Editor's Note: Just after 11:00pm on Tuesday night, Senator Joseph Lieberman stepped to the podium to congratulate his primary challenger, Ned Lamont, on his victory. A bit of history has been made in this Connecticut race; more than 95% of incumbents are re-elected to Congress, and a long-time incumbent losing a primary race is almost unheard of.

Without question, Lieberman's unswerving support of the Iraq occupation and his close association with George W. Bush played an enormous part in his defeat. Lamont's victory sends an unmistakable signal to the Democratic party: the war will be the central issue in the upcoming midterm elections, and any candidate or officeholder who tries to have it both ways stands on very shaky ground.

It isn't over yet, however. Moments after conceding, Lieberman declared his intention to run in the general election against Lamont and the GOP challenger. One wonders how well he will fare after abandoning his party, but that is fodder for another day. - wrp/TO

    Lieberman Concedes Defeat In Senate Race
    By Jon Lender, Elizabeth Hamilton and David Owens
    The Hartford Courant

    Tuesday 08 August 2006

    U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman conceded defeat just after 11 p.m. in the bitter Connecticut primary.

    But Lieberman pledged to continue his candidacy as an independent in the general election in November.

    "Incidentally, we are gonna go," Lieberman told supporters shortly after stepping to a podium at the Hartford Hilton Tuesday night.

    Challenger Ned Lamont appears to have defeated Lieberman by more than 10,000 votes, according to unofficial vote returns. With 95 percent of the precincts reporting, Lamont led Lieberman 51.9 percent to 48.1 percent. The vote tally was 139,496 to 129,271.

    Lieberman told supports that he'd called Lamont to congratulate, then took a few swipes at his rival.

    "Of course I am disappointed by the results, but I am not discouraged," Lieberman said..

    "The old politics of partisan polarization won today," Lieberman said. "For the sake of our state, our country and my party, I cannot and will not let that result stand."

    "Tomorrow morning our campaign will file the necessary petitions ... so that we can continue this campaign for a new politics of unity and purpose."

    With more than 95 percent of the precincts reporting, Lamont, a Greenwich millionaire, was leading Lieberman by 3.8 points, with Lamont garnering 51.9 percent of the record primary turnout to Lieberman's 48.1 percent.

    Earlier this evening, as Connecticut's smallest towns reported their results, Lamont led by as much as 10 percent. Lamont was strong in the state's smaller towns, picking up lopsided wins in places like Mansfield, home to the University of Connecticut, Salisbury, Cornwall and Falls Village.

    But the vote tallies were much closer in larger communities. Lieberman strongholds, such as the Naugatuck River valley in Western Connecticut, were also going heavily for Lieberman. The state's larger cities were trending for the incumbent. Lieberman won Waterbury and Stamford and was barely leading in the state's largest city, Bridgeport, where some precincts had not reported by 10:15 p.m. The senator, however, lost his hometown of New Haven 52 percent to 48 percent.

    The world is watching the hotly contested race, which many view as a referendum on the Iraq War and President Bush.

    The high and wide spaces of the atrium in the Goodwin Hotel in Hartford, where Lieberman supporters gathered, were crammed with about 200 international, national and local news reporters milling about with a few dozen Lieberman supporters and operatives, amid bunches of red, white and blue balloons stretching on strings toward the towering columns and arches above them. More than 25 TV cameras on tripods, on three levels of risers, were all trained on a stage with a huge American flag hanging vertically as a background behind a lectern with a sign that said "Joe Lieberman Fighting for Connecticut."

    One of the news crews was from a Japanese TV network. Correspondent Yasushi Komatsu traveled with a cameraman and producer from the New York bureau of TV Asahi America Inc., because of the Lieberman-Lamont primary's significance in Japan. "People in Japan are interested in the war in Iraq and how it is going to develop," he said. "The result of the election could be interpreted to mean the American people are saying yes or no to what Bush is doing in Iraq."

    Since later afternoon, political insiders had been trading information about absentee ballot counts that they had picked up from towns and cities around the state -- and out of a half-dozen that had spread around by 7:30, Lieberman was shown leading Lamont in Waterbury but trailing in Hamden, next to his longtime hometown of New Haven, along with Trumbull and West Hartford, the home of many traditional Lieberman supporters.

    Southington also fits that traditional Democratic mold, and a loss by Lieberman there would not bode well. When someone called a friend at the Goodwin from where the votes were counted, the unofficial total was 85 to 80, Lamont ahead. Not good.

    While waiting for real information to come in, the Goodwin was filled with a din of conversation and the strains of saxophone jazz. Lieberman and his family were in a private room, and the incumbent's optimistic words of the morning -- told to reporters after he voted with his wife and daughter at a New Haven school -- seemed far away.

    "I believe that we are going to win today, and I believe this in my heart and soul and head," Lieberman told reporters. "I have seen a dramatic turnaround in the last week and it was reflected in the Quinnipiac Poll yesterday" that showed Lamont's lead at 6 points, down from 13 last Thursday. "I believe there is going to be a great uprising in Connecticut today. There is going to be a big turnout in my opinion, and when it is all over I am going to be honored to be the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in this election."

    "I am just thinking and believing, and to a certain extend praying, for victory today," he said.

    His wife quickly added, however: "We are not going to jinx ourselves."

    Lieberman was asked how the primary election ordeal would change the way he represents his constituents, after voters delivered a strong message of disapproval.

    He still was not ready to concede anything. "We'll talk about that as we go forward," he said. "I have always leveled with the people of Connecticut."

    Ten minutes before the polls closed Tuesday, primary Lamont's supporters were predicting a "landslide" victory.

    "You know how you feel something in your gut?" said Laura Gallo, the former deputy mayor of Meriden as she wrapped up phone calls at Lamont headquarters Tuesday night. "We're going to win."

    Others, like former state Democratic party chairman George Jepsen, were relying on something slightly more reliable than gut instinct - he had word from people in the field that returns were coming in overwhelmingly for Lamont.

    As the party began at the Sheraton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson made his rounds in the press room talking up Lamont's commitment to urban schools, universal health care and other progressive issues.

    "I hope he can win. The nation needs a new direction, new priorities and the values that Lamont represents," Jackson said. "He's taking on a bigger Goliath than just Lieberman."

    With turnout a key factor in Tuesday's primary, Sen. Joe Lieberman cancelled the final two campaign stops of the day in Waterbury and Southington - choosing instead to return to his Rocky Hill headquarters to call Democratic leaders and other allies around the state.

    His family was with him at headquarters, aides said, making similar calls.

    Lieberman said he was skipping the Southington and Waterbury stops because of low voter turnout at those polling sites. Others said he was anxious to get back to headquarters to get involved in the voter turn-out effort.

    Election officials predicted 40 to 50 percent voter turnout in the primary - a figure considered high for a primary. At 6 p.m. West Hartford recorded 59 percent voter turnout.