In 1988, Connecticut voters decided their incumbent U.S. senator, Lowell Weicker, was moving too far to the left, and replaced him with the reputedly more conservative Democrat Joe Lieberman.

The national party honored Lieberman with its vice-presidential nomination six years ago, again playing up his more conservative credentials to balance their ticket.

But it was Lieberman's "conservatism" on one issue -- his support of Republican President George W. Bush on the War on Terror in general, and the war in Iraq in particular, that cost him his party's nomination Tuesday, as the incumbent senator fell to challenger, political novice, and largely one-issue candidate Ned Lamont by a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent.

It appears Lieberman will face Lamont again in November, because the incumbent senator says he will run in the general election -- where he can expect considerable Republican support -- as an independent. (Republican nominee and Derby Mayor Allan Schlesinger is being pressed by state party officials to withdraw.)

The major question, though, is what Sen. Lieberman's narrow defeat means for Democrats.

It means, to be succinct, that in the liberal heartland, the party rank and file are sick of Democratic politicians putting their fingers to the wind, offering no real alternative to the Bush Republicans other than, "We would do the same things, but slightly better."

Democrats need to find their principles and stand by them, trusting they will be proven right in the long run, even if the day-to-day polls show some of those stances to be unpopular today.

If the minority party wants to rein in what they see as abusive policies in domestic spying, they should spell out how much privacy they would restore and what increased risks of terrorism they are willing to endure -- or why they believe this is a false trade-off.

If they believe Iraq is the wrong war in the wrong place, they need to articulate whether they hope to pull back to this continent and hope for the best, letting the forces that led to Sept. 11 fester, or, alternatively (this would be a shocker), how they plan to "bulk up" a less politically correct U.S. military, able to strike terror into the hearts of any potential enemy and avoid wasting energy on "powdered milk" missions.

Democrats are widely seen as offering no inspiring or even coherent vision for the future, other than "more taxes, more regulations and making everyone play nice."

Many Connecticut Democrats said: "So because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth."