Howard Fineman said this on Countdown:

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OLBERMANN: ...is there something, there‘s always a conspiracy theory behind everything, is there anything to this idea that Joe Lieberman‘s threat to switch parties if he feels, quote, “separated from the caucus,” did that play into this, to some degree?

FINEMAN: Maybe to a small degree. I think the bigger fact in the Senate is that Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, and George Bush and Karl Rove have always focused on keeping the Republicans together enough, with the help of Joe Lieberman, as necessary, to sustain a veto by the president.

And they‘ve looked at the number 41 all along. That‘s the number of senators you need to sustain the president‘s position. Forty-one, 41, 41. We‘re not talking about George H.W. Bush here, we‘re talking about the arithmetic in the Senate. Lieberman helps that arithmetic. He‘s more important there than in the other scenario you‘re talking about, because I frankly think Lieberman knows that were he to switch parties, he would lose all of the allure and the clout that he now has. His clout depends on being a renegade in his own party, not the newest pledge in the Republican fraternity.

Stop coddling the man that is a thorn in your side. Force him to make a choice. He's already stiffed Katrina victims. Either you're a Democrat or not, but giving him this power is senseless. If he says he'll vote his heart the way he campaigned on than he'll still vote for our causes. If it's all about power then he'll vote with the Republicans 90% of the time out of spite and CT will make their voices heard. He's already fundraising for one Republican. Who will be next?