The Nudnik File

After Lamont's victory over Lieberman in the Connecticut Democratic primary, the "Nutroots" - the left wing websites promoting a "progressive" agenda, were positively gleeful. The media trumpeted his win as a rejection of Bush and the Iraq war, and that this showed that the Democrats would definitely retake Congress. But now it seems that all is not so rosy in "progressive" land.

U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (news, bio, voting record), a three-term Democrat now running as an independent candidate, leads the man who beat him in last week's primary vote by 12 points in a three-way race, a poll released on Thursday shows.

The latest Quinnipiac University poll, conducted between August 10-14, shows Lieberman leads Democrat Ned Lamont, a wealthy businessman with little political experience who has played on anti-war sentiment, by 53 percent to 41 percent among likely voters in November's election.

What actually happened, and what happens in almost every primary, is that the extremist wing of the party controls this initial round. In the general election, though, a party needs a candidate that is much more centrist than what the "base" of the party wants. This is why Lieberman will win, despite the efforts of his party.