Life on the Outside

It's hard to believe that someone as powerful as Joe Lieberman could have been unseated by his own party. Democrats are claiming that this was a vote of confidence against Bush (since Lieberman's support of Bush was a main point of contention); Republicans are claiming that this proves that Democrats are weak on national defence; John Lennard wrote a thoughtful piece about the movement to get more real liberals in the Democratic party... to tell you the truth, I don't have any idea what it means, or even how it could have happened.

But I bet Lieberman wins the election as an independent, and that's where things might get interesting. In an evenly divided senate, Lieberman-the-independent could be a very powerful man. I would suggest that the Dems shouldn't piss him off too much, but I think that bridge is crossed. I can see Lieberman bringing a new role to US politics, that of an outsider rainmaker with his own agenda. It might get very interesting.

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