Firestarter
George Jepsen, Co-Chair of the Lamont Campaign, in today’s Hartford Courant (emphasis added):
Lamont’s impact in Connecticut is more directly measurable. Democratic registration since May grew by 33,000 – nearly 7,000 per congressional district. Compare that to new Republican registrations of only 12,000. Voter turnout surged from 56.5 percent to 61.6 percent. Thousands of people, many of them young, volunteered for the first time in a campaign. Although a number of personally popular Republicans survived – including U.S. Rep. Chris Shays of the 1st District, assisted by an eleventh-hour conversion on the war – it was a historic Democratic sweep.
[...]
To make things work, Lamont activists can’t sulk and walk away. Politics is a contact sport and losing, although painful, is part of it. They need to understand that with very tenuous majorities in Congress, Democrats are hardly in a position to call all the shots. Compromise will be necessary to govern responsibly and position the party for further growth. As long as Lieberman remains with the Democratic caucus, he should be given the opportunity to work for positive change.
My problem with the last line quoted above is that Lieberman is being given an opportunity to work for positive change. If positive change is in his own best interests, we’ll get some positive change. If not, not.