Feeding more fuel to the GOP-Lieberman connection

Political Wire offers up this gem.

The road will continue to get rougher, lonelier and tougher for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Alan Schlesinger as Republicans continue to lay down markers that he will be forced off the ticket. Last week's controversy over his gambling continues to percolate. He might have been able to discourage some skeptics if he'd filed the obligatory disclosure report for candidates with the Secretary of the United States Senate. The absence of certified information on his finances propels speculation on what had been a silent candidacy. Instead, he's sought two 45 day extensions until August 14th.

Connecticut has become fascinated with gaming in the 15 years since the approval of the Mahantucket Pequot casino. The state, however, is unlikely to embrace a Senate candidate who sounds like he spends more time with croupiers than with voters.

Schlesinger stumbled into a prize that he can't do much with though it grows more valuable as state politicos perceive Democratic challenger surging against bewildered incumbent Joe Lieberman in their August 8th primary contest. Anticipation grows on the eve of the release of a Qunnipiac Poll on Friday. How it measured likely primary voters will be a point of particular interest to all sides.

A Lamont victory in the bitter primary fight has Republicans conjuring sugar plums. Schlesinger's tormenters, who played their first card with tales of his gambling under an assumed name and being shooed from the casino as a card counter, are staying on his trail. The number of people volunteering tips and suggestions of what rocks to turn over would make an army recruiter jealous.

The GOP has not elected one of its own to the Senate since the 1982 election, and that was Lowell Weicker who many only grudgingly conceded as a Republican even then. Some believe that with the right breaks they could elect one of their own, though no one thinks Schlesinger can win under any circumstances. Others think offering the spot to Lieberman on a ticket headed by popular governor Jodi Rell (for whom Lieberman has had much praise) would give a powerful boost to the rest of the ticket.

This gem of a story comes from Hartford Courant columnist Kevin Rennie so his words carry a good degree of weight. Now, read between the lines and pay close attention to Rennie's words. In case you missed it, I'll post it again.

The GOP has not elected one of its own to the Senate since the 1982 election, and that was Lowell Weicker who many only grudgingly conceded as a Republican even then. Some believe that with the right breaks they could elect one of their own, though no one thinks Schlesinger can win under any circumstances. Others think offering the spot to Lieberman on a ticket headed by popular governor Jodi Rell (for whom Lieberman has had much praise) would give a powerful boost to the rest of the ticket.

Get it,? Got it? Good.

Now follow my logic and add Rennie's words with Lieberman slow response to Greg Sargent's question today and connect the dots.

Did Sargent catch Lieberman's campaign off guard? Is the GOP and Lieberman's campaign up to something?

This is getting weirder by the minute. Joe jumps ship one week and the GOP throws their guy Alan Schlesinger under a bus (ALTHOUGH everyone in the state knew about his past) and now they talk about placing either an anti-war candidate on the ticket or a person who got creamed in 2004 to Dodd?

Something just isn't right here folks.

It might be time for the media to press Gov. Rell and State GOP chairman George Gallo and ask them if they had any contact with Lieberman's camp lately.