Connecticut Democratic U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman and his primary opponent, Ned Lamont, will hold a televised debate the evening of July 6 in West Hartford. The Connecticut Democratic primary will be on August 8. This is the most interesting major party U.S. Senate primary in the nation this year, since there is a chance that an incumbent U.S. Senator may lose his own party’s primary.

Senator Lieberman refuses to rule out the possibility that he will run as an independent. He would need 7,500 valid signatures by August 9 to run as an independent. The fact that he is a registered Democrat, and that he is running in a Democratic primary, does not bar him from qualifying as an independent. The former Democratic state chair, John F. Droney, a close associate of Lieberman’s, advocates that Lieberman drop out of the Democratic race now and begin circulating a petition. Clearly, the reaction to this first Lieberman-Lamont debate on July 6 will powerfully affect what the Democratic primary voters are likely to do, and what path Lieberman will choose.

On June 15, the Idaho Republican Party state convention voted to work for a closed primary for Idaho. The vote was 221-66. Idaho has had primary elections since 1909, and they have always been open (i.e., any voter showing up at the polls on primary day has been free to choose any party’s primary ballot).

On June 16, the Louisiana legislature gave final approval to SB 18, which changes Louisiana congressional elections from “top-two” to a closed primary system. Independent voters would choose which party’s primary ballot to use (although any qualified party could pass a bylaw barring independents from voting in its primary).

The Associated Press writer in Louisiana, when writing articles about SB 18, has consistently and erroneously said that only the Democratic and Republican Parties would have primaries to choose congressional candidates. In reality, five parties will hold primaries (Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, Green and Reform).