A local blogger has a political scoop this weekend involving Joe Lieberman. The ConnecticutBLOG reports that Senator Lieberman just upped the ante on Democrats hoping to replace him in the primary with a more leftist candidate:

Joe Lalli: Ned Lamont has already stated that he would support you if you won the Democratic nomination and Zell Miller once stated that he would always be a member of the Democratic party. Can you make similar promises?

LIEBERMAN: Will I always be a member of the Democratic party? I hope there's not a primary. I'm confident if there is one, I'll win it, but I'm not gonna rule out any other option for now because I feel so strongly that I can do better for the State of Connecticut for the next six years in the United States Senate that I want to give all the voters a chance to make that decision on Election day in November. I want to do it as a Democrat. If I didn't want to do it as a Democrat, I would choose to run in some other party, trust me. But I want to do it as a Democrat because I believe in the Democratic party, so really the choice is up to my fellow Democrats...

The Democrats should not find themselves terribly surprised by this revelation. The blogger-base has heaped derision on Lieberman almost since his primary efforts in 2004 to win the presidential nomination. The lone member of the Democrat's Scoop Jackson wing in the Senate didn't promise enough radicalism for the Hollywood leftists and Daily Kos crowd, and they have targeted Lieberman for a primary defeat for almost two years.

CTBlogger expresses his shock that Lieberman isn't more loyal to the Democrats, but all that's happening is that Lieberman is reflecting the loyalty shown him. It's a shot across the bow of the party activists working to undermine him. If Lieberman does decide to run as an independent, he will split the party vote and may wind up helping the GOP capture a seat they had not considered. They might even run a serious candidate in the general election under the circumstances.

The Rhode Island situation with Linc Chaffee has some similarities, but the difference is that Lieberman votes much more often in concert with his caucus than Chaffee does with the GOP. If Chaffee ran as an independent, it would not hurt the GOP nearly as much since Chaffee's vote hardly ever goes to support key party goals. Chaffee couldn't even bring himself to vote for George Bush in the last election, opting to write in Bush 41's name instead. Connecticut Democrats have much more to lose with Lieberman, even if they themselves don't realize it.

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