[tom h]

"But Morris says Lieberman has a good chance to win this November's general election as an independent candidate."

It'll work. CT Republicans will vote for Lieberman because they know their candidate won't win. So Lieberman picks up 45% of Democrats and 50% of Republicans and wins a 3-way race.

It also means Lieberman will vote with the Repubs in the next Congress, and is ready to abandon the Dems in all but name. Otherwise he would bow out and concede to the radicals. I expect he won't declare switching parties, assuming he wins, but like Jeffords he will be a reliable vote. The Repubs will treat him well.

[cvq3842]

Could be!

[nopardons]

Wrong! It means that IF LIEberman wins, he sides with the Dems more than his usual 90%. He's learned his lesson and will now be a good little boy.

In tonight's *cough* non-concession concession speech, he said he was running as an "independent DEMOCRAT"; not as an INDEPENDENT.

[BlackRazor]

It also means Lieberman will vote with the Repubs in the next Congress, and is ready to abandon the Dems in all but name.

Lieberman has already gone on record stating that if he wins as an independent, he will still caucus with the Democrats.

[Condor51]

***It also means Lieberman will vote with the Repubs in the next Congress****

Not so.
Joe has stated - unequivocally - that if he won as an Independent he would still caucus and VOTE with the Democrats.

In any case we don't want him -- period. He's a flaming leftist and in 2004 his ACU rating was ZERO.

[Enchante]

"It also means Lieberman will vote with the Repubs in the next Congress, and is ready to abandon the Dems in all but name."

I don't see any reason to expect that - Lieberman is a lifelong 90% liberal-left voter. The ONLY significant issues on which he differs from the nutroots of his party are the Iraq war, fighting terrorism, and support of Israel. Granted, those are extremely important issues - but I don't see Joe losing his lib-socialist mindset on social and economic issues just because he has to win his seat as an Independent. Bernie Sanders in VT always runs as an "Independent" and he's an avowed socialist. Joe is a lot closer to Sanders on most issues than to many Republicans.