Lieberman Will Primary

quote[If he does decide to run as a petitioning candidate, Lieberman will need to do more than collect signatures. He will need to reframe his campaign and give voters a persuasive rationale for his quitting the primary - other than a fear that anti-war and anti-Bush activists might deliver it to Lamont.

One problem is that Lieberman has been trying to discredit Lamont, a rich businessman, among Democrats by saying he was a frequent Republican ally while serving as a local official in Greenwich.

But if Lieberman quits the primary and bases his campaign on an appeal to Republicans, unaffiliated voters and conservative Democrats, he suddenly will have to argue that Lamont really is allied with a far-left minority within the Democratic Party.

"The message shifts overnight, and that's the hard part," said George Jepsen, a former Democratic state chairman and state Senate majority leader.

Or, as Lamont's campaign manager, Tom Swan, said: "Is Ned a Republican, or a `left-wing weirdo?'"]

The noose tightens. Lieberman's hanging himself, folks.