It's Democratic nominating convention day today in Connecticut

… and the anti-war liberals are hoping for a Ned Lamont victory against Senator Joe Lieberman:

He was leaning the other way weeks ago, but Bob Sanchez of New Britain intends to vote for Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman at the Democratic nominating convention Friday, rewarding Lieberman for a diligent piece of one-to-one campaigning.

“He actually called me four times,” said Sanchez, a Head Start administrator who had been angry with Lieberman over the war and skeptical of his commitment to Democratic ideals. “I had four conversations with him.”

Lieberman, 64, a three-term senator never seriously challenged for his party’s endorsement, has had to work as never before to convince Democrats that he deserves their support, even though a majority object to his backing of the war in Iraq.

He is virtually guaranteed of winning the convention, but his anti-war challenger, Ned Lamont, is expected to carry at least 15 percent of the vote, qualifying him for a rare primary against a sitting senator. Even if Lamont should fall short, he still can petition his way onto the ballot.

Polls show voters are in a nasty mood, having little faith in President Bush’s ability to manage Iraq. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll found dissatisfaction with the Republican governance of Congress – and an anger that might spill over to Democratic incumbents.

Democratic incubments who still staunchly support the Iraq war, that is. Make that Democratic inclubent (no “s” on the end) because Lieberman is about the only one left.

Lamont’s supporters include:

A growing cast of prominent activists is backing Mr. Lamont. Markos Moulitsas, who advised the presidential campaign of Howard Dean in 2004 and founded the blog Daily Kos, is appearing in a campaign commercial for Mr. Lamont. [see the ad here – ST]

James H. Dean, the brother of Howard Dean and the chairman of the grass-roots group his brother formed in 2004, supports Mr. Lamont. Tim Tagaris, recently the Democratic National Committee’s Internet outreach coordinator, has become director of Internet operations for the Lamont campaign.

Even the state’s best-known independent, former Gov. Lowell P. Weicker, has announced his support for Mr. Lamont because of Mr. Lieberman’s support of the war.

On Tuesday, the National Organization for Women’s political action committee endorsed Mr. Lamont, in part because he said, unlike Senator Lieberman, that he would have supported a filibuster to prevent confirmation hearings for Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court.

Good luck today to Senator Lieberman, but I doubt he needs it. My hat is off to the guy for standing behind his Iraq war vote even today, while so many other Democrats who made a big show of their support for the Iraq war initially, turned into fair weather friends and decided because the situation in Iraq has been up and down – and because their anti-war base were flipping out over the support of it – that they needed to ‘change course.’

Hat tip: Right Voices, who has some additional links of interest.