Blumenthal to challenge Lieberman?

Blumenthal has been kicking around CT for ages. Party leaders have beseeched him to run for governor too many times and he's always declined. He officially took himself out of the 2010 governor's race this week. (Dan Malloy, whose primary nod I supported in 2006, jumped in today. My love, however, is reserved for affable Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz.)

In 2006, activists begged Blumenthal to run against Lieberman but he refused. Now his true ambition is coming out, courtesy of The Hill: Big surprise, he wants to run for the Senate. Serving as Senator, he said, “would be an honor, and it's always been a career goal." I don't have hard feelings about his decision not to run in '06 but I do think a stronger candidate than Lamont -- excepting the money factor and if perhaps if Lamont hadn't taken a poorly timed vacation -- really could have beaten Lieberman in that race.  Blumenthal will be an extremely formidable challenger against an already weak Lieberman. The wildcard is that I'm not solid that Lieberman will run again in 2012, especially with numbers as bad as his are now. And I also wonder if Chris Murphy will roll over and let Blumenthal, the state's most popular Democrat, take the primary. Murphy may be young but I think a lot of folks have eyes on him for a reason, not the least of which was his surprise (and considerable!) defeat of Nancy Johnson in '06. If not Murphy in 2012, expect him to be the favorite on Dodd's eventually open Senate seat. As I said, he's young.