In 2000, Lieberman defeated Waterbury Mayor Phil Giordano who may have been conservative in his politics but was not long thereafter convicted of felonies arising from an incident in which he paid a woman to bring her underage daughter to his office for sex. He was sentenced to prison for a substantial term. Giordano was obviously not a "good conservative" assuming he was conservative at all as a big city mayor.
In 1994, a Republican year nationally, Joe Lieberman was re-elected over Dr. Jerry Labriola (a Naugatuck pediatrician) who had been a state senator and who had been a source of considerable hope for conservatives when he served in the state senate. In 1994, Dr. Labriola sold every principle he ever had and particularly sold out the babies to satisfy another apostate from conservatism, future jailbird John Rowland, who was elected governor that year. Dr. Labriola is not to be confused with attorney Jerry Labriola, Jr., his son who is the state chair of the CT GOP and supports every left-wing type who wants to run for office and who is a brainless windtunnel.
Now for the dessert. Joe Lieberman defeated none other than the absolutely execrable Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., in the remarkable election of 1988. After Weicker had spent eight years despising Ronald Reagan's presidency with open contempt, cheerleading abortion, scuba diving with his old pal Fidel Castro and inviting news cameras to record their frivolity, being an out and out social revolutionary and enemy of all things American for three terms of unprecedented arrogance and ignorance, etc., etc., etc., ad infinitum ad nauseam, a group of conservatives, fed up with state conventions so rigged for Weicker that he could not be primaried, Joined with New Haven Democrats, Jewish Democrats of the old school, Scoop Jackson type Democrats, formed a coalition and beat Weicker.
The conservatives asked nothing more than that of Lieberman but Lieberman did a TV ad in which he introduced his wife's parents (Auschwitz survivors) as his in-laws, they rolled up their sleeves, showed their death camp tattoos, and then Lieberman showed the footage of Weicker frolicking with Castro and said something to the effect: In our family we understand what totalitarianism is all about. If I am fortunate enough to be elected to the Senate, I guarantee you that you will never see me scuba diving or consorting with dictators of ANY political stripe.
He served four terms and was as good as his word.
Schlesinger was a loser. I wish the GOP had run a real candidate, could have possibly won a 3 way race.