While this has been widely reported elsewhere, for the sake of completion, from the Hotline:

Schumer said that the DSCC "fully supports" Sen. Joe Lieberman in his primary bid, and he refused to rule out continuing that support if Lieberman were to run as an independent.

There were degrees of independence, Schumer said. "You can run as an independent, you can run as an independent Democrat who pledges to vote for Harry Reid as Majority Leader."

Schumer said he had neither sought nor recieved assurances from Lieberman that an independent bid would not ensue if Ned Lamont tightened the noose.

Schumer, quoting a national political publication, noted that the last two times the Senate flipped -- '80 and '86 , the House didn't follow suit. The Senate, he said, was more suspectable to waves than the House. "When I was a congressman, I knew a third of my constituents," he said. The distance most Senators have from the vast majority of their constituents makes them more vulnerable if voters are disilllusioned.

Questioned about the Democratic message, Schumer said that 75 percent of the electorate's decision will be a referendum on Pres. Bush and 25 percent will be predicated on whether Democrats present a compelling alternative.

So the DSCC isn't actually the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. It's the Incumbent Senate Campaign Committee. See, he knows Lieberman. Not only is Lieberman Bush's favorite Democrat, he's such a favorite of Chuck's Holy Joe's charm and personality trump disloyalty to the party, and a refusal to accept the will of the voters of CT in a primary.


Oh, and catch that last paragraph, which I hadn't seen elsewhere.

This is the DSCC's core strategy--get in your foxholes (h/t Russ Feingold), don't say anything quotable and hope that people express their displeasure with Bush by turning out in droves and supporting Bush's favorite Democrat Independent.