Joementum: 5ive Gears in Reverse

— -- WASHINGTON, August 3

Today's political match-ups (personality driven, per usual):
Joe Lieberman versus Joe Lieberman. (Ned Lamont is just a stand in.)
Donald Rumsfeld versus Hillary Clinton. (Senator Warner is just a gaveler.)
President Bush versus his poll standing on immigration in the Bloomberg/LAT poll. (The State of the Union is just a distant memory.)
Ken Mehlman versus the Ghost of Ed Gillespie Past. (History is just a cruel prison.)
Harold Ford versus the definition of the New South. (Jim Margolis's ads are just a necessary -- but not sufficient -- element.)

According to a Quinnipiac poll released this morning, Ned Lamont has opened up a 54 - 41 percent lead over Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) among likely Democratic primary voters. Grim as that is for the incumbent, one has the informed sense that the 13 percentage point gap might actually show the race closer than some other data that Lieberman has seen of late.

Undaunted, Sen. Lieberman continues to travel around Connecticut talking to voters today, attending a voter drive in Bristol and spending the rest of the afternoon shaking hands in West Hartford. Challenger Ned Lamont breakfasts with Rev. Jesse Jackson in Hartford then travels to Middletown and Meriden before returning to Hartford for a rally.

The main event at today's RNC summer meeting in Minneapolis, MN comes from 5:00-6:30 pm ET when RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman and White House political director Sara Taylor walk RNC members through the 2006 electoral landscape at the "Welcome Meeting and Strategy Session." Mehlman and Taylor are expected to take questions from RNC members. Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) is also slated to speak at the welcome meeting.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is also a part of the fray in Minnesota, starting with a closed fundraiser at the Minneapolis Club for Patty Wetterling, Democratic candidate for the 6th District. At 3:00 pm ET, she will address the "Democratic New Direction for America" conference with Reps. Martin Sabo (D-MN) and Betty McCollum (D-MN) at the Humphrey Forum at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

In Tennessee today, Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr. (D-TN) learns which Republican he will face in his quest to become the first black U.S. Senator elected in the South since Reconstruction.

The state's Republican Senate primary is a three-way contest between Bob Corker, a former Chattanooga mayor, Ed Bryant, a former House member who ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in 2002, and Van Hilleary, a former House member who ran unsuccessfully for governor that same year. (See below for more on Tennessee).

Back in Washington, the Senate continues its hectic, final week before August recess.The Senate Armed Services Committee hosts Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace, and Army General John Abizaid at a 9:30 am ET hearing on Iraq, Afghanistan, and the global war on terrorism. Rumsfeld initially said his calendar was too crowded to testify before reversing course. Secretary Rumseld, Gen. Pace, and Secretary Rice participate in a closed 2:00 pm ET briefing on Iraq for members of the Senate.LINK

The New York Post curtain raises today's Senate Armed Services Committee hearing with the Clinton-centric focus, after the Junior Senator from New York's taunting press release preceded the SecDef's decision to appear. LINK

President Bush tours the Rio Grande Valley border patrol operations at 2:50 pm ET, he views a demonstration a National Guard demonstration at 3:30 pm ET, and delivers remarks about comprehensive immigration reform at 3:55 pm ET before starting his vacation.

The Mission Monitor reports that McAllen Mayor Richard Cortez and Mission Mayor Beto Salinas are both slated to briefly meet with Bush before attending the speechLINK

The Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg News surveyed the President's leadership across a variety of fronts and found that 60% disapprove of his handling of Iraq and 59% disapprove of his handling of the economy.

Los Angeles Times header: "Poor Marks for Bush on Iraq, Economy."LINK

Bloomberg News header: "U.S. Anxiety Over Terrorism, War Test Bush's Core Strength, Poll Finds." LINK

In Austin, TX, a three-judge federal panel hears arguments on how to redraw southwest Texas congressional districts to restore minority power. The AP reports that a ruling must come by Monday if elections are to proceed on time. LINK

In the Capitol's Mansfield room at 12:15 pm ET, Senate Democrats call on Congress to put "sound science and stem cell research before the right wing, and a raise in the minimum wage before trillion-dollar handouts to multi-millionaires."

At 10:30 am ET, the Senate Finance Committee holds a hearing titled "Kick-Off for Tax Reform: Tackling the Tax Code" in Dirksen 106. Witnesses include Connie Mack III, the chairman of the President's advisory panel on tax reform, former Sen. John Breaux (D-LA), and others.

In the afternoon, Sens. Harry Reid (D-NV) and John Ensign (R-NV) testify to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee about the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste facility.

The Senate reconvenes at 9:30 am ET and resumes consideration of the fiscal 2007 Defense appropriations bill (HR 5631). Roll call votes are expected throughout the day.

Sen. Lieberman's primary politics:
"New Poll Shows Lieberman Losing Ground," the AP on Sen. Lieberman shedding more "Joementum" in his race with Lamont, with a new Quinnipiac poll showing a thirteen point discrepancy in Lamont's favor. LINK

"Lieberman Rips W's War Plan," The New York Daily News on Sen. Lieberman's "Hail Mary" attack on the war on terrorLINK

ABC News' Jake Tapper looks at the Quinnipiac poll numbers and writes in his Political Punch blog that Lieberman is "lashing out, going negative, acting like he's applied a few too many of Floyd Landis's alleged testosterone patches. LINK