With the Foley scandal well underway, I'd like to offer an update on the Lieberman-Lamont campaign in Connecticut. As it turns out, it's not doing so well. The latest polls have Lieberman up by 10 points.

As followers of Democratic politics know, Lieberman quit the Democratic party when he lost the primary a few weeks ago, and decided to run on an independent ticket. Democratic strategists saw this as a betrayal of party interests, and mounted a vigorous campaign for the Democratic challenger...or not.

The Times described top Democrats as "tacitly" supporting Lamont. It is especially true among those Democrats who are feeling their way toward a bid for their party's nomination for president in 2008.

Sen. Hillary Clinton met with Lamont, but she did so privately.

In fact, they've extended an open hand to the man running against the Democrat.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, the longtime Democratic senator from Connecticut running for re-election as an independent, says the party leadership has assured him he would keep his seniority if he returns to Congress.

Clearly, the problem with Lamont's campaign is that the Democrats have abandoned the race halfway through...and this is the more important half. A 10 point lead is nothing potentially insurmountable. Lamont easily scaled that with the national attention that was on the primary - which now seems to have totally dried up. Democrats need to win this spot as a morale booster, if nothing else, and it's perfectly doable with the tactics they've used before.