Cheat Sheet

Mitch McConnell has reportedly offered Joe Lieberman a seat in the Republican caucus. Lieberman is weighing that offer, which includes no high-ranking committee slots, against Majority Leader Harry Reid’s offer, which would strip Lieberman of his Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs chairmanship, but would: a) keep him in the Democratic Caucus, b) allow him to retain his seniority, and c) give him the chairmanship of something else. “That, by any reasonable measure,” Steve Benen writes at Political Animal, “is ridiculously gracious of Reid.” And yet Lieberman has termed it “unacceptable.” With their majority now cemented, “the fact remains that Democrats don't really need him. He has no leverage.” Rather than cave to Lieberman, the Democrats might be better off by letting him walk.