How to get urllib2 HTTPConnection object, use httplib methods?

[Brian Raymond]

I have a httplib based application and in an effort to find a quick way to start leveraging urllib2, including NTLM authentication (via python-ntlm) I am hoping there is a way to utilize an HTTPConnection object opened by urllib2. 

The goal is to change the initial opener to use urllib2, after that continue to use httplib methods.

Thanks.