Joementum may be trying to get the party to push Lamont out of the race
a la Paul Hackett, by threatening to be his usual turncoat self. Lieberman as God's gift to the people of Connecticut, as according to
Lieberman. I imagine the Democratic voters in Connecticut are going to
take a different view. They deserve Ned Lamont, and the country
deserves Ned Lamont.
Sen. Joe Lieberman's (D-Conn.) willingness to break party ranks on a variety of key issues,
including his inexplicable support for Bush's handling of the war, led
businessman Ned Lamont to launch a primary challenge this year, which
apparently is causing considerable consternation at Lieberman campaign
HQ.
In fact, Lieberman is so concerned about his future, he's apparently open to the idea of running for another term, even if he loses the primary.
Joe Lalli: Ned Lamont has already stated that he would
support you if you won the Democratic nomination and Zell Miller once
stated that he would always be a member of the Democratic party. Can
you make similar promises?
LIEBERMAN: I'll always be a member of the Democratic party. I hope
there's not a primary. I'm confident if there is one, I'll win it, but I'm not gonna rule out any other option for now because I feel so strongly that I can do better for the State of Connecticut for the next six years in the United States Senatethat I want to give all the voters a chance to make that decision on
Election day in November. I want to do it as a Democrat. If I didn't
want to do it as a Democrat, I would choose to run in some other party,
trust me. But I want to do it as a Democrat because I believe in the
Democratic party, so really the choice is up to my fellow Democrats...
In other words, stop the primary challenge or I'll jump ship and allow
all the voters (including that 70+ of Republicans who LOVE me) to vote
for me in November as an Independent.
"I'd been supporting the Biden-Lugar Amendment, a
bipartisan effort that would have required that the inspections be
completed before any military action took place. We had a good chance
of passing it. That amendment reflected my position on the war.
"Then one day we turned on the TV and Joe Lieberman was in the Rose
Garden with the President, saying that he was supporting the resolution
- as is. We realized that, as of that moment, the amendment was
effectively dead."
2354 US Casualties, 34030 Iraqi Casualties - Joe must be so proud.
We need to demand that Joe will not accept the GOP nomination.
My understanding is that no serious Republican has announced a
candidacy so far. With no credible GOP candidate on the primary ballot,
it becomes possible for Joe to recieve enough "write-ins" in the GOP
primary to get the nomination. Without a credible GOP candidate, only a
few thousand votes will win the GOP Senate nomination. In fact, he
would probably need less write-in votes than the number of signatures
needed, in Connecticut, to qualify to go on the ballot as an
Independent. Frequently, in state's where a popular incumbent runs
unopposed, those incumbents frequently end up with multiple party
nominations because of write-in votes in the other party's primary. The
Connecticut dynamic could cause just this scenario.
He's the former Attorney Gen. of the state and knows the election law so don't think he hasn't already thought of that.
Republicans may mount pressure to keep a credible GOP candidate off
the ballot for just this reason as well. If Joe wins the GOP primary
based on write-in votes, then he may feel even more entitled to
continue running. Would you be surprised if he also felt comfortable in
the role of GOP nominee as well?
Evan Derkacz described Lieberman this morning as a "reluctant Democrat."
Unfortunately, it's an accurate description.I think if he ever had to run as an Indy (and he can't because of the
filing deadline logistics), he probably siphon off more Repug votes
than Dems. This crass threat might just do him in. Good bye, good
riddance.
I couldn't help but grimace as I read this from RJ Eskow's post about Kerry on HuffingtonPost.
Quoting Kerry.
2354 US Casualties, 34030 Iraqi Casualties - Joe must be so proud.