Sen. Joe Lieberman, who is now engaged in the political fight of his life, welcomed President Bill Clinton to CT yesterday to campaign on his behalf.

Bill Clinton came to praise three-term Sen. Joe Lieberman and most assuredly not to bash Ned Lamont, the anti-war challenger making a strong bid for the Democratic Senate nomination in the state’s Aug. 8 primary.

“I don’t have anything against Joe’s opponent,” Clinton said Monday as he campaigned to save his political ally of more than three decades from defeat. “He seems like a perfectly nice man. He’s got every right to run and he’s waged a vigorous campaign.”

Clinton’s comments underscored the dilemma facing many party leaders as they watch Lieberman struggle for renomination against an opponent who says he would stand up to President Bush instead of standing with him.

This heated primary race between Sen. Lieberman and Ned Lamont is a race based on core Democratic values and policy stances. However, the ‘pink elephant’ in the living room is the war in Iraq. Lieberman is a supporter of the war, while Lamont believes it was a wrong choice to go to Iraq and it’s now time for U.S. troops to step back from the front line, while the Iraqi people step-up and take control over their country. Clinton understands the ‘pink elephant’ better than anyone.

On his political rescue mission, the former president made no mention of Iraq until near the end of his remarks. “The pink elephant in the living room,” he called the conflict that has divided Democrats as it has grown increasingly unpopular nationally.

Democrats “don’t agree on everything. We don’t agree on Iraq,” Clinton said, urging Democrats to put the issue aside and send Lieberman on his way to a new Senate term.

“The real issue is, whether you were for it or against it, what are we going to do now. And let me tell you something: No Democrat is responsible for the mistakes that have been made since the fall of Saddam Hussein that have brought us to this point.”

Lieberman has been one of the most vocal Democratic supporters of the Iraq war in the Senate, and he recently voted against two proposals to begin winding down the American military commitment.

After the Clinton event, Lamont held a rally of his own. He articulated his position on Iraq.

Lamont laid out a different view not long after Clinton spoke, at a campaign appearance of his own.

“Staying the course is not a winning strategy in Iraq,” he told supporters at a fundraiser. He said the United States is not going to be able to bring about “democracy at the barrel of a gun.”

A millionaire businessman who has taught in high school, he drew applause when he said, “How come we can afford to spend $250 million a day in Iraq and we can’t keep that school open past 2:30 in the afternoon.”

The Lamont-Lieberman primary is on August 8th, 2006. Can’t wait to see how this shakes out. Stay tuned to DoubleSpeak for more on this important race.

According to a new poll by the Columbus Dispatch, Democratic Congressmen Ted Strickland and Sherrod Brown have big leads in their respective races for Governor and Senate.

This is especially encouraging news as both Strickland and Brown are lesser known than both their Republican opponents. Loony-right vote stealer J. Kenneth Blackwell is Ohio’s Secretary of State and the GOP nominee for governor, while Strickland has never held office outside of his current gig in the U.S. House. Nevertheless, Strickland leads Blackwell by twenty points, 47%-27%. Sherrod Brown is a former Ohio Secretary of State but hasn’t held statewide office since 1990, when Brown was ousted by current Ohio Governor/Convicted Criminal Bob Taft. Nevertheless, Brown leads incumbent Republican Senator Mike DeWine by a margin of 45%-37%.

The upshot? Ohio voters are sick of their Republican “leaders” failing them with corruption, incompetence and mismanagement. Ohioans are ready for real change!

YOU NEED TO GO TO HAPPY HOUR, NOW.

Good week folks, see you soon and check out DoubleSpeak Episode Six.

Although Joe Lieberman and his allies in the “liberal” media and the Democratic Party have tried to portray Ned Lamont’s supporters as a gang of deranged, pacifist zealots, Josh Marshall notes that Lieberman’s supporters are even farther off their rocker.

Mort “Beltway Boy” Kondracke seems to think that Joe Lieberman is the sole remaining defender of Western civilization and humane discourse in American politics. This seems highly improbable, as does the assertion that incumbents having to defend their record to the American people and primary challengers are a threat to democracy. Joe Lieberman doesn’t have a Constitutional right to a seat in the United States Senate. Whether you’re a Lieberman Democrat or a Lamont Democrat, everyone needs to remember that debate is healthy in a democracy.

Robert P. Casey, the man vying to defeat Radical Rick Santorum (R-PA) this fall is leading in the polls 50% to 40%. This information comes from a new Strategic Vision poll that was released today.

As a side note, last night while driving to a concert in Northern Virginia, I found myself eye-to-eye with Radical Rick Santorum in traffic on I-66 W. He was driving himself in a beige SUV with a Rick Santorum sticker. I knew it was him, because really…who else in America would actually promote the candidacy of Radical Rick, besides Radical Rick? He is one scary looking radical airhead.

Via the ever vigilant Political Wire, a new Quinnipiac poll has challenger Ned Lamont beating Sen. Joe Lieberman (kinda D-CT) in the August Senate primary.

In the Connecticut U.S. Senate race, Ned Lamont (D) has surged ahead of Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) and now holds a razor-thin 51% to 47% lead among likely Democratic primary voters, according to a new Quinnipiac poll.

In possible general election matchups:

• Lieberman defeats Republican challenger Alan Schlesinger 68% to 15%
• Lamont beats Schlesinger 45% to 22%, with 24% undecided
• Running as an independent, Lieberman gets 51%, to 27% for Lamont and 9% for Schlesinger.

Says pollster Douglas Schwartz: “Lamont is up, while Lieberman’s Democratic support is dropping. More Democrats have a favorable opinion of Lamont, who was largely unknown last month, and see him as an acceptable alternative to Lieberman. But Lieberman’s strength among Republicans and independents gives him the lead in a three-way matchup in November.”

It’s a race.