Lieberman's Loss

There will be much speculation today about the significance of Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman's loss to limousine liberal Ned Lamont in yesterday's Connecticut primary. The bottom line is this: the fact that a sitting Democratic Senator who supported the war effort lost is unusual, but it is not the story. The story is that Democratic activists went to such enormous lengths to defeat a party leader and recent vice-presidential candidate on the basis of that single issue.

The portion of the party that once included Henry Jackson and Sam Nunn has long been thought to be on life support. Last night it was pronounced dead.