Clinton Says She'll Back Either Dem Nominee In Ct., Schumer 's Decision Not So Easy

Given his statements over the weekend that he'll run as an indepedendent if he loses next month's Democratic primary, Connecticute Sen. Joe Liberman has put lots of politicians in the Nutmeg State and elsewhere in a tough spot.

New York's junior senator, Hillary Clinton, according to an Associated Press story today, said she will back the winner in the Connecticut primary, whether it's Lieberman or challenger Ned Lamont.

New York's senior senator, Democrat Charles Schumer, is skating on ice that is a bit thinner given his role as head of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. The Politicker reports today that Schumer will only say he expects Lieberman to win the primary and will not speculate beyond that vote. The New York Observer's political blog also quotes Schumer as saying that the money liberal bloggers are raising for Lamont could best be used elsewhere.

GOOGLE TRENDS FAVOR LAMONT

Speaking of liberal bloggers supporting Lamont, My Left Nutmeg says something it is calling Google trends indicate Lamont will beat Lieberman. According to the blog, the number of Google searches for Lamont's name is surpassing those of Lieberman's name, indicating - the blog says - that Lamont is controlling the momentum (nothing was said about the Joe-mentum though). See the chart here. The site also offers this story in today's New York Times to support the relaibility of Google-trend information.

FASO GETTING LITTLE HELP FROM HIS GOP FRIENDS

Republican gubenatorial candidate John Faso is not getting much financial backing from party leaders, or his former opponent William Weld, the New York Sun reports today. The Sun reports that the level of contributions is not only important to Faso for the actual dollars he'd receive, but perhaps more importantly as a measure of his viability as a candidate as campaign-funding reports for the April-June period become public on July 15.

DEMS SHOW GILLIBRAND THE MONEY

On the other hand, the Democratic Party seems quite happy to support Kirsten Gillibrand in her bid to unseat Rep. John Sweeney in New York's 20th Congressional District.

Capitol Confidential reports today that Rham Emanuel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, will be making a fund-raising swing through the state, starting with a stop tonight at a meet-and-greet for Gillibrand.

The Albany Times-Union's political blog says Emanuel hopes to stop in several districts in the state that seem to be "in play" for the Democrats.

One of the districts not named is the 19th, where six Democrats remain in the race to take on Republican incumbent Rep. Sue Kelly in November. It's not clear whether Emanuel and the national party don't find the seat to be winnable, or that the national party is reluctant to meddle until the issue is settled locally and one candidate emerges. For the six candidates still in the race, they better hope it's the latter, because they will need the funds that could/would be provided by national party leaders if they felt a victory was a good possibility.