

You know what, Joe?

Never mind.

I'll do it.

Go look at Bob's helpful maps.

Let's try one of these. Slow day so far.

By the way, has anyone heard Lieberman's position on this horrible legislation before the senate today that might end mandatory insurance coverage of mammograms and other cancer screenings?

• The campaign's New Haven office will celebrate its grand opening with an open house tomorrow, Thursday, at 5pm: 205 Church St., Suite 501. Ned's wife Annie will be there, and there will be a petition training session afterwards.


• Also tomorrow night in New Haven, Ned will be attending CT NOW's awards dinner, although he will not be speaking. Kathleen Sloan, executive director of the group, has signed on to Connecticut Choice Voice (I messed up the group's name earlier), the new pro-choice group that has endorsed Ned Lamont. Firedoglake has more.


• Joe comes out with a mailer, Ned comes out with a mailer (pdf). Difference is, Ned's isn't full of lies about his record.
  
  Just one example: Joe claims in his flyer to have "Opposed Bush's Risky Plan to Privatize Social Security" when, in fact, he was playing footsie with Bush on the issue at the time, undercutting an otherwise completely united Democratic party - you know, his usual M.O.


• A commenter at My Left Nutmeg has a great summary of Lamont's appearance yesterday in Cheshire. The best part:
  

  Multiple people thanked Ned for stepping up to the plate and finally giving us a choice. One dissenting voice, who asked why he should vote against Lieberman-- who he felt has served our state well-- was given a comprehensive and heartfelt response from Lamont, who went on to list legislation supported by Joe that conflicts with our state and party's values in a profound way. When he finished this response, he received loud applause all around.

  
  Time and time again I have seen and heard of instances like this, where Lamont actually listens and responds to the concerns of Democratic voters in a meaningful way. What a 180-degree difference from Lieberman, whose entire campaign is actually based around the slogan "we're not going to change each others' minds."


• Gotta love these instant reports - a diarist at Kos writes up the Glastonbury meet-and-greet tonight, apparently it got a huge turnout:
  

  There were about 140 people there, most of them already enthusiatic supporters. His people claimed that this was the best turnout at such an event they've seen so far. Ned gave a good talk about why he's running, stressing his interest in and committment to education and universal healthcare. He seemed to be working hard to shatter the notion that he's a one-issue anti-war candidate.

If you are a registered Democrat in Connecticut, the most important thing you can do for the campaign right now is volunteer to petition for Ned Lamont. Registered Democrats are needed across the state to go out and collect signatures. Sign up here and someone from the campaign will get back to you, or else contact the organizer for your congressional district and ask them directly.

There are training sessions tonight at 7:30pm in both New Haven and Sandy Hook (near Newtown). And Ned continues his tour of seemingly every DTC in the state tonight in Glastonbury.

(Bumped)

John at CTBlue has scanned and posted a pdf of the anti-Bush literature Joe is sending out to all convention delegates, which includes Harry Reid's letter. You'd think this was Dennis Kucinich running for re-election, not George Bush's Favorite Democrat:

Seems like Joe Lieberman isn't the only one getting booed these days over his support for the disasterous Bush Iraq policy. What's surprising was the venue - the opening of the 100th anniversary celebration of the American Jewish Committee (via TPM):

The room burst into applause, however, when AJCommittee board member Edith Everett asked Mehlman to “take a message” to President Bush to stop linking Israel and Iran.

“It does not help Israel and it does not help American Jews to appear to be stimulators of any action against Iran,” Everett said.

She added that “it’s easy to understand why Iran is not worried about us” because Iraq is consuming so many U.S. resources.

Mehlman replied by acknowledging that Iraq was a “challenge,” but claimed it’s “less of a challenge than when Saddam Hussein was in power.”

The room filled with boos and hisses.

Joe Lieberman is also Ken Mehlman's Favorite Democrat.

Great news: Tim Tagaris, who was instrumental in the Paul Hackett campaign in Ohio and has just finished a stint as the main blogger at the DNC, is joining the Lamont campaign next week.

Plus, two new sites were launched today, and both will be added to the blogroll on the left. There's Kiss Joe Goodbye:

This site is designed as a resource for information and literature on the Lamont vs. Lieberman campaign. In the Literature section you will find pdf files of flyers suitable for print-out. In the On the Issues sections you will find direct quotes from the candidates, with sources.

and Connecticut Choice Voice:

Connecticut Choice Voice is proud to support Ned Lamont for the U.S. Senate in the primary on August 8. He will be our progressive voice in Congress, not a rubber stamp for the Bush-Cheney administration.

(Update: Matt Stoller reports that Reid's letter of support was conditional on Joe ruling out a run as an Independent.)

BranfordBoy has the goods.

Look, it's hardly surprising that the Democratic Senate leadership is supporting Joe. Actually, strike that. What is Reid doing supporting a candidate who will not commit to staying in the Democratic party?

What's telling is that Joe feels forced to ask Reid to send such an ass-kissing missive to every state delegate at this point. Not to mention the other mailer Joe is sending out that laughably paints him as a Bush-hating Deaniac.

I have to say, though, this line from Reid was the most laugh-out-loud hilarious, almost worthy of Sean Smith himself:

I can always count on Joe when our Party needs to stand up to the Republican Party.

That's weird, cause usually Lieberman is standing up for the Republican party:

In Connecticut, it shouldn't take more than a short ride to get to a fundraiser.

Right, Joe?



Apparently, Joe hasn't bothered to answer NOW's questionnaire yet either.

Update: Also from the Q-Poll, 78% of Connecticut voters, including an amazing 74% of Catholics, don't agree with Joe Lieberman's position that rape victims should just take a "short ride" to another hospital for access to emergency contraception.

Another poll out, and this one looks less encouraging on its face: Lieberman is -3 from February, and Lamont is +6. However, 90% of the voters still say they "haven't heard enough" about Ned Lamont to form an opinion of him, down slightly from 93% in February. Point? As much as blogs and political junkies are paying attention to this race, barely anyone in the state has even heard of Ned Lamont. That will change, and soon.

Some other points:

• One big difference between the Quinnipiac poll and the Rasmussen poll that looked much better for Lamont is that Quinnipiac polled "registered Democrats" while Rasmussen polled "likely primary voters." It's obvious that there will be a huge difference between those two groups in this race, and that Lamont's base is much more motivated.


• Lieberman's job approval is at 59%, which is -4 since February.


• His "favorable" rating has bottomed out at only 48%. People don't like him, but they are willing to vote for him. Perhaps that changes as voters realize they have a real choice in this race.


• Lieberman takes 56-57% in a three-way race as an Independent, with Lamont taking 13%. You can see why he's keeping open the option to leave the party.

Chris at MyDD breaks the numbers of the first poll on the race since February. The headline, to me: an 18-year incumbent senator is barely breaking 50% in a primary race. And the more people get to know Ned Lamont, the more they love him.

There is no trendline to look at, as the previous poll which had the race at 68%-13% was from Quinnipiac, but combined with the April SUSA numbers showing significant downward Joementum (is there any other kind?), it is obvious the Lamont challenge is for real.

CTBob and spazeboy shot some great video at the New Haven Cherry Blossom Festival this weekend, asking people what they knew about Ned Lamont and how they felt about Joe Lieberman being the only New England Democrat (in either the House or the Senate) to vote to give big oil companies $14.5 billion in tax breaks in 2005:



More Ned Lamont video is available at the Ned Lamont Resource and the Nedheads YouTube group.

Catch Ned Lamont in the role of "guest bartender" at a fundraiser for the CT chapter of the National Organization for Women in New London tonight at 6pm. Sen. Lieberman was also invited, but as of yesterday had not committed to attend. Certainly does nothing to quiet recent speculation about NOW possibly endorsing Lamont.

Afterwards, Ned will talk and answer questions in front of the Groton DTC at 7:30pm.

Three years ago today:

Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the Battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.

Three years ago, this week:

LIEBERMAN: We did the right thing, and we gave [Saddam] 12 years and tried everything short of war to get him to keep the promises he made to disarm at the end of the Gulf War. We did the right thing in fighting this fight, and the American people will be safer as a result of it....

LIEBERMAN: ...I'd say how can we win this election if we send a message of weakness on defense and security after September 11, 2001 to the American people?... The war against Saddam Hussein was right.

Does Lieberman break 50% in a new poll on the Democratic primary? New numbers coming soon...