Alan Schlesinger. A Republican Candidate in Connecticut.

I was watching a clip from Hardball in which Chris Matthews interviewed Alan Schlesinger, the republican candidate in the Connecticut race. The guy did a pretty good job answering some pointed questions, and he seems to be a serious person (despite the gambling issue).

As we all know, the GOP has decided to abandon Schlesinger in the race, and instead support the "neorepublican" and neoconservative extremist Joe Lieberman. Interestingly, Schlesinger is clearly more of a republican in terms of social and economic issues than Lieberman, but Lieberman appears to be on the right of Schlesinger in terms of foreign policy (Iraq war).

Schlesinger said in that interview that he wants 50% of the US troops out of Iraq within a year. So, as the Connecticut race shapes, we have one democrat (Lamont) and two republicans in the race (Lieberman and Schlesinger), with Lieberman having the official GOP support. Lieberman is clearly not the centrist in the race, and he is the most far right candidate in terms of foreign policy. He may also be to the right of Schlesinger in other issues as well. For instance, we do not know at this point what was the position of Schlesinger in the Terri Schiavo case.

Despite the low polling numbers of Schlesinger, he appears determined to stay in the race. It is possible that as he becomes more known after the TV debates with Lamont, that his numbers among republicans in Connecticut, will increase, especially among those that are not as hawkish as Lieberman and who are dissatisfied with Bush. He may also collect votes from republicans that are dissatisfied with Bush in general, if the Lamont campaign makes clear that a vote for the other republican in the race (Joe Lieberman) is a vote for George Bush.