What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me?

Just as Ringo Starr got by with a little help from his friends, so Joe Lieberman hopes to do with a big assist from key members of his caucus. Some heavy hitters on the Left will come to Connecticut to rally support for Lieberman in the primary:

Sens. Joe Biden of Delaware, Barbara Boxer of California and Ken Salazar of Colorado plan to campaign in Connecticut for Lieberman between now and the Aug. 8 primary. Their goal is to reassure the party faithful of the three-term senator's loyalty to Democratic causes, including women's issues, labor and the environment.

"It will be a reminder to voters of the work he's done on progressive issues," Lieberman spokeswoman Marion Steinfels said Wednesday. "Some of his colleagues wanted to come here and campaign for him on issues that matter to him and them."

The rush of support from his Senate colleagues comes two days after Lieberman, the party's 2000 vice presidential nominee, surprised Democrats by announcing that he would start collecting signatures for an independent campaign if he loses the primary.

The Lamont campaign discounts the impact this will have on the race. However, one has to remember that Boxer has been adamantly opposed to the war and a bitter antagonist to the Bush administration. Biden has an almost identical Poole rating over the last three sessions of Congress as Lieberman. Salazar had run as a centrist in Colorado's 2004 Senatorial race, but has been pushed leftward by the netroots.

It's quite obvious that the Democrats want to see Lieberman re-elected, and will do anything to avoid the embarrassment of having him run as an independent to do so. While they have steered clear of the question about endorsing him in such a three-way race (with Hillary Clinton being an exception), the pledges of support from a far-Left candidate such as Barbara Boxer shows that the Democratic Party wants no part of a Lamont campaign in November.

Will Boxer and her friends help Joe get by? I think that Lamont has more worries than he knows.

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» At What Price Purity? from Hard Starboard
Speaking of Lieberman's senate colleagues, they don't seem to be of one mind on how to approach this quasi-sectarian rivening either. While John Kerry and Hillary Clinton chickened out on endorsing him in the primary, Joe Biden, Ken Salazar, and none... [Read More]

Tracked on July 10, 2006 11:20 AM