In neighboring Connecticut, the Lieberman/Lamont primary vote took place today. Here in Massachusetts we don't vote until September.

A side effect of the nastiness and "irregularities" during the last two presidential elections is a deep feeling of distrust about our electoral system. Oh, not so much that I wouldn't vote. I guess I still believe in voting. I guess.

But subliminal suspicions swirl in the back of my mind, a feeling that any election might be tweaked through the myriad methods we've heard about: disqualifying voters, "losing" votes, too few voting machines. Because once you know these methods have been used on a widespread basis for a recent big election, you wonder what would keep people from using them in other elections.

From there, it's just a little nudge to suspect that perhaps the Republicans might want to help Senator Joe Lieberman, who, despite his flaws, isn't quite a Zell Miller Democrat. (And, yes, at this point I know Lieberman has conceded and Lamont has won the race.) Of course it's not likely that Repubs would use such methods to help a Dem but there's that little doubt introduced by the recent past. That's the poison of knowing about these vile practices:
All sense of trust in the electoral system begins to break down.

Welcome to the Thunderdome.