Comments on: Lamont Closing Gap with Lieberman?

By: Robert Prather

Robert Prather — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 06:37:37 +0000

Brian,

I agree with your assessment as well. I agree with both of you that he is really a Democrat. He's just getting flack from the left in his party, and will caucus with Dems regardless when January comes.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 22:14:39 +0000

Yetanotherjohn-The knock on Lieberman isn't for any one particular view (though the war comes closest). The biggest issue liberals have with him is his tendency to badmouth the party constantly in the media. It is very similar to John McCain, a conservative man who is very loud in his few disagreements with the party. But you are correct in your assessment that Lieberman has much more in common with Democrats than Republicans. If he won as an independent, I would expect him to caucus with the Democrats, as national figures have been very supportive of his reelection bid.

By: yetanotherjohn

yetanotherjohn — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 21:13:33 +0000

The problem is that to run as an independent, he needs about 6K to 7K of voter signatures to be turned in the day after the primary. Lamont is calling on Lieberman to join him in a pledge to support whomever is the democratic candidate selected in the primary election (something is much more in Lamont's interest than Lieberman). Gathering the signatures now makes him look like a) not a loyal democrat and b) running scared of Lamont.

Then you get the whole issue of what he does if he goes to the senate as a independent. Does he organize with the democrats or republicans. He has much more in common with the democrats than the republicans. But the democrats are the ones who pushed him out and they can offer more being the party in the majority.

So maybe your idea that he just ignores everything else and runs as an independent now makes sense, but it does open other cans of worms.

Another thought struck me. The majority of the flack I hear on Lieberman is that he is for the war and not against it. Given that all but 6 of the democrats just voted in favor of this position, why is he considered out of the democratic mainstream?