There’s really only one story in the world of politics this morning, and it connects directly to the Iraq War, the rise of the liberal blogosphere, and the mood of the country heading into the Congressional elections this fall.

It’s the story of last night’s upset victory by political novice Ned Lamont, who defeated 18-year incumbent Senator Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut Democratic primary. And it’s a story that’s making Democrats and Republicans alike quite nervous.

In the New York Times, Adam Nagourney sees Lamont’s win as a referendum on Iraq and a sign of the “stiff anti-status-quo winds blowing across the political landscape as the fall elections approach.”

But more than that, the results of this most closely watched primary of the year raised red flags for both parties, going into the highly competitive fall elections.

For Democrats, the result — closer than polls suggested and than many Democrats had expected — dramatized the fault lines in the party over the war…

For Republicans already contemplating a gloomy fall horizon, the Lamont victory suggested that many Democrats — stirred by their opposition to the war and hostility toward Mr. Bush — are as energized as any group of voters in years, enough so to move them to the voting booth in huge numbers.

In the Washington Post, Shailagh Murray sees a potent combination of net-roots and grass-roots support.

Six months ago, Ned Lamont’s name recognition was, within the margin of error, zero.

Over at Salon, Joan Walsh has some marching orders for the Democratic establishment:

Now, if Democratic party leaders have any courage, they’ll lock arms against Lieberman’s selfish move and repudiate him just as boldly and quickly as Lieberman declared he would run. Because Lieberman’s run is selfish, and politically stupid. His “concession” speech echoed the Beltway wisdom that he’d been defeated by Bush haters, by the “politics of polarization.” But Lamont’s victory is more than the surprise uprising of Cindy Sheehan’s Camp Casey from last summer. The country has turned against the Iraq war, and Democrats like Lieberman — and Republicans like, well, most Republicans — have lost the battle for the middle ground.

Lamont’s victory isn’t just a win for the antiwar wing of the party. It’s a victory for Americans who fear the recklessness of the Bush administration, who feel the wheels are falling off the truck, and who want Democrats to fix it. Mainstream Democrats who can’t see that political reality are a threat to the party.

And of course, Kos has his own marching orders.

In other news…

Israel shuts down south Lebanon.

Condi allegedly furious with Bush.

And the editor of the National Review thinks global warming is great.