CT-Sen: GOP funneling money to Lieberman

Democratic candidate Ned Lamont is gaining ground on Senator Joe Lieberman in the polls.  The latest Zogby Poll that was released on September 5th gave Lieberman a narrow 46% to 42% advantage.  The incumbent Senator might face more political trouble after a source recently revealed that the Republicans are funneling money to the Lieberman Campaign, which quietly accepted the donation:

The White House funneled millions of dollars through major Republican Party contributors to Sen. Joseph Lieberman's primary campaign in a failed effort to ensure the support of the former Democrat for the Bush administration.

A senior GOP source said the money was part of Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove's strategy to maintain a Republican majority in the Senate in November. The source said Mr. Rove, together with Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, directed leading pro-Bush contributors to donate millions of dollars to Mr. Lieberman's campaign for re-election in Connecticut in an attempt that he would be a "Republican-leaning" senator.

"Joe [Lieberman] took the money but said he would not play ball," the source said. "That doesn't mean that this was a wasted investment."

The Lieberman Campaign has not responded to these reports.  Meanwhile, there is also other buzz regarding the Connecticut Senate race:

• Jimmy Carter went on Larry King last night and slammed Joe Lieberman for favoring policies that have put our troops in the line of fire without an exit strategy.  "He was one of the originators of public statements that misled the American people into believing that the Iraqi war was justified," the 39th president said on Larry King Live.
• On the campaign trail Wednesday, challenger Ned Lamont said that the United States is now less safe from terrorism because Senators like Joe Lieberman gave the President blind support to go to war in Iraq.  "We have sacrificed our daughters and sons and our treasure in a war we didn't have to fight," the Democrat said. "We have ignored the real threats and security needs in the war we should be fighting, the one against the terrorists. ... Senator Lieberman believes that President Bush has it right in Iraq. I believe that he's dangerously wrong."

Lastly, from Lincoln Chafee's victory up in Rhode Island two days ago, we can gather that compared to the race in Connecticut the Democratic base is much more fired up than the conservative base is as we get closer to November.  Unlike progressives in Connecticut, grassroots conservatives in Rhode Island could not rally the support needed to get their guy out on top.  However, we need to be cautious.  This latest 9/11 fear-pandering scheme on the part of the GOP is showing signs of working, and might rally the conservative base just in time for the November 7th contest.

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Other sites blogging about the Connecticut Senate race: My Left Nutmeg, Crooks and Liars, Americablog, The Swamp, Edgewise, Raw Story, Emboldened, Media Matters, South Dakota Politics, Firedoglake, Huffington Post, MyDD.