Joe Lieberman

There are increased efforts afoot to push the Senate Democrat Steering Committee, of which Barbara Mikulski is a member, to strip Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman of his committee assignments for his recent transgressions against the party that nominated him for vice president in 2000.

Yet it's unlikely to expect an action like that until the Senatorial math expands their majority, so what are vexed Dems supposed to do about it?

Simple: have other members of the caucus push Lieberman out of the hawkish-defender-of-Israel Democrat role that he has fashioned for himself.

Obama, on the other hand, is a fairly reliable liberal.  His speeches, however, clearly connect well with the voters -- and not just liberals.  If the Rasmussen numbers are to be believed, then it means that Obama's rhetoric of "Hope, change and turn the page" is working with Maine's middle of the road voters.  

It is worth noting, that twenty-two points is not an impossible number to reach, Ronald Reagan won Maine in 1984 with 61 to 39 trouncing of Walter Mondale.  

Is Barack Obama the next Ronald Reagan?  Is John McCain the next Walter Mondale?

Pending legislation on climate change currently being considered before the U.S. Senate, is impacting all sides of Kentucky's own Senate contest, with Senator Mitch McConnell challenging his opponent on the issue, while the incumbent faces attacks for his own efforts to quell the bill's progress - which include a required public reading of hundreds of pages of legislation.

Yesterday, the League of Conservation Voters [LCV] hit McConnell for his opposition to the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act. That legislation would create a so-called "cap-and-trade" system, wherein pollutant emissions are limited and companies can purchase or trade credits allowing them to emit certain amounts of certain pollutants up to the limit.

"McConnell voted against even debating the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, which marks an important step toward achieving necessary comprehensive global warming pollution reductions and energy independence. What is he afraid of?" read the LCV release.

Few of the rumored Vice Presidential picks the now-presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.), could add to his ticket would help him much in the Commonwealth of Kentucky in November, according to a new SurveyUSA poll.

SurveyUSA compiled public opinion figures on sixteen potential ticket match-ups from May 16 and May 18 - before Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) handed Obama a 35 point defeat in Kentucky on May 20 and prior to Obama's attainment of the requisite delegates to clinch the nomination.

The data was released yesterday.

With that said, Obama's numbers in the new poll linger around the 33 percent support he received in an earlier Lexington Herald-Leader match-up poll against presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.). In that poll, McCain received 58 percent support.

Next to selecting his running mate, John McCain's most important decision at the Republican National Convention is picking a keynote speaker.

While John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, talked about the environment in Jersey City, his prominent New Jersey supporters said that his relatively frequent presence in the state was evidence that his campaign intends to put New Jersey in play in November.

State Sen. Bill Baroni, who chairs McCain’s New Jersey campaign, said that the Senator’s visits to the state so far – which prior to today included the Lakewood fundraiser and a rally at a Hamilton firehouse in February– prove that they’re paying more than lip service to running a competitive race here.

“I have been told explicitly that New Jersey is a state that is in play. We’re campaigning here, we’re building a staff here, we’re building an organization here,” said Baroni, who noted that all the campaign stops so far have been in traditionally Democratic areas.

United States Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn) may have done both Frank Lautenberg and Rob Andrews a favor today by not weighing in on their Senate primary fight.

“I’ve never been involved with it. Frank Lautenberg is a good friend, and I know Rob Andrews,” said Lieberman as he was leaving a McCain press conference at Jersey City’s Liberty Science Center. “Probably I should say that I have nothing to say.”

Lieberman, who broke with Democrats over his support of the Iraq War and left the party to win reelection to his seat in 2006 after he was defeated by Ned Lamont in the primary, wouldn’t exactly be a coveted endorsement in the race. Both Democrats have distanced themselves from their own earlier support for the war, and Lieberman's support of President Bush's foreign policy is anathema to the liberal Democrats who tend to turn out for primaries.  

Lieberman continues to caucus with the Democratic Party, but is an “Independent Democrat” who supports Republican John McCain for president.

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As the Democratic presidential campaign continues and Hillary Clinton's lead among super-delegates shrinks, some odd questions begin to get asked.

Odd questions, but not unreasonable. For example, could either of the U.S. Senate's two independents help decide who the Democratic presidential nominee might be at the national convention in Denver?  read more »