Notice anything missing?

Via Meteor Blades...

In California, supporters of abolishing the death penalty have gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures to place a measure on the November ballot, while activists and lawmakers in Maryland, Kansas, Ohio and Connecticut are gearing up for legislative battles in their states.

Why not Washington?

From the "Why not Washington?" file.

Andrew Leonard at Salon...

In Connecticut, Democratic control of the governorship and state legislature have pushed through an agenda of higher taxes and extended social welfare safety net benefits that must make President Obama green with envy.

I'm kinda green myself. I mean, we have Democratic control of the governorship and the state legislature. Why not Washington?

Oh yeah, we have direct initiatives, too. They don't hamstring their elected representatives that way. If that's not the "why not," it's a "why not."

Time to end the incurably corrupt practice and its perversely anti-democratic outcomes.

Past time.

And, perhaps, the most pleasing...

Steve Kornacki...

...the most plausible scenario for Joe Lieberman in 2012, the more you look at things, may just be that he walks away. For good.

Sure, there'd be a measure of satisfaction in actually voting him out, but we're probably all better off if he faces the facts and leaves the stage.

Fun Facts.

Via Eli Sanders at Slog...

Barack Obama's approval rating with Connecticut Republicans is higher than Lieberman's with the state's Democrats.

Pleasant? Sure...

...but not so surprising. Via Political Wire...

Sen. Chris Dodd's (D-CT) re-election effort "brought in more than $1.2 million in the second quarter of 2009, topping his first quarter fundraising total and outraising all other candidates in the race," the Hartford Courant reports.

The fact that he's raising this kind of money in the wake of some early ugliness in the polls is evidence of a rally that I expect will be reflected in future surveys.

Better that pleasant, really. It's great news for Senator Dodd and that's good news to me.