CT-Sen: Schlesinger! And Lieberman flips on Bolton

Schlesinger was the big winner of yesterday's debate, so by extension, so was Lamont.

With a forceful debate performance, Schlesinger reminded voters, the media and possibly his own party Monday that Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman and Ned Lamont are not replaying their Democratic primary.

Schlesinger made the most of the cumulative 17 minutes allotted to each candidate, repeatedly asserting that he is the only Republican.

"Don't waste your vote on either of these liberal Democrats," Schlesinger said [...]

"I think we will begin now to make this a horse race," Schlesinger told reporters after the debate. Schlesinger may have been exhibiting what one of his heroes, Alan Greenspan, might call "irrational exuberance."

A more realistic assessment is that Schlesinger, long neglected by GOP donors and unable to escape single digits in the polls, might become a player in a race dominated by Lamont and Lieberman. Lieberman leads Lamont, 48 percent to 40 percent in the most recent poll, with Schlesinger at 4 percent.

With Lieberman relying heavily on Republican and unaffiliated voters in the general election, any gain Schlesinger makes in winning back a portion of the GOP base is likely to come at Lieberman's expense.

Not surprisingly, the Lamont camp was happy to talk up Schlesinger.

"He doesn't get a forum like this every day of the week," said George Jepsen, co-chairman of the Lamont campaign. "He spoke with great clarity."

Colim McEnroe chimed in:

In many ways, the most telling moment of yesterday's senatorial debate was a psychological slip. Alan Schlesinger had wrapped up a denunciation of American foreign policy toward North Korea by saying that Joe Lieberman had shown "more more outage over Preisdent Clinton's indiscretions" than over North Korea's nucear program.

When Lieberman was invited to respond he said, pointing toward Lamont, "I thought the attacks were going to come from this side. I didn't know they were going to come from that side too." [...]

So Lieberman's words once again reveal his underlying psychology: He fully expected to be handed his Senate seat with the unalloyed thanks of a grateful Connecticut and he remains astounded to find himself in anything resembling a real political campaign.

More intriguingly, Lieberman unintentionally disclosed another thing he believes: that the fix is in and that he doesn't have to worry about Republican opposition. He actually said it! He said he wasn't expecting an attack from the Republican side! Remember, he got a phone call from Karl Rove right after the primary. From that day until this, his campaign has been oozing Republican gravy. He gets their money, and he gets their tactical support. The only thing they have not been able to do for Joe Lieberman is find the "off" switch on Alan Schlesinger.

For that reason, Schlesinger deserves all the love he seems to be getting, post-debate. The campaign had fallen asleep. The press was snoozing. The polls were frozen. Frozen and sleepy is bad for Lamont and good for Lieberman. Like a shout from Pan, Schlesinger's bombast woke the race back up, and things feel a little more in-play today.

Do they ever! You can find more debate reaction at the Unofficial Lamont Blog.

Meanwhile, Lieberman now supports Bolton at the UN.

"I see no reason not to be for Bolton," Lieberman told a meeting of the Daily News Editorial Board.

"Based on his capabilities - and now based on his performance - I believe Bolton is well-qualified," he said.

Lieberman had twice before voted against Bolton. But that was before he became a de facto Republican. Now he's in George Bush's pocket.

Update: The Q-poll polled the race over last weekend. Seems like silly timing, because with the Monday debate, and another debate tomorrow (Wednesday), it would've made more sense to poll after the debates to gauge public reaction. Right now, public opinion is probably in flux, especially given Schlesinger's performance. Yet this poll, to be released Thursday, will take none of the debates into consideration. Quinnipiac blew that one.