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Salazar stands by Lieberman

M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 9, 2006 at midnight

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WASHINGTON — Sen. Ken Salazar is in an awkward position after a U.S. Senate primary in Connecticut Tuesday night.

Salazar has pledged to work to re-elect incumbent Sen. Joe Lieberman in November, even though Lieberman now plans to run as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to challenger Ned Lamont Tuesday.

"I am disappointed in the outcome," Salazar said in a statement late Tuesday night. "Sen. Lieberman is a good friend and a good man who has contributed greatly to the nation and the state of Connecticut. He has sought to pursue common ground and worked to transcend the partisan poison of Washington, D.C."

Just six years after he was the Democratic vice presidential nominee, pre-election polls showed Lieberman being punished for his stance in favor of the war in Iraq and his willingness to cooperate with President Bush on occasion.

Although he narrowed the gap with Lamont by Election Day, Lieberman conceded defeat in a televised speech Tuesday night, using a sports analogy to explain why he plans to file papers Wednesday to run as an independent.

"As I see it in this campaign, we just finished the first half and the Lamont team is ahead," Lieberman said. "But in the second half, our team, team Connecticut is going to surge forward to victory in November."

That leaves Salazar as one of a handful of national Democrats vowing to campaign against the party’s nominee, Lamont, and for the independent, Lieberman, from now until November.

Political analyst Floyd Ciruli said there is very little downside for Salazar to stick by Lieberman, because it bolsters his image as someone with an independent streak.

Ciruli said he recently completed polling that shows Salazar with unusually high approval ratings, not only from Democrats, but also from Republicans.

"If he stays with Lieberman, he's going to have a friend for life," Ciruli said. "I think that to some extent, what Salazar stands for in Washington is a little more centrism, a little more congeniality, a little more willingness to compromise. It reinforces that position. It shows he is his own person."

Still, Salazar’s position has raised ire among some one-time supporters.

Peace activist Dan Winters said he supported Salazar in 2004 but that the Lieberman stand is just the latest way the senator has alienated progressives.

"I think Salazar has to remember that his voters are in Colorado, not in Connecticut," said Winters, who led a protest at Salazar’s office Monday to ask him to support an immediate cease fire in the Mideast conflict.