It's easy--we simply paint Lieb as a pure Republican and a warmonger.

[trumad]

We'll crush him.

[Fridays Child]

1. Won't take much paint, huh?

:)

[YDogg]

2. I have a q-tip if someone has the paint.

[Fridays Child]

6. I have a half a bottle of clear coat nail polish. That oughta do it, eh?

[YDogg]

10. Works for me, yo.

[elehhhhna]

3. Paint, hell. A photo will do. We don't have to paint nothin'.

[union_maid]

4. Sounds possible now

After reading the posts about his Larry King performance it sounds like he's trying to make it as easy as possible. I don't know what's going to happen, but if he's saying, "Hell, yeah" to the question of whether he would favor the invasion of Iraq knowing what we know now, he's not only running as a Republican, he appears to be running as a Bush Republican. Many real Republicans are trying to avoid that.

I still don't think it's going to be easy, though.

[rubberducky]

5. Lieberman is a repug.

Wonder what Al Gore thinks of him?? It was all about power with Joe. Power and money seem to have totally corrupted our congress. Lamont is a breath of fresh air.

[wordpix2]

11. Lamont said today he's not taking corporate money. Definitely fresh air

[Tin Man]

7. Lieberman already reciting the republican "cut and run" talking point

when speaking of Lamont on Larry King tonight. Shouldn't be too difficult to paint Joe as that which he has become.

[Cha]

8. joe is a bush enabler and

he's getting his divine retribution..reaping what he's been sowing.

[jobycom]

9. WHy bother? Right now he's so busy cruching himself we'd have

to stand in line.

But yes, Lamont's best strategy is to play Lieberman as the "other Republican" in the race, and divide the conservative vote, rather than letting Lieberman claim the middle. The problem with a three way race, though, is that you can't go negative. In a two way race, you try to make the other person look worse than you, so even though you look bad by going negative, the other candidate looks worse. In a three way race, voters have a third option, and often the winner is the person with the most positive message.

So, Lamont has to position Joe to the right without really attacking him, or he could drive voters away. The best way to do that is to define himself as close to the middle as he can, but then he runs the risk of angering the people who voted for him in the primary, and driving some of them back to Lieberman.

Lieberman's best strategy will be painting himself as the moderate realist and getting Lamont to sound too extreme. That does Lieberman double duty. One, he can shave off some of the moderate Dem voters Lamont has, and two, he makes the moderate Repub voters more afraid of a Lamont win, so they might vote Lieberman to keep Lamont out.

Lamont has an easier task because he will have the party behind him, and people are mad at Lieberman now. Plus, he has momentum. But Lieberman has a lot of skill. He can trip up Lamont, draw him too close to the middle, make him have to move back to his base. He can make him look like an amateur, if Lamont isn't careful. Lieberman at times is very crafty.

I don't think Lieberman will win, but Lamont does have to watch himself. Worst case, and I don't know CT politics enough to know how likely it is, is that Lamont and Lieberman become so petty that the Republican wins, then the Dems lose EVERYTHING.

[Cha]

13. lieberman can claim

he's in a two way tie for second place when Lamont beats him Twice.

[wordpix2]

12. we don't have to paint him anything---he already painted himself & Lamont

is getting stronger and more confident every day.

I met Ned at both the beginning of his run and toward the end of the primary season and he really grew into the senatorial role. He's got a fast learning curve.

[H2O Man]

14. Senator Lieberman

will self-destruct before our eyes.

[trumad]

15. Indeed--and good to see you waterman....