I heartily endorse the idea, for four reasons. (1) What better way to herald the new Age of Civility than by drafting a guy known for comparing Al Qaeda favorably to Fox News and calling certain conservative women “mashed-up bags of meat with lipstick”? May a thousand healing flowers bloom. (2) Traffic goldmine. Think back on all the mileage we got out of Alan “Teacups” Grayson in two short years in Congress. Having Olby locked in for six probably means I can retire early. (3) This may well be the only way the GOP can pick up a seat in Connecticut. Although, if Linda McMahon runs again, who knows? “Senator Al Franken” sounded ridiculous once upon a time too (and still does, actually). Good work, Minnesota voters. (4) Guys like Olby and Teacups are actually useful as chronic reminders to the left that they have their own little rhetorical storm fronts contributing to the “climate of hate.” That’s why I often found it hard at times to get too worked up over Grayson: You could always count on him to turn the ball over and hand righties an easy lay-up. If only all players were so easy to guard.

Started by DailyKos contributor who goes by the moniker “Stranded Wind,” the movement is still very much in its infancy, and is likely to be seen as delusional by its detractors. Still, its a rather impressive reaction that says more about the loyal following that Olbermann engendered from the DailyKos, even if detractors are certain to portray this as a joke, or if there is realistically very little chance for a potential senate run.

The thinking is summed up “He is, however, just old enough, smart enough, polished enough, and has all of the other attributes that would make him a darned good Senator for the state of Connecticut,” adding “So we decided we’d draft him to replace Joe Lieberman.” There are some concerns for NOT doing this, but those get addressed as well…

So far the “movement” has set up a Facebook page (that has roughly 430 fans at this point), a Twitter feed called @DraftOlbermann and plans to launch a website early this week.

Another virtue of Olby running? Given the size of his severance deal (allegedly), he could probably fund his own campaign. And even if he couldn’t, let’s face it — there’d be plenty of MoveOn types willing to kick in. Bottomless coffers! Exit question: Olbermann vs. McMahon in Connecticut with Obama at the top of the ticket. Who wins?