GOP looking emaciated.

One has to wonder just how much bad news Republicans can take. The polls continue to look bad for them. Here is some of the more recent bad news.

In Connecticut the big government Democrat Joe Lieberman lost his primary because of "the kiss" -- not just the actual kiss George Bush planted on him but the political kiss where Lieberman as seen as being a Bushian war advocate. Joe had a fit over the rejection and decided to run as an independent against the official Democratic candidate Ned Lamont. Now Lieberman running as a big government Independent should have a chance in hell. After all the Republicans have their own big government candidate (no one in this race favours Constitution government).

But King George stabbed the Republican candidate in the back and the Republicans have been channeling funds to Lieberman. Joe claims he'll caucus with the Democrats but I wouldn't bet on it. I would suspect there is a decent chance he'll switch to the Republicans if he wins. So the Republican is out in the cold, no endorsements from his own party. Lieberman pretends to be a Democrat running as an independent candidates who just happens to have huge Republican support. He should keep a good number of his Democratic voters and gain the Republican vote too. It ought to be a cake walk under those circumstances. It isn't. The lastest polls show Lieberman holding a slim 2 point margin.

Then there is Ohio. The incumbent Senator up for election is Republican Mike DeWine. Come election day he may doing de whine. He is is trailing Democrat Sherrod Brown by 6 points. It was long ago that he enjoyed a 5 point lead. The trends are against him.

Next we can go to Rhode Island. The Republican incumbent Senator Lincoln Chafee in severe trouble. And Chafee is an old moderate to Left Republican not a raving Bushite. He fought a bitter primary battle against a far right conservative from the theocratic wing of the GOP. The top brass in the GOP, fearful of losing the seat in November, poured money on Chafee to keep him as their candidate figuring he had the best chance of winning. His "best chance" isn't that good. He now trails the Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse by 8 points.

Support for Whitehouse among Democrats has increased substantially. Rasmussen polling thinks the cause may be "the inadvertent result of the national Republican establishment's visible support for Chafee." The administration is not popular in Rhode Island. Only 20% of the voters approve of Bush.