Ned? Not So Much.

After two unsuccessful statewide campaigns in four years, Ned Lamont says he is strongly disinclined to make another run at Joe Lieberman in the 2012 race for U.S. Senate.

Lamont, 56, who ran for Senate in 2006 and governor in 2010, said other potential Democratic candidates have called to gauge his interest in a rematch with Lieberman.

"I say, 'Well, go for it,' " Lamont said Tuesday. "I've been through the meat grinder with my family."

Lamont was a political outsider who became a hero of the political left and the emerging Netroots in 2006 by opposing Lieberman over the war in Iraq, a fight no other politician would take on.

"Four years ago, I couldn't get anybody to challenge Joe Lieberman. It looked like an impossible race," Lamont said. "Four years later, there's going to be a number of good folks ready to make the challenge."

Lamont made it easier for other Democrats to take on Lieberman in 2012 by winning the Democratic primary in 2006. Lieberman stayed in the race and won as an independent, but he will have a tougher time winning a three-way race again if there is a strong Republican in the field.

U.S. Rep. Christopher Murphy, D-5th District, and Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz are the two Democrats known to be seriously weighing a campaign, while Ted Kennedy Jr. has publicly waved off speculation he might run.

READ MORE