Why is Joe Lieberman Still Ahead?

While Democrats have a solid chance at winning the House this year, they also have a realistic shot at taking back the Senate. If the polls stay as they are between now and Election Day, four Republican Senators are likely to lose – in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Ohio and (gasp!) Montana. Even in the Republican landslide of 1994, only two Democratic Senators were thrown out of office. In Missouri, Virginia and Tennessee, Democrats are running neck-and-neck with the Republicans. But in Connecticut, a solid blue state, Democratic nominee Ned Lamont is lagging behind Joe Lieberman – a neo-conservative Senator who angrily refused to accept losing the primary to Lamont and is now running as an independent with Karl Rove’s advice. Earlier this year, Lamont challenged George Bush’s favorite Democrat in the primary because Lieberman consistently supported the War in Iraq, attacked critics of the President as unpatriotic, and supported intervention in the Terri Schiavo matter. But now that the race is between Lieberman, Lamont and Republican nominee Alan Schlesinger, Ned Lamont is currently behind by a double-digit margin. In such an anti-Bush climate, why is Joe Lieberman still favored to win?