Had a top-tier, or even a second-tier, Republican been running, he or she would have had a real chance of winning a plurality in the general even in 2006, which obviously would change the equation drastically. Under such circumstances, Republicans should have supported the GOP nominee and not even given a second thought to Lieberman being a bit less bad than Lamont. But nobody with a decent chance to win ran, and then Schlesinger won the nomination, was found out to be a scumbag, and refused to drop out and be replaced with a viable candidate, thus making it clear that either Lieberman or Lamont would win the election.
they wanted Schlesinger to drop out so they could leave the spot blank on the ballot.
Lamont got 40%. A better Republican woulda taken votes from him?