Joe Lieberman for Secretary of Defense

It's not over 'til it's over.

Maybe majority leader Harry Reid shouldn't measure the curtains in his new office just yet.

Whether he knows it or not, if he decides not to go ahead with the plan to name former CIA director Robert Gates to the job of defense secretary, the president has one more rabbit in his hat. In one move, Bush can take back the Senate and put the Democrats in a box on the war. How? Appoint Joe Lieberman.

Would Lieberman do it? Sure he would. In a house full of egos, Lieberman's is the one that sucks the air out of the room. "Senator," Bush says, "you're the only man in the world who can bring everyone together on Iraq. Peace with Honor, Joe. Only you can do it."

With Joe at the DOD, a nominal Democrat is now responsible for the war. And the appointment can be cited as proof that Bush was serious when, with as straight a face as he can manage, he announced at his press conference yesterday that a new era of bipartisanship has arrived.

Best of all from the White House point of view, Connecticut's Republican governor M. Jodi Rell gets to appoint his replacement until a special election can be held, up to two years from now.

Welcome to Republican control of the Senate.