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Lieberman's lonely evolution

Former Democrat won't be in Denver for convention

By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published February 4, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.

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Sen. Joe Lieberman, left, greets voters Sunday with Republican presidential candidate John McCain, right, at the Green Dragon Tavern in Boston. The bar was frequented by Paul Revere and was dubbed "Headquarters of the American Revolution." McCain said he would consider Lieberman as a running mate were he the nominee, but Lieberman discounted such a suggestion.

Photo by Mario Tama © Getty Images

Sen. Joe Lieberman, left, greets voters Sunday with Republican presidential candidate John McCain, right, at the Green Dragon Tavern in Boston. The bar was frequented by Paul Revere and was dubbed "Headquarters of the American Revolution." McCain said he would consider Lieberman as a running mate were he the nominee, but Lieberman discounted such a suggestion.

Lieberman, who bolted the Democratic Party, won't be coming to Denver in August. "I think there will be more welcomes at the Republican convention," he says.

Photo by Mark Wilson / Getty Images/2003

Lieberman, who bolted the Democratic Party, won't be coming to Denver in August. "I think there will be more welcomes at the Republican convention," he says.

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It seems like yesterday when a soft-spoken Connecticut senator was a man of honor at the Democratic National Convention.

On a Wednesday night in August 2000, Sen. Joe Lieberman took the stage in Los Angeles, accepted a unanimous nomination to become former Vice President Al Gore's running mate, and he launched into a blistering attack on Republicans.

"We Democrats will expand the prosperity. They will squander it," Lieberman told a cheering crowd.

But that was then. This is now.

These days, Lieberman is a political outcast - a staunch defender of the Iraq war who had to bolt his party and become an independent just to win re-election to the U.S. Senate.

Eight years after his starring role in the disputed 2000 presidential election, he's on the other side now, stumping around the country for the likely Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, and making no plans for that week this summer when his old friends will gather at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

"I think there will be more welcomes at the Republican convention rather than the Democratic convention," Lieberman told the Rocky Mountain News on Sunday, before introducing McCain to a packed gym at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn.

"I love Denver. I've got many good friends there who really stuck with me over the years," Lieberman said. "But I'm going to have to visit them apart from the week of the convention."

Lieberman's role as one of President Bush's few Democratic defenders during the first few years of the war in Iraq contributed to his defeat in a Democratic primary last year.

Rather than go away quietly, he ran as an independent, benefitted from support of Republicans and conservative independents, and reclaimed his seat.

He still caucuses with Democrats on many issues, but when it came time to pick a presidential contender, he chose his good friend, McCain, who, thanks to a stunning turnaround of his once- struggling campaign, could be on the verge of seizing the GOP nomination after the coast-to-coast contests this week on "Super-Duper Tuesday."

Anti-war protesters were out in force at the joint appearance on Sunday in Fairfield, Conn., a community about 90 minutes northeast of New York City. Picketers marched the streets outside the university, some carrying signs reading: "McCain + Lieberman = More War."

During his standard stump speech, McCain praised Lieberman saying, "If I do win, it'll be because of this great American."

Soon after, he called fighting terrorism the "transcendent challenge of the 21st century," before anti-war protesters began heckling from the back of the crowd.

McCain backers responded with a roar of boos, and then they began a spontaneous chant of "Mac is back" - the battle cry the senator has used since his campaign bounced back from the dreary poll results and "dead man walking" references of last summer.

Lieberman is seen as a campaign asset for McCain in moderate pockets of the country, although embracing a former Democrat also comes with risks as he fights Republican critics who question whether he's really a Reagan conservative as he says.

At a jammed press conference on Sunday, McCain was asked if he might pick Lieberman as an unconventional running mate.

"I say that after next Tuesday, if we win, there would be that consideration," McCain said, adding that "I would be honored to serve by his side in any capacity."

But Lieberman tried to throw cold water on the speculation.

"I've been there and done that," he said. "I want him to be president. I want to be senator."

In the interview, Lieberman said that some of his staff members and longtime supporters have questioned his decision to embrace a Republican in the presidential contest.

"They've asked me about it," he told the Rocky. "But you know what, people who work for me and a lot of my colleagues in the Senate know two things: They know who I am and what motivates me. They also know I'm very close to John McCain."

The two have worked closely on national security issues. They, along with Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., teamed up on the so-called "Gang of 14" senators who helped end a judicial impasse in recent years.

Lieberman and McCain also have teamed up on global warming legislation, the so-called 9/11 Commission and other causes.

"I know him," Lieberman said. "So it's not as if I made a leap out of the blue to somebody I didn't know very well."

The caucuses

* What is a caucus? A neighborhood meeting every election year where people in the same political party begin that party's nominating process.

* Who can participate? Registered voters who have been affiliated with the Republican or Democratic parties since at least Dec. 5. There are some exceptions, including someone who turned 18 or became a naturalized citizen after Dec. 5.

* What precinct do I live in? Call your county clerk or go to www.sos.state.co.us/Voter/ voterHome.do. Each voter has a 10-digit number.

* Where is my caucus? Call your county party or check county or state party Web sites, including coloradogop.org and coloradodems.org.

* When do caucuses start? At 7 p.m., but come early.

National polls by the numbers

CBS News*

Democrats

Hillary Rodham Clinton 41 percent

Barack Obama 41 percent

Republicans

John McCain 46 percent

Mitt Romney 23 percent

Mike Huckabee 12 percent

Pew Research Center*

Democrats

Clinton 46 percent

Obama 38 percent

Republicans

McCain 42 percent

Romney 22 percent

sprengelmeyerm@shns.com

Comments

  • February 4, 2008

    10:49 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    jbowen43 writes:

    Lieberman's loyalty is to Israel first, last, and always. He considers the invasion of Iraq and a war with Iran as the way to make Israel secure. He's wrong but that's the way he is.