After Lamont's (Pyrrhic) victory in Connecticut, why aren't the netroots trying to take a bite out of Hillary in her Democratic primary? They do, after all, despise her for her support of the war and general moderate makeover.

Well, I sat down last week with Hillary's Democratic challenger, union leader and organizer John Tasini, and he had a pretty simple answer: The netroots are afraid of Hillary:

"Many progressives fear confronting my opponent's machine - which does take names and does keep lists," Tasini told me over lunch in the West Village last week. "People are hedging their bets - Washington is a place that hinges on access." Otherwise, Tasini said, "Why take on Joe Lieberman and not Hillary Clinton?"

None of this bodes well for the netroots' chances to "stop Hillary" in 2008.