Least surprising news of the evening:

GOPers Thinking Of Lieberman Support

Following up: A senior Republican official in Washington confirms that the party might encourage Republicans and others to support Sen. Lieberman if he runs as an independent. There's no sense, just yet, about what those signs and signals might look like. Says the GOP official: "I just think there will be folks who want to support -- regardless of what we think. And, we don't think that's a bad thing." And Kevin F. Rennie reports that some GOPers in CT are thinking about ways to financially support Lieberman's independent bid....

--Hotline

Atrios has long said that the GOP will take advantage of a three-way race and try hard to snatch the seat away. I've never believed that and I don't believe it now. Why bother? That would require fielding a candidate who'll hit Lieberman hard, which is the last thing the GOP wants to do. Lieberman is now the GOP's poster child, a walking, breathing bloody shirt, a man who took a bullet for Bushism. Of course prominent Republicans will campaign for him. No, not, say, Tom DeLay or Rick Santorum. But Rudy Giuliani's practically going to be married to Lieberman between now and November. And watch for McCain, too.

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UPDATE: Did I say "a walking, breathing bloody shirt"? War fan Michael Goodwin puts in this way in a New York Daily News column: "Lieberman is the first casualty of the war against the war on terror." They really are going to portray Joe as a wounded veteran of the War on Terror.