The Talk Show American

THE TALK SHOW AMERICAN: Lieberman Loses Primary, files to run as independent

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Lieberman Loses Primary, files to run as independent

Hours after a Democratic primary defeat, Sen. Joe Lieberman filed petitions Wednesday morning to run as an independent in the general election. Senate party leaders in Washington quickly said they'll back the anti-war businessman who beat the three-term senator.

"The Democratic voters of Connecticut have spoken and chosen Ned Lamont as their nominee," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the chairman of the party's Senate campaign committee, said in a joint statement. They said they "fully support" Lamont's candidacy and congratulated him on the victory and a "race well run."

Lieberman said his campaign collected more than 18,000 signatures on its petitions, more than twice the number needed to get on the fall ballot under the new party created, called Connecticut for Lieberman. The new party allows him to secure a position higher on the ballot than he would have if he petitioned as an individual.

If the signatures are approved, as expected, it set up a three-way November race with Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont, who won the Democratic primary, and Republican Alan Schlesinger.

"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," Reid and Schumer said. "The results bode well for Democratic victories in November and our efforts to take the country in a new direction."

The two Senate Democrats did not address whether Lieberman should follow through with his plans to run as an independent but it was clear that they do not intend to support him.

"I'm definitely going forward," Lieberman told The Associated Press. "I feel that I closed strong in the primary. I feel we began to get out message across strongly and we're going to keep on going.

"This race is going to be all about who can get more done and who can be a better representative of Connecticut."

In Cleveland, Republican Party chairman Ken Mehlman seized on the results in the Connecticut primary to assail the Democrats on national security and called Lieberman's defeat a "shame."

"Joe Lieberman believed in a strong national defense, and for that, he was purged from his party. It is a sobering moment," Ken Mehlman said.

The Republican National Committee chairman said Lieberman's loss also is a "sign of what the Democratic Party has become in the 21st century. It reflects an unfortunate embrace of isolationism, defeatism and a blame America first attitude by national Democratic leaders at a time when retreating from the world is particularly dangerous."

No comments:

Post a Comment