Antiwar Challengers Across US Get a Vote of Confidence

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Upstart challenger Ned Lamont's win last night in Connecticut's Democratic Senate primary election against three-term incumbent Joseph I. Lieberman has given added momentum and confidence to antiwar candidates like Lamont across the nation, politicians who believe discontent over Iraq could be a deciding factor in their campaigns.

While Connecticut is a Democratic bastion, Lamont victory over Lieberman -- his party's vice presidential nominee in 2000 -- sent a signal to incumbents across the country that angry voters may punish them for backing the war or for supporting President Bush, according to political analysts.

``I think the war is a very big issue, basically because it seems to be never-ending. It seems to be getting worse, not better," said Jon Delano, a political scientist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. ``Those who embrace the war and who have offered no solution to getting out are clearly going to find themselves in trouble."


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While Bush's approval rating has inched up to 40 percent in several recent polls, voters continue to give him poor marks for his handling of Iraq. Some 62 percent of those surveyed in an ABC/Washington Post poll released yesterday said they don't like the way the president is managing the war.



http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0809-01.htm