Can 'Joe-Mentum' Help McCain in Blue Connecticut?

— -- Connecticut's not the kind of place a Republican presidential candidate would expect to do well in. But John McCain's not your ordinary GOPer.

If something happened that dramatically put a bunch of blue states in play, Connecticut is, like New Jersey, the kind of place where McCain could make some gains.

The nation's highest-income state, Connecticut has a streak of independence.

Longtime Senator Joe Lieberman, who served as Vice President Al Gore's running mate in 2000 and made his own bid for the White House in 2004 was reelected to Congress in 2006 as an Independent after he lost the Democratic primary to Ned Lamont.

Sen. Lieberman crossed party lines again this year to endorse his friend and Republican colleague Sen. McCain and even took a prime speaking slot at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

No Democrat has captured Connecticut's governor's mansion since 1986. A former Republican, Lowell Weicker, was elected governor in 1990 as an Independent.

But it will take a tide of a pretty good size to actually put Connecticut in play. For now, Obama can count on a likely win but no state can ever be taken for granted.