We are living in the blog age.

It has been reported that Challenger Ned Lamont opened up a double digit lead over incumbent Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) in a race that has been fueled by war, exposed a liberal identify crisis and showed just how powerful the amateur press is.

Even with endorsements from President Clinton and other powerful democrats and pleads in the senate for unity, Lieberman appears to be falling behind his challenger, in an intense intra-party showdown. Connecticut newspaper, Greenwich Time, reports that Lieberman remains confident:

"I can and will win the primary Tuesday if the voters come out," Lieberman said, reacting to the poll numbers while campaigning in West Hartford.

This has been a blog war from the start, and even Lieberman admits it. In a Washington Post article yesterday, Lieberman burst out against Lamont after Jane Hamsher of the Firedoglake blog wrote an article in The Huffington Post which included a doctored photograph of Clinton in dark glasses and Lieberman in blackface.

Lieberman demanded that Lamont "sever all ties with Jane Hamsher," according to the Washington Post article.

The photo was later removed at the blogger's request, but the impact has already been felt. According to Editor & Publisher Lieberman is actually more popular in the polls with Republicans than Democrats.

Lamont did make a mistake, though. In the Post article, Lamont reportedly responded to Lieberman's denouncement of the Hamsher postings by saying: "I don't know anything about the blogs. I'm not responsible for those. I have no comment on them."

This is not true and represents either a misstep or a problem for the Lamont campaign, which knows full well that the publicity of his antiwar campaign generated from blogs and Internet press is one of the reasons why the challenger enjoys a substantial lead.

The Lamont campaign stopped short of admitting they obeyed Lieberman's demands, but did distance themselves from the articles and photos and making it clear that Hamsher is not a Lamont staffer.

The campaign and the public relations people should be distancing themselves from controversy, but Lamont is already a controversial candidate, running against a veteran senator and former presidential hopeful. Lamont, himself, could have been more pragmatic in this case.

Both candidates need to tread lightly, however. The black vote in Connecticut is going to be important as the campaigns come to a close and the polls open Tuesday. The Rev. Al Sharpton has endorsed Lamont, calling on other African Americans to do the same.

While controversial, the blogs have opened up this campaign on a nationwide scale.