And looking beyond Connecticut, we see quite clearly that if the Democrats retake the Senate, they will do so by adding to the complements of Moderates and Tweeners. This is partly by accident, because of the states where they need wins. But it is also very much by design: Chuck Schumer, who heads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, consciously recruited many moderate candidates.
Bob Casey of Pennsylvania? A Tweener at the very least, and probably a Moderate. Jim Webb in Virginia, were he to pull it out? Definitely a Moderate. (By the way, both of these fellows have strong support in the allegedly intolerant blogosphere.) Harold Ford in Tennessee? Tweener or Moderate, but no Liberal. Claire McCaskill in Missouri? She's fairly Liberal, but coming from a red state, she's a likely Tweener. Sheldon Whitehouse in Rhode Island? He was the establishment candidate in the primary, with one opponent to his left; could be a Liberal, but could end up a Tweener. Jon Tester and Jim Pederson, of Montana and Arizona respectively, are interesting cases. Tester is a Brian Schweitzer-type populist, which means economically liberal but socially quite conservative. Pederson is "mainstream Democratic," says Jennifer Duffy, who covers Senate races for the Cook Political Report. But the overriding fact in both their cases is that they are from states in which a Democrat can't get by on Teddy's voting record and thus would not likely swell the Liberal ranks. Indeed, of the eight Democratic challengers who have a shot, just one would very clearly do that, Sherrod Brown of Ohio. Although Cook warns: "You never know how somebody's going to vote until they start voting."
Let's say hypothetically, then, that the proverbial tsunami hits and all eight become United States senators, along with Lamont. In that case, it's possible that the Senate Democratic Caucus will have more Moderates than Liberals!