2006 Senate candidate Ned Lamont announced today that he's filing papers this afternoon for a possible run for governor in 2010. Excerpt from his e-mail blast and website announcement:

Since the 2006 campaign for Senate, I have continued to meet with citizens across our state -- as co-chairman of the Obama campaign in Connecticut, founder of a state policy institute at Central Connecticut State University, and as an oustpoken advocate for health care reform. I have been constantly reminded during these conversations that Connecticut is not living up to its potential and that too many of our families are still being left behind.

Whether it has been health care and the economy, losing jobs, young people leaving the state, or the never-ending budget crisis, we have all seen our state head in the wrong direction.

Simply put, Connecticut's current Chief Executive is not getting the job done.

Governor Jodi Rell's approval rating has come down quite a bit this year, but she's still at 57 percent approve/38 percent disapprove in the Pollster.com average. Then again, Lamont didn't shy away from a longshot campaign in 2006, so he may be ready for another challenge.

I'd like to hear from MyDD readers who are familiar with Connecticut politics. Could Lamont make a race of this? Would he be the strongest potential challenger against Rell? How would having him in the governor's race affect Senator Chris Dodd's re-election campaign?

There's more...

It is time to strip Joe Lieberman of his seniority and his party affiliation. There can now be now doubt that he is actively undermining Democratic attempts to take over Congress, and that he is overtly the Republican nominee. Jane writes:Because nobody could have predicted it -- Joe Lieberman will be campaigning with GOP candidates Jodi Rell and Rob Simmons today at the Groton sub base (the one that Holy Joe claims to have singlehandedly saved). Simmons, you'll remember, is the GOP candidate running against Democrat Joe Courtney for one of those hotly contested Connecticut House seats. You know, the ones where the Democrat is supposed to be helped by Lieberman's indy bid, right? Joe Lieberman is now actively supporting Republicans for important seats in Congress. He is now actively opposing the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Connecticut, Governor in Connecticut, and the second congressional district of Connecticut. Joe Lieberman wants Republicans to hold Congress. Joe Lieberman is actively trying to make sure that Republicans maintain Congress. It does not matter what he says anymore--he is clearly working with Republican candidates. This serves as grounds for removing his seniority, and as grounds for stripping him of his party affiliation.

Joe Lieberman is doing this because the only way he can win this election is both to receive at least 60% support among Republicans, and to have high Republican turnout (see here and here). Since both propositions are sketchy, he can't simply hope they will happen on their own. This is why he never condemns Republican polarizers. In order to get high Republican support and high Republican turnout, he has to actively appeal to Republicans, support their candidates, and turn out Republican voters. This will have a highly destructive effect on Democratic chances to retake Congress this year.

Enough is enough. It is time for Democrats in D.C. to take action in response to this. Tell them that.

Contact the DSCC about this: (202) 224-2447 or info@dscc.org
Contact the DCCC about this: (202) 863-1500
You can contribute to Ned Lamont here, and Joe Courtney here.