Challenging the Center: Lamont vs Lieberman

Following the theme of yesterday's post about the falsehoods of moving to the center, I saw 2 articles about CT Sen. Joe Lieberman. Lieberman is the epitome of center and has been called Bush's favorite Democrat by people in the White House.

Lieberman is facing a stiff primary challenge by Ned Lamont. The first story is the latest poll results that have Lieberman leading Lamont by just 6% (46% to 40%) with a +/- of 7%. So what is so wrong with Lieberman? Sam Seder of the Majority Report points out that everytime a blue state Democrat like Lieberman vote against Democratic ideals, it gives cover to Red State Democrats to vote against it. That is why you see so many bills that have a dozen or so Democrats voting with the Republicans. Lieberman undermines unity in the Democratic Party.

The latest poll results have led to rumors that Lieberman will run as an independent. Even Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) head of the DSCC has refused to rule out support for Lieberman if he decides to run as an independent.

Take a look at the DSCC's mission statement...

Our mission is to elect more Democrats to the United States Senate. We are the largest organization committed to electing a Democratic Senate in the country. From grass-roots organizing to candidate recruitment to providing campaign funds for tight races, the DSCC is working hard all year, every year to increase the number of Democratic Senators.

It seems that Sen. Schumer's mission statement isn't inline with that of the organization that he heads up. Schumer is more interested in keeping the status quo than he is at improving the Democratic Party. If he keeps this up, Schumer will probably be having a tough primary race coming next time around.

Visit DailyKos for more updates on Lieberman and Lamont. They are big supporters of Ned Lamont. To find out more about Lamont check out his site and this great site. I sent him in $10 in March, so send him a couple bucks if you can.