WASHINGTON: There was hype in the air as it became clear that Senator Joe Lieberman’s fortunes were turning southward in his primary battle against millionaire vanity candidate — and now Democratic nominee — Ned Lamont.

For Lamont’s supporters, their veins coursing with “nedrenaline” (yes, they really use that word), his victory sent the clear signal that the Iraq war is wrong, that President Bush is wrong and that Lieberman is wrongness incarnate for not understanding said wrongness. Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn.org’s political action committee, declared, “We regret that his stand on the fiasco in Iraq and embrace of the president have put him fundamentally at odds with Connecticut voters.”

Meanwhile, the folks most imbued with “Joementum” were Lieberman’s fans across the political aisle. Conservatives, particularly neoconservatives, were almost misty-eyed about Lieberman’s status as the leader of the “‘Scoop’ Jackson wing” of the Democratic Party (named after the late Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson, a foreign policy hawk and domestic liberal who mentored many leading Republican neocons). Still, most recognised that Lieberman was the lone feather left intact on that largely bare, atrophied Jacksonian appendage. And Tuesday, voters tugged that feather loose.

But let’s be clear: Lieberman fascinates political junkies because he’s an outlier, like an albino rhino or the last of the Mohicans. And his loss doesn’t usher in a new reality so much as confirm the familiar one.

Sure, Lieberman’s defeat was a very big deal politically. Looking at the dozen election cycles prior to 2006, political scientist Larry Sabato points out that among about 400 separate Senate races, only three incumbents were felled by primary challenges. But Lieberman’s loss is a bit less dramatic given the Democratic Party’s evolution over the last quarter of a century. Though Lieberman may — and probably will be — reelected as an independent, it’s sad news that he’s a pariah in his own party. But it’s hardly surprising.—Dawn/The Los Angeles Times News Service