Lieberman announces that if he doesn’t win the Democratic primary, he’ll run as an independant, and has begun gathering signatures to do so.
Someone with a more intimate knowledge of Connecticut politics will have to let us know what the practical effects of a Lieberman independant run might be. Lamont is obviously doing well enough to scare Lieberman, but if the odds that upset occurring weren’t still in Lieberman’s favor, I’d have been surprised. Lieberman might have just changed that.
In a three way race, I have to wonder how many Republicans will vote for Lieberman as opposed to their own nominee who has a better shot at winning in a three way race, and for that matter how many Democrats will stick with Lieberman if he doesn’t have the party backing? Obviously enough primary-voting Democrats have jumped ship to give Lieberman pause, but how many general election voting Democrats are equally as pissed at him? How many of those primary voters who intend to vote for Lieberman in the primary will stick with him as an independant? And how many independants are in Connecticut relative to Dems and Reps and are they inclined to vote for Lieberman?
Somebody answer these questions.
25 Responses to “Lieberman Prepares To Run As Independant”
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Lieberman would likely garner heavy support from Republicans - they already like him more than state Democrats do. Also, Lieberman is to the right of the Republican candidate when it comes to Iraq - the Repub candidate thinks we should be brining our troops home.
Lieberman’s been getting a lot of bad press locally…I can’t imagine that this is going to help him. Hell, *I’m* thinking about getting a Sore Loserman bumpersticker.
Lieberman is a fuck. Plain and simple.
The Senate seat doesn’t belong to you, Joe. If the voters decide that you no longer represent them (since you are such a talking-point tool and BushCo apologist) DEAL WITH IT. This is a democracy and you are beholden to your voters, not your inside-the-beltway buddies.
Pull out of the primary now. You’re not a Dem, so you shouldn’t run as one.
And fuck the DNC if they still try to support Lieberman over their own party.
Sorry, j, I don’t have a password into the Diebold or ES&S systems so I can’t tell you the answers to those questions. I feel sure that if you could find someone who did have that access, you could know precisely. Heck, you might even be able to find out precinct by precinct.
The DSCC better not give this asshole one bloody dime. Not. One. Dime.
Luckily, I don’t think Conneticut uses Diebold or ES&S. If Lieberman doesn’t get the support of the DSCC (call 202-224-2447 to tell them no) he will probablly have a lot of trouble in the general election. It will be harder for him to raise money or garner support. He’s also (from what I have seen) a terrible campainger. I think more Democrats than not, will stick with the Democratic candidate. It will be a close one.
I’m telling you, Lieberman/Zombie Strom Thrumond ‘08, it’s gonna happen.
Huh? Lieberman will be swimming in money. Expect Republicans to send millions to Liberman through PACs and the sort. Add to his own kneeling before the large credit companies and he’ll have plenty of money, not to win of course, but enough to kill Lamont off and have the Republican take the seat. And even if Lieberman does win, he’ll caucus with Republicans (I mena how can he not at this point?)
The big question — and I think Lieberman is in enough trouble that it will get asked — is whom he will caucus with if he wins as an independent. I think any answer but “the democrats” has a good chance of sinking him in the general election.
Well, if the Democrats could get rid of Lieberman, there would be much rejoycing (sp?). Zell Miller was worse, but Leiberman is certainly more Republician than many Republicians.
For boots on the ground, I recommend one of the conneticut web sites that started it all:
http://www.myleftnutmeg.com/frontPage.do
They have video of his press conference, first words out of Joe’s mouth “This is a matter of pride,” and as myleftnutmeg notes “Pride goeth before the fall.”
They also have video of Joementum “cutting and running” from his press conference, presumably to escape any press questioning.
But Joe’s blabbing away on CNN’s The Situation Room now, to very little questioning.
Although the headline below reads “Fighting for Survival.”
Oh this is rich:
http://www.myleftnutmeg.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1833
Under Lieberman’s NetRoot support, shows the ActBlue pages with ActBlue contributions to Lieberman of something like $359 versus Lamont’s quarter of a million.
Very, very doubtful. Lieberman’s going to take votes from the Republican candidate, not Lamont. Anti-war Democrats are a majority in CT — they’re going to vote for Lieberman over the anti-war Democratic candidate? Please.
No way, Mildred !! It’s gonna’ be Zombie Goldwater/Bayh or DiFi !! I’ll bet half a case of peachy Fresca on it !!!
Y’all are so wrong. It’s gonna be zombie Strom Thurmond/zombie George Wallace.
Schumer was on Meet the Press yesterday, and was asked if he would support Lieberman if Lieberman was defeated in the primary and ran as an independent. He kept insisting that Lieberman was going to win, so he didn’t even need to entertain the notion. I’m glad he’s so confident, because I don’t think anyone else is.
I loved Lieberman’s statement about loyalties to more than the Democratic Party. Hell, he wasn’t even loyal to the Gore/Lieberman campaign in the aftermath of the 2000 election.
Joe’s only loyalty has always been to Joe.
I’ll never forget Lieberman’s triumphant speech in the 2004 election about being “in a four way race for third place.” Which is last place. A good politician would have said that jokingly. He meant it.
So, do you suppose Mrs. Lieberfman actually supports her husband’s political positions? I mean, there she is at the press conference, smiling serenely. Is it spousal loyalty or is she a big fan of Dubya too?
Here’s the problem: there are a LOT of independents in CT; they far outnumber Dems or Republicans. Thus, in a 3-way general election, I think Lieberman is likely to win by a large margin. If he gets 25% of the Dems, 50% of the independents, and 50% of the Republicans, that’s a blowout victory over his two opponents. And those estimates are probably low. The Republican candidate is unfortunately a nobody, and Lieberman is pretty popular in the state overall, just not with Democrats.
The big question is: can we get not only the DSCC, but also Nancy DiNardo (head of the CT democratic party), Chris Dodd, and other important Connecticut Democrats to pledge to support their own party’s nominee, whoever it is? Pressing these officials, along with unions and every other Democratic group, to present a united front, respect the primary voters’ intentions, and stand by their party, is really the only chance for a Lamont victory in November.
Pressing these officials, along with unions and every other Democratic group, to present a united front
Well, if you recall, the local AFL-CIO rank-and-file forced the organization to back off of endorsing Lieberman all the way, and changed it to “for the primary.” So I don’t think this move is going to help Mr. Lieberman’s union support. Not having the teachers on board is also a problem for him.
If he gets…50% of the independents
Whoa, there. If Mr. Lieberman had simply pulled out of the party completely today, you might have a point. Bloody-minded independence plays well with us independents, unsurprisingly (see, e.g., Governor Weicker). But he took the coward’s path of publicly hedging his bets, which looks like a sore loser more than a maverick. And remember, he’s the incumbent. Running as the outsider underdog is harder when (1) you’ve been in the office for 18 years, and (2) you’re running from a fair fight with an actual insurgent candidate.
All that said, I am more worried about the Republican percentage being more than fifty percent. They loves them some Lieberman. And our state somehow elected John Rowland three times, so the voting public doesn’t have a strong track record for discernment.
Joe could stick it out.
Somewhat ironic that the man Joe began his Senatorial career by defeating, Lowell Weicker, became governor on the line of an independent party. Both were regarded as mavericks. They disagreed on practically every issue. Joe and Lowell also had different religious styles and this was considered really big.
Basically, though, Lieberman has not discussed leaving the Democratic Party. The Republican in the race is somewhat little promoted. Joe may end up IN THE West Wing or as a diplomat if he loses his seat. Another of his possibilities is to become a lobbyist for some reason other than remuneration.
What’s everybody crowing about? Last poll I saw had JL with a 15% lead over Lamont. Fifteen percent is a blowout.
At one point he had a 30% lead. Lamont has been steam rolling ahead as Lieberman falls apart.
Personally, I don’t think Joe has a hope in hell of winning as an Independent. His support is really shallow, no one supports him passionately, they tend to be lukewarm at best, and he’s only a “maverick” to Fox. It’s not always true, but right now CT is a pretty solid Democratic state, which means most of the Independents are leaning heavily Democratic. The war’s a big issue with them, and Joe’s favorite kisser is extremely unpopular. The more Joe acts like the seat is his by divine right and the more he suggests we need to vote for him BECAUSE he’s so out of touch and doesn’t represent our views just to show how tolerant we are, the older this routine becomes.
I don’t see Republicans backing Joe either, unless by some miracle Weicker wins the primary in a write-in. Being the Republicans’ favorite Democrat who bashes the Hell Out of Other Democrats is one thing, but actual Republicans are held to a much higher standard. If McCain were a Democrat, with his extremly conservative voting record and unconditional love for Republicans and harsh words for Dems, Republicans would love him, as a Republican they loathe him, same goes for Joe. His actual voting record isn’t conservative enough for them to vote for him in a 3-way.
Ironically, the ones who may have been most likely to vote for him were the Democrats, as the lesser of two evils out of sheer terror at a Republican taking the seat. But Joe’s his own worst enemy, he was already making hmself extremly unattractive and this final show of shameless arrogance and disloyalty should finish him off.
What Jean said. Y’all are forgetting the unstoppable power of Joementum.