I know this might sound crazy, but I think the coming Democratic tsunami is is actually working AGAINST Ned Lamont in Connecticut. Hear me out on this, I actually have a reason for saying this.

Think about it this way -- Put yourself in the shoes of a Connectucut Republican.

You ware watching your whole party crash and burn nationally. Your own Senate nominee is at single digits in the polls. And the ONE Democrat you actually liked, Joe Lieberman, got taken out by a "leftwing purge," fostered by the same people who are driving the national anti-GOP wave.

You feel powerless. You feel like you want to get even. So what can you do?

Well...you support Joe Lieberman. You KNOW that a Lieberman win will be like a huge stick in the eye of the activist Democrats who are screwing your party nationally.

You know Lieberman will probably caucus with the Democrats. You know he will be a reliable vote on MOST Democratic issues. But you also know that the acitivist Dems can't stand him, and that Joe will support Bush on the Iraq war and undermine the Dems on other key issues.

You also think, in the back of your mind, that Joe might actually defect to the GOP. Or that he might replace Donald Rumsfeld, allowing Governor Jodie Rell to appoint his replacement.

This, in my view, is why very few if any Republicans will defect to Alan SChlesinger. No matter how much they may like Schlesinger, voting for Joe is more psychologically satisfying to them.

So, what about thosee Democrats and independants who are supporting Joe? Well...the national Democratic party is to blame there. They did not come into Connecticut and campaign for Lamont. They didn't invest in him, and didn't bring Democratic voters back to the Democratic nominee.

Lieberman played his cards perfectly here. He said he'd caucus with the Dems, and got the national leadership to stay out, thus depriving Lamont of their annointment and overt endorsements.

I hate to say this, but unless the national Dem establishment rushes into Connecticut the same way they did for Joe Lieberman at the end of the primary, Lamont's got no chance. Those Republicans are not going to budge from Lieberman. I don't care if the heavenly spirits of Ronald Reagan, Abraham Lincoln and Dwight Eisenhower came down and campaigned with Alan Schlesinger from now until election day.

This is all about payback.

So, while it was a nice ride, it's over.