Sore-Loserman?

My favorite signs from the 2000 election debacle were the ones that took the Gore-Lieberman logos and turned them into Sore-Loserman. Seeing those signs waived around Florida was always uplifting.
A couple of conservative pundits think that Sore-Loserman is due for a return, and will be used to smack down Joe Lieberman's independent run in the general election. First Dean Barnett, writing at HughHewitt.com:

6) So you think Lamont might lose in November?

No. The Sore-Loserman thing will be too much for Joe to overcome. He’ll be way ahead in the first polls that will come out in the next ten days. By Labor Day, he’ll be losing and by Columbus Day (a really big holiday in Boston – forgive the obscure reference) he’ll drop out.

And from Byron York at National Review:

If you lose a campaign and then come around two, or four, or six years later to challenge the man who beat you, that’s one thing. If you lose a campaign and keep running as if you hadn’t lost, that’s another. From now on, every day that Lieberman campaigns, he will be reminded that he has already lost to the man he is running against. Lamont’s supporters won’t let him forget it, and Lamont himself will be happy to point it out. In his concession speech, Lieberman said, “Tomorrow is a brand new day” and promised a “new campaign to unite people of Connecticut, GOP, Democrat and independent.” But tomorrow is now today, and the race might look different to Connecticut voters.

Back in 2000, in an entirely different context, Republicans cast the Gore-Lieberman team as “Sore Loserman.” GOP anger was directed at Al Gore, who would not admit that he had lost the presidential election. At least Gore’s loss was excruciatingly, historically close. That’s not the case with Lieberman today. He lost by three and a half percentage points, with no question about the results. This time, it might be Democrats holding those “Sore Loserman” signs.

It's hard to say how that's going to play out. There are many voters in Connecticut who didn't get to express themselves in yesterday's primary because they weren't registered Dems. Last night Lamont got approximately 186,000 votes. In 2000, Lieberman won reelection with 800,000. Given that those who voted for Lieberman last night are likely to do it again in November, Lamont has to convince an awful lot of Connecticut voters that he's better than 3-term Joe, and that won't be easy.

While the Sore-Loserman gig might make some of the wackos happy, I can't believe it will really have that much effect on a state-wide campaign.