Now that the dust has settled after Joe Lieberman's loss of the Democratic Senate nomination to the little known preppy twerp Ned Lamont, it's time for the veteran Democratic Senator to face two important challenges.

  1. For a respected and likeable public servant, Senator Lieberman can be a stunningly inept communicator. Tuesday night in an awkward non-concession speech he reached for a singularly stupid sports analogy to explain his decision to ignore the decision of the voters in his own party and to continue his candidacy as an independent. "As I see it," he told his cheering but tearful supporters in Hartford, "in this campaign we just finished the first half and the Lamont team is ahead. But, in the second half, our team, Team Connecticut, is going to surge forward to victory in November."

   Sorry, Joe, but in most games you don't get to change the rules after you lose the thing in regulation. Unless you're tied, there's no such thing as over time. The right sports analogy isn't first half vs. second half; it's League Championship Series vs. the World Series. If you lose the American League Championship Series, it's the other team -- the one that beat you -- that gets to compete in the World Series (the general election) against the National League Champions (the GOP nominee). As much as you'd like to be there, accepting two American League teams in the World Series fundamentally changes the rules. If Joe refuses to abide by the normal terms of electoral politics, he needs to explain why the issues in this campaign are important enough for him to do so. Otherwise, he looks like the sorest of losers who's continuing his campaign for the sake of ego, not principle.

   Lieberman will indeed lose the November election if he continues to pose the choice as a good-natured competition between "the Lamont Team" and "Team Connecticut." He must acknowledge that he is taking an extraordinary step to run as an independent, and to make the case that the stakes are so huge for the country and for his party that he has no other choice. He must make clear that he runs as an independent to prevent the takeover of the Democratic Party by political fringe groups that can't win because they don't deserve to win. Those fanatics attempted to criminalize Lieberman's common sense, his coalition building, his willingness to transcend partisan divides. Worst of all, they may not have questioned Lieberman's patriotism, but they questioned the value of patriotism itself-- an even worse tactic. "It's because of this effort to discredit and disregard all that's best in our political tradition, and in my public service," the Senator ought to say, "that I ask all my fellow citizens - of every party - who value that tradition and value that service, to join me in this unprecedented fight. It's a fight for patriotism over partisanship, for decency over demagoguery." If he makes the case that this election is crucially important (and I suspect it is) then it makes some sense for him to abandon all precedent and take on the nominee of his own party.

2. Concerning his new candidacy, Lieberman has repeatedly emphasized the fact that he still sees himself as a Democrat, and plans to caucus with his fellow Democrats and, if the opportunity presents itself, to give them his vote to take over the Senate. This is a bad move, and it may cost him the Republican and Independent support he will need to beat Lamont in November. Instead of running as a second Democratic alternative, Joe ought to embrace the independent status that his party's rejection has forced on him. For one thing, registered independents vastly outnumber Democrats (and Republicans) in Connecticut. For another, it makes no sense for Joe to come back to the Senate and to embrace his old friends on the Democratic side of the asile as if nothing has happened -- even after they all come out for his opponent and even travel to Connecticut to campaign for Lamont. Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton and other colleagues have already expressed their backing for Lamont, and their abandonment of Lieberman; John Kerry never endorsed Joe even in the primary.

  It therefore makes sense for Joe to pledge that if re-elected, he will return to Washington is a much needed independent voice for both Connecticut -- and the nation. He should refuse to caucus with either major party -- and establish an independent caucus of his own, which other Senators are welcome to join. If he does that, it makes it much easier for Republicans to follow our instincts and jump to Joe's support. He shouldn't be punished and smeared for supporting the troops and the president. If Joe pledges to exempt himself from partisan battles for control of the Senate, many leading lights of the GOP will come to his aid, combining with his remaining base among Democrats to establish a convincing margin of victory. If, however, the GOP decides to put up a credible candidate of its own (in place of the implausible and scandal-tinged Art Schlesinger) then Lamont would probably win as conservatives and moderates split their votes between Lieberman and the Republican nominee.

   Joe Lieberman must learn quick lessons from this difficult campaign. He should already realize that the Democratic Party has moved far to the left, and even further in the direction of shrill militancy, from the time of his Vice Presidential race just six years ago. His erstwhile running mate in that campaign, Al Gore, is an additional example of that new, ranting leftism and stridency.

  In responding to this ugly element in his own party, Joe should realize in his heart of hearts that it's not enough to remind people that he's a nice guy, who brought  lots of government favors to Connecticut. He must also show that he's a fighter -- hoping to battle shoulder to shoulder with Republicans and independents to resist the hysterical depradation sof the militant left.