Red Rover, Red Rover, Let Ned Lamont Come Over

So I see that Atrios is trying to lower expectations for this Tuesday's primary election between Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman. (I'll just say this up front. I'm tired of my choices being between two rich, white, older men. I'm just saying.) Atrios is probably correct; Lieberman's an incumbent and I won't be surprised if he Diebolds his way to the top of the ticket. Atrios is smarter about this stuff than I am, partly because I always wind up thinking that what I want to have happen will, in fact, happen.

But I got to thinking today that, if Lamont wins, it will be because he out-Roved Lieberman. I'm thinking, in particular, of The Kiss Float. What's Joe Lieberman's' greatest strength? His incumbency. His reputation for being "bipartisan." His connections with the patriarchal power structure, including, and especially, President Bush. So what did the Lamont people do (and I realize that the guy who created the float and then followed Lieberman all over the state with it may not be officially associated w/ the Lamont campaign, but they certainly didn't beg him to stop or sneak into his garage at night and tear it apart so that he couldn't follow Joe everywhere with it)? They made The Kiss Float which struck directly at Joe Liberman's strength. Even Joe Lieberman understands that, if he does go down, it will be because the Lamont people were able to turn a vote for Joe Lieberman into a vote for George Bush. If Lamont doesn't win, he certainly, at the least, made Lieberman distance himself from George Bush and fired a warning shot over the bow of quite a few other campaigns: Run with Bush -- you're in trouble. The Kiss Float was simple and concise. Just like "flip flopper" and as easily glued to the candidate.

I hope, regardless of whether Lamont wins on Tuesday night or not, to see the Democrats do lots more of this in the 2006 campaign. What's George Allen's biggest strength? How can it be exploited to his detriment?