Lieberman's fate in the hands of the full caucus

There's a lot of speculation about what is going to happen to Joe Lieberman's chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee. The establishment Dems are all over the place from letting bygones be bygones to various degrees of punishment. Of course, I'm already on record as wanting him to be kicked out of the caucus and stripped of his gavel. Obama is wisely staying out of it, as is appropriate now that he's President and no longer a Senator. Meanwhile, Greg Sargent has the latest buzz from inside the Beltway.

In the wake of Obama's statement today that he doesn't hold any "grudges" against Lieberman and his decision not to take a position on whether Lieberman keeps his chairmanship, I emailed a leadership aide to ask whether the vote would definitely go forward. His response:

"Yes -- this is a decision that will be made by the caucus next week. Absent a stunning series of events there will be a vote next week in the caucus on whether to strip Senator Lieberman of the chairmanship."

That would appear to make it official.

This strikes me as the way to go. Joe went really far off the reservation and not only campaigned against Obama but also against down ticket Democratic candidates. It seems just to me that everyone on the caucus should get to vote. I hope it's an open vote and not a secret ballot though, so we can find out where they all stand.

[More posts daily at The Newshoggers and The Detroit News.]