It’s clear that if Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman runs as expected as an independent after being defeated yesterday in the primary by anti-war challenger Ned Lamont he icannot count on continued support of some key Democratic party elites.
Democratic Leader Harry Reid and DSCC Chair Chuck Schumer have issued this short but blunt statement:
“The Democratic voters of Connecticut have spoken and chosen Ned Lamont as their nominee. Both we and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) fully support Mr. Lamont’s candidacy. Congratulations to Ned on his victory and on a race well run.
“Joe Lieberman has been an effective Democratic Senator for Connecticut and for America. But the perception was that he was too close to George Bush and this election was, in many respects, a referendum on the President more than anything else. The results bode well for Democratic victories in November and our efforts to take the country in a new direction.�
This statement isn’t sugar-coated in terms of how they view the election results: the party has its eye on the main prize. Lieberman may also face some official party shunning in the Senate if he’s out there campaigning and blasting the Democratic party. If Reid, Schumer and the party elite are going to argue that it’s time for a “new direction,” Lieberman will be campaigning counter to their gameplan. And if Lieberman veers to closely to their gameplan, he could lose some of the GOP support that he’s going to need to win.
TMV thanks Political Wire for the tip.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.