I know that a lot of the readers here probably don’t care about Lamont and Lieberman. I ask that you bear with me as I’ve asked CT friends to keep an eye on FM for more info on Lamont and my opinions on the race.

That being said, I’ve noticed that I’m not the only person talking about this primary to a national audience. The debate was covered on MSNBC and CSPAN live. David Brooks wrote a column on the race, and political magazines from The Economist and TNR.

So, a number of blogs have been commenting on the following problem. Explain the difference between these things:

Lamont vs. Lieberman
Toomey vs. Specter (2004 PA Senate)
Laffey vs. Chafee (2006 RI Senate)

Just take a look at why these challengers ran, then compare media coverage. The Lamont race is apparently a “liberal inquisition.” The two races where hard right ideologues ran to upset otherwise solid Republicans are, well, not newsworthy (had you heard about either race before? I bet some of you haven’t)

I couldn’t say this any better:

Still, for those of us outside The Land Of Steady Habits, there was a little too much about the Greenwich Town Council and submarine bases and who said what when and to whom. But there was one quote that didn’t come up, and it’s the only quote that should matter to those of us outside Connecticut. It’s this one:

“It’s time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge he’ll be commander-in-chief for three more years,” the senator said. “We undermine the President’s credibility at our nation’s peril.”

You may recognize that final sentence as the soft outer frontier of the rhetoric that ends up in a place where newspeople are accused of treason and where roam free the eliminationist fantasies of the lunatic right. It’s where we find “reasonable” people treating John Yoo’s authoritarian delusions as though they had something to do with America. I couldn’t care less if Ned Lamont once took a Republican stand on water rates. I saw enough last night to know he’d never say anything like that.

It matters to those of us inside Connecticut, as well. It’s part of the theme of arrogance and disdain this administration shows to our core American values. On global warming, WMD, post-war planning, stem cells, plan B, and, well, everything, the Bush administration believes they are smarter than experts who spend years on these issues. Lieberman works with Republicans to make these policies happen, provides “bipartisan” cover for them, and then turns around and tells us that we should not undermine the President’s credibility. You don’t deserve to be in Congress with an attitude like that, I don’t care what party you’re in.

(via Atrios)