Apologies for the title — it’s the Boston Herald’s wording, not mine:

The late U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s son, Ted Jr., is among the names being floated as potential candidates for Connecticut U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman’s seat in 2012.

Kennedy, the middle child of the late senator and his former wife, Joan, has been mentioned as a possible candidate for Lieberman’s seat, which the 23-year senator is giving up when his term ends next year. One Kennedy family friend called the 49-year-old attorney, who lives in Connecticut, a “great candidate.”

Earlier this month, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, lamenting the fact that for the first time in over six decades a Kennedy doesn’t hold public office in Washington, said “we need a Kennedy [in DC]” (“we” meaning “the family” I assume).

The above story might not otherwise be worth mentioning, except that fairly recently, such as in this 2009 interview with USA Today, Ted Jr. seemed open to the idea of following in his father’s political footsteps (bonus challenge: guess which part made me spit coffee halfway across the living room):

Ted Kennedy Jr., the oldest son of the late senator Edward Kennedy, answered with an intriguing “maybe” this morning when USA TODAY asked whether he’d be interested in following his famous father (and his younger brother, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I.) into politics.

Out promoting their father’s just-released memoir, True Compass, the senator’s sons did nothing to discourage speculation about the potential for another Ted Kennedy in politics.

“Maybe I’ll run for public office. I haven’t crossed that bridge yet,” Ted Jr. said.

I still haven’t gotten the stain out of the carpet.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

Sen. Joe Lieberman is on board with Demcare now, but nutroots hero Al Franken couldn’t help exercising his power as chair on the Senate floor this afternoon to deny Liebs an extra minute or two to finish some remarks this afternoon.

Call it nutroots red meat. Or blue meat.

Liebs reacts with amusement: “Really?”

Liebs’ old friend John McCain fumed at the petty behavior, calling for “comity” in the Senate chamber.

Maybe he meant “comedy:”

CSPAN vid here.

***

Update 6:20pm Eastern:

Franken’s spokesperson justified the snit fit by telling a reporter that the urgency of passing the Senate defense authorization bill meant there was not a minute to spare:

Franken’s spokeswoman, Jess McIntosh, said that the Minnesota senator wouldn’t allow Lieberman to continue because time limits were being enforced by Senate leaders rushing to finish a defense spending bill and get to the health bill.

But as I type, Harry Reid is nearly an hour late to the Senate floor to make a motion to adjourn.

Ooutrageous outrage delaying decision-making for the troops!!!

***

6:34pm Eastern: Reid shows up more than an hour later than he told other Senators to come to the floor. Apologizes and says “other business” prevented him from being on time. Moves to recess Senate until 12:01am. This will clear the way to hold the cloture vote on the defense authorization bill as early as 1 hour after the Senate convenes, so the Dems can rush into health care.

Which reminds me: Nope, still no sign of the Reid vapor bill yet.

6:55pm Eastern. Senate adjourned on 59-38 vote. Rush, rush, rush to the health care vote on a bill no one has seen yet.

After delaying motion to recess vote for an hour, Reid demagogues on terrible delays and accuses GOP of “playing political games.”

7:00pm Eastern: McConnell on the floor talking about how Demcare has become a “literal political nightmare.” And “they want to rush this bill through by Christmas?” And “here’s the most outrageous part: They want us to vote on a bill that no one outside majority leader’s conference room has seen. No one has seen it…This entire process is a complete charade.”

Well, ain’t that interesting: The Democrats have decided to let Joe Lieberman keep his Senate chairmanship.

I have a feeling the nutroots aren’t going to like this lack of Change:

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, the Democrat-turned-independent from Connecticut, was allowed to keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday despite his support for Senator John McCain in the presidential campaign.

Democratic senators voted instead to strip Mr. Lieberman of a subcommittee chairmanship on the Environment and Public Works Committee, a slap on the wrist compared with the prospect of losing the homeland security leadership post.

“He’s part of this caucus,” the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, said after the Democratic caucus voted behind closed doors. “We are not looking back. We are looking forward.”

Mr. Lieberman, who had angered many Democrats by campaigning for Mr. McCain, his longtime friend, emerged from the private session looking pleased. He called the result “fair and forward-looking” and one of “reconciliation and not retribution.”

He said he was looking forward to working with President-elect Barack Obama — whom he criticized during the campaign — “to keep the American people secure at home” as well as abroad.

Before the meeting, Mr. Lieberman said he was optimistic. “I’m going into a roomful of friends,” he told The Associated Press

Actually, Mr. Lieberman has been a source of consternation to Democrats since 2006, when he lost the Democratic primary to Ned Lamont, a businessman from Greenwich. But instead of retiring quietly, Mr. Lieberman won a fourth term as an independent. Since then, he has sided with Democrats on most issues, with the notable exception of the war in Iraq, which he has supported.

(link)

And here’s the same question for unregistered readers (always interesting to compare the results):

Yup. Greg at The Political Pit Bull thinks he was a bit over the top, but agrees Schlesinger made the most of the debate. He’s got video highlights.

The New York Times notes that nobody talked much at the debate about the one issue that was supposed to guarantee Ned Lamont his Senate seat–Iraq:

…the three-way debate was a stilted and at times awkward exchange punctuated by sarcastic swipes from the candidates, who stood at podiums in front of a large audience in a hotel ballroom here, and it did not appear to break much new substantive ground.

Surprisingly, none of the contenders made a forceful effort to focus on Iraq, the issue that had propelled Mr. Lamont to the forefront of the race earlier this year. Instead they spoke at length about domestic issues, particularly those related to the economy, as they each tried to appeal to multiple voting blocs at once.

Mr. Lamont repeatedly referred to his career in business, part of his attempt to broaden his message beyond his opposition to the war in Iraq and to cut into Mr. Lieberman’s support from moderate Democrats.

Methinks it’s too late for Johnny One Note to change his tune.

The most significant development of the campaign is how dispirited some of the unhinged Left now seem to be about the once-indomitable Lamont campaign. At HuffPo, Arianna’s begging for readers to “help save Lamont” and lamenting Lamont’s move to the center:

It is bitterly ironic that instead of building on that momentum by continuing to make his case against Lieberman, Lamont has let himself become enmeshed in the same consultant-driven culture of caution and blandness that has produced a steady stream of modern candidates more worried about stepping on the land mines laid out by their opponents’ campaign teams than stepping forward to lead. The addition to the Lamont campaign after the primary of Democratic insiders Howard Wolfson, Doug Schoen, and Stephanie Cutter has been part of the problem. According to their poll-driven culture, one must move to the center and appeal to those in the middle. And, as a result, once-promising politicians are insidiously encouraged to lose their moral bearing — and the authenticity that made them so compelling in the first place. In the attempt to appeal to everyone, they end up losing their appeal. As Bill Curry puts it in the Hartford Courant , “Inundated with insider advice, [Lamont] grew more cautious; his message became blurred and ineffective…Three televised debates in the next eight days may tell the outcome. To win, Lamont must come off the ropes and go on the attack.”

A recent poll showed Lamont only getting the support of 57 percent of voters who disapprove of Bush’s Iraq policy, and another showed Lieberman still being backed by 35 percent of Connecticut Democrats (perhaps these folks missed his recent reply when asked if America would be better off if Dems regained control of the House). Lamont is somehow letting Joe Lieberman get away with being the only candidate in the country who’s actually benefiting from running as a Republican…

…So why not have Ned Lamont lock himself in a room tomorrow and deliver his concession speech to a few of his most trusted friends so he can be freed up to act as if there is nothing left to lose between now and the election? Why wait for the inevitable post-game Monday morning quarterbacking when, with a little help from the blogosphere, the Lamont campaign can do some pre-game Sunday afternoon quarterbacking that might help get Lamont to the U.S. Senate?

At some point, Ned Lamont is going to speak from the heart, and tell us about his hopes and dreams for the country, and the passion that drove him to challenge Joe Lieberman when almost everyone said it couldn’t be done. The only question is whether he’ll do it now, and win, or do it on the evening of Nov. 7, as he thanks his crest-fallen supporters.

To make sure that Lamont never has to grit his teeth and congratulate Joe Lieberman on his victory, why don’t we help write his “concession speech” now? Post your ideas in the comments section below and we’ll cobble the best ones together and send the speech to the Lamont campaign.

Oh, yes, yes, please. I heartily encourage Lamont to listen to the campaign advice of embittered Arianna and her HuffPo-sters. The electoral record of the left side of the blogosphere, as we all know, is sterling.

In a startling display of bipartisan spirit, President Bush, after his State of the Union speech, gave Connecticut Democrat Joe Lieberman much more than an olive branch.

Descending into the well of the House and into a swarm of well-wishers Bush spotted Lieberman and quickly approached him. Bush wrapped both arms around the Connecticut senator’s head, pulling him closer and appeared to plant a kiss on his right cheek.”I was surprised,” the senator said later. “I extended my hand and he was good enough to give me a manly embrace.”

Some Democrats are livid about the public display of bipartisan affection between the two men. But isn’t “reaching out” and “healing” what the Democrats wanted the president to do?