The polls say that on Tuesday, Ned Lamont is going to defeat Joe Lieberman for the Democratic nomination for Senate in Connecticut. That's fine by me. As longtime readers of this page know, I didn't think much of Mr. Lieberman even when he was Al Gore's running mate. In fact, especially when he was Al Gore's running mate.
A lot of weblogs and pundits are now speculating as to what a Lamont victory will demonstrate about the power of the Liberal weblogs that have been advancing the challenger's candidacy. Some act like Lamont's whole campaign derives from that blogosphere. Some suggest "…the drive to oust Lieberman is really the next big test of the bloggers' political clout." Others write that "…if Joe goes down this week, I dont think that blogs will have had all that much to do with it."
I'm kind of with that last guy. In fact, I don't think the bloggers matter much either way. I think a large number of Democrats in Connecticut have been itching to strike a blow against the Bush administration, and voting against Joe Lieberman is the first chance they've had to do anything that resembles that. And that's all I think the vote will mean.
We'll find out how many of those Connecticut Democrats are angry enough at Bush to throw out an incumbent who has often cozied up to White House policies and parroted Republican talking points. But we won't know a thing about the power of weblogs.