Sen. Joe Lieberman

[Human]

Nelson, you once asked me if I thought that the Democrats Eat Their own?

 

I WILL Respond to you Now. LIEBERMAN

 

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http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/lo...ty/15223957.htm

 

Area Democrats dread a Lieberman loss Party loyalists in Pennsylvania and New Jersey fear the senator will run as an independent, creating a dilemma.

By Tom Infield and Leonard Fleming

Inquirer Staff Writers

Democrats from Pennsylvania and New Jersey have contributed almost $400,000 to help U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman defeat a challenger in today's Connecticut primary.

 

If Lieberman loses, as polls suggest he might, those Democrats may be forced to make a choice: Will they stand by Lieberman if he runs as an independent candidate this fall? Or will they accept the primary verdict and not oppose the Democratic nominee?

 

Lieberman has been collecting signatures to run as an independent should he choose to.

 

Mark Aronchick, a former chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association and longtime Democratic fund-raiser, said the choice, for him, would be "a torment."

 

"My first response would be that I'm going to fall in line with the party and support the Democrat," Aronchick said yesterday. "It would be a difficult decision for me, but the bigger issue would be about the Democratic Party holding together."

 

The prospect that the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000 could be defeated within his own party just six years later has made the Connecticut contest a subject of broad national interest. Ned Lamont, the cable-TV millionaire who is opposing Lieberman, has made it a race about Lieberman's backing for the Iraq war, which is very unpopular among the party's support base.

 

Several prominent Pennsylvania and New Jersey donors said one issue - even the war - was not enough for them to abandon a man they had admired for years. Lieberman has long been able to raise money outside his home state.

 

Arthur Makadon, chairman of the Ballard Spahr, a law firm in Philadelphia, said he "wouldn't be torn in the least" if Lieberman became an independent.

 

"I think his opponent in the Democratic Party is so unworthy I could never support him," Makadon said.

 

Ballard Spahr was the site of a fund-raising event for Lieberman in April.

 

Lionel Kaplan, a prominent New Jersey fund-raiser who has helped Lieberman for years, said that, win or lose, he will stick with his longtime friend.

 

"I can't imagine a situation where I would not support him through November," said Kaplan, a Trenton lawyer. "I would believe he's going to get significant support from people around the country. I will be asking my friends to support him."

 

Josh Weston, former board chairman of Automatic Data Processing Inc., a contributor to civic causes in New Jersey, said he was "more interested in seeing the seat go to a Democrat" and would not back Lieberman as an independent.

 

"That's not a good decision because it's going to split the Democratic vote and might help the Republican win," Weston said.

 

But David L. Cohen, a close adviser to Gov. Rendell, said Democrats did not have to fear a Republican victory. He noted that Connecticut leaned strongly Democratic and that the large number of independents there have long liked Lieberman. He said it was unlikely that Republican candidate Alan Schlesinger could mount a serious race.

 

As of July 19, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, Schlesinger had raised only $113,000, compared with $8.9 million for Lieberman and $4.1 million for Lamont.

 

"There would not be a risk that Joe Lieberman's entry as an independent would jeopardize a Democratic seat in the U.S. Senate," said Cohen, also a friend of Lieberman.

 

Rendell, who is up for reelection himself but has donated $1,000 to Lieberman's campaign, declined yesterday to address what Lieberman's friends should do if he ran against the party nominee Nov. 7.

 

Rendell's "attention is going to be on Pennsylvania," said Dan Fee, his campaign spokesman.

 

In New Jersey, Gov. Corzine also has not said what Democrats should do. U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.) has said the Connecticut senator should not run as an independent if he loses by a wide margin.

[Guest human_*]

This is music to my ears. It tells me that the far left HAS a strangle hold on the Democrat party, and it also tells me that the Presidential Race will be Energetic to say the least.

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http://www.latimes.com/la-na-lieberman9aug...viewed-homepage

 

Lieberman Is Defeated in Primary

Connecticut senator, who supports the war in Iraq, vows to run as an independent against Ned Lamont, an antiwar political newcomer.

By Ellen Barry, Times Staff Writer

August 9, 2006

 

 

HARTFORD, Conn. — Sen. Joe Lieberman, who angered Democratic voters with his staunch support of the war in Iraq, on Tuesday narrowly lost his party's nomination to Ned Lamont, an antiwar candidate who was unknown seven months ago.

 

Lieberman is only the fourth incumbent senator to lose his party's nomination since 1980. He promised to run for a fourth term as an independent candidate. Looking out at his supporters Tuesday night, he beamed and raised a fist defiantly in the air.

 

The old politics of polarization won today," he said. "For the sake of our state, our country and my party, I cannot and will not let that result stand."

 

The race, initially predicted as a blowout victory for Lieberman, became a lesson in how the war in Iraq has reshaped partisan politics. In Lamont's headquarters, a jubilant crowd celebrated an upset win that, last year, would not have seemed possible.

 

Lamont thanked Lieberman for "the grace and dignity with which he has served our state for many years," and vowed to act as an agent for change.

 

"Some call Connecticut 'the land of steady habits.' Connecticut voters do not call for change lightly, but today we called for change decisively," he said. "No more 'stay the course.' Stay the course is not a winning strategy in Iraq, and it is not a winning strategy in America."

 

Lamont, a wealthy cable executive, led Lieberman by less than four percentage points, with 51.8% of the vote to Lieberman's 48.2% with 99% of precincts reporting. Several of his supporters — among them Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) — said they hoped Lamont's win would prove to be a transforming moment for the Democratic Party.

 

"I believe this is the most significant election of all the Democrats that are running," Waters said. Many elected officials, she said, "could not bring themselves to stand up against this war because they thought they didn't have public support. Ned Lamont's courage will give courage to a lot of people."

 

As the race drew national attention this summer, nearly 30,000 new voters either registered as Democrats or switched their registration for the chance to vote in the primary. Turnout was close to 40%, which is 15 percentage points higher than the previous recorded turnout for a Connecticut primary.

 

An independent Lieberman campaign will force an awkward choice for state Democratic leaders: fully shift their support to the novice politician who has the party's backing, or stick with Lieberman. They must make that decision before 11 a.m. today, when Democrats will gather for a public "unity meeting," said Steven Donen, a consultant and Lieberman supporter.

 

"Do they appear with [Lamont] jointly? Do they raise money for him?" Donen asked. "Don't you support your friends through thick and thin, no matter what?"

 

Leslie O'Brien, a past executive director of the state Democratic Party, said there was no question that Democrats would embrace Lamont; the question is "how warmly." George Jepsen, a former chair of the state party who worked with Lamont's campaign, said he expected the shift to go smoothly.

 

"I've had people who have come up to me and said, 'George, I'll write him a check on Aug. 9,' " he said.

 

A year ago, Lieberman was considered so popular and well-financed that no established Democrat could be induced to run against him. Lamont officially declared his candidacy in March, five months before the primary. In January, when he began campaigning against Lieberman, his statewide name recognition was 4%, campaign manager Tom Swan said.

 

Lamont, 52, poured $2.5 million of his own money into launching the campaign and paid dozens of visits to small-town Democrats whose frustration with Lieberman was building. The challenger's vigorous, plain-spoken broadsides against the war attracted the attention of progressive activists and bloggers.

 

From the beginning, most prospective Lamont voters said they were supporting him out of dislike for Lieberman. In a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday, 54% of Lamont voters said that was the main reason they support him.

 

"Not to say anything bad about the Lamont campaign," said Kenneth Dautrich, a public policy professor at the University of Connecticut, "but this has always been about Lieberman."

 

Lieberman became a Democratic star in the '90s, a time when the party worried about losing touch with an increasingly conservative electorate.

 

The son of a liquor store owner in Stamford, Conn., Lieberman began running for office as a high school student and never stopped. At Yale University, he wrote an admiring senior thesis on John M. Bailey, Connecticut's cigar-chewing political boss whose motto was "You gotta do what you gotta do."

 

Lieberman, 64, is an Orthodox Jew who has observed the Sabbath throughout his career, refraining from driving, writing or talking on the telephone. A mild-mannered figure in the Senate, he took stands on moral issues — he chastised Hollywood for glamorizing sex and violence — and won high marks in the labor and environmental movements. Alongside an old friend, Bill Clinton, he cultivated a reputation as a centrist.

[Luke_Wilbur]

Hillary may be next. She voted for the war.

[Human]

Much more diverse group in New York, The far left wont be able to touch her.

 

In any case what the Left Wing of the democrat party probably didn't figure on is that what ever committees that Lieberman is on, he will be knocked off of them.

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Hillary may be next. She voted for the war.