Lamont wins while he loses

Lieberman wins nomination, but Lamont forces primary

HARTFORD, Conn. -- U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman was nominated for a fourth term by state Democrats Friday night, but his anti-war challenger garnered enough delegates to force a primary in August.

Backers of Ned Lamont, a Greenwich businessman who has sharply criticized the moderate senator for his support of the war in Iraq, shouted with delight after learning their candidate will be the first to challenge Lieberman to a primary.

Lieberman won 1,004 of the 1,509 delegates, while Lamont won 505. Lamont captured 33 percent of the delegates, well more than the 15 percent he needed to force the primary.

This has to be a wake up call for Lieberman. Since Lieberman gets much of his support from Republicans in general elections he may have some real problems in a one on one primary. Cocky appearances on FOX News isn't going to help him either. He'd better tell Sean Hannity to cool the endorsements for a couple of months. This will be a hard fought primary with lots of outside money. This is a good opportunity to show Marshall Wittmann and the DLC how powerful the netroots are. You can help Ned Lamont out here.