Posted on 08/15/2006 7:03:17 PM PDT by Jean S
A group of Senate Democrats is growing increasingly angry about Sen. Joe Lieberman’s (D-Conn.) campaign tactics since he lost the Democratic primary last week.
If he continues to alienate his colleagues, Lieberman could be stripped of his seniority within the Democratic caucus should he defeat Democrat Ned Lamont in the general election this November, according to some senior Democratic aides.
In recent days, Lieberman has rankled Democrats in the upper chamber by suggesting that those who support bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq by a certain date would bolster terrorists’ planning attacks against the U.S. and its allies. He also sparked resentment by saying last week on NBC’s Today show that the Democratic Party was out of the political mainstream.
Democrats are worried that Lieberman may be giving Republicans a golden opportunity to undermine their message.
“I think there’s a lot of concern,” said a senior Democratic aide who has discussed the subject with colleagues. “I think the first step is if the Lieberman thing turns into a side show and hurts our message and ability to take back the Senate, and the White House and the [National Republican Senatorial Committee] manipulate him, there are going to be a lot of unhappy people in our caucus.”
Michael Lewan, Lieberman’s former chief of staff, has worked to quell Democratic discontent with Lieberman and to steer them away from campaigning against his former boss, said Democratic aides familiar with Lewan’s activities.
Lewan, a lobbyist with Brown Rudnick, said that he has had conversations with Democrats from between eight and 12 Senate offices. He said he understands that many Democrats have endorsed Lamont because he is the Democratic primary winner.
He added, “It would be terrific from my point of view that during the time in September, October, and early November, if they campaign, they spend their time in places other than Connecticut.”
Lewan said that the issue of stripping Lieberman’s seniority did not come up in any of his conversations. He also said he has offered to share Democrats’ concerns with the Lieberman campaign.
The issue of Lieberman’s seniority would arise most dramatically if Lieberman wins re-election and Democrats recapture control of the chamber. That would slot Lieberman to take over as chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the panel primarily responsible for investigating the executive branch.
Democrats think their chances of taking back the Senate are growing more and more likely. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) last week said he was more confident that Democrats would pick up at least five Senate seats.
Allowing Lieberman to retain his seniority could put the senator now running as an independent in charge of the Senate’s chief investigative committee. If Democrats took control of either chamber they would likely launch investigations of the White House’s handling of the war in Iraq and homeland security.
“Lieberman’s tone and message has shocked a lot of people,” said a second senior Democratic aide who has discussed the issue with other Senate Democrats. “He’s way off message for us and right in line with the White House.”
“At this point Lieberman cannot expect to just keep his seniority,” said the aide. “He can’t run against a Democrat and expect to waltz back to the caucus with the same seniority as before. It would give the view that the Senate is a country club rather than representative of a political party and political movement.”
The aide said that it would make no sense to keep Lieberman in a position where he might take over the Governmental Affairs Committee.
Ironically, a lawmaker with a good shot of replacing Lieberman atop the Governmental Affairs panel, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), is spearheading the effort within the Senate to preserve Democratic support for Lieberman. Carper is the third most senior Democrat on the panel after Lieberman. But the two Democrats who outrank him, Sens. Carl Levin (Mich.) and Daniel Akaka (Hawaii) are likely to keep their perches as the most senior Democrats on the Armed Services Committee and Veterans Affairs Committee, respectively.
Carper’s chief of staff, Jonathan Jones, has contacted Democratic aides recently and urged them that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee should not spend money in the race between Lieberman and Lamont, said two Democratic aides familiar with the conversations. Jones said the money would be better spent elsewhere since the seat will remain in Democratic hands, said the sources.
Carper, who like Lieberman often works across the aisle with Republicans, is one of a handful of Democratic centrists who have continued to support Lieberman since his primary defeat. The others include Sen. Ken Salazar (Colo.), Mark Pryor (Ark.), Ben Nelson (Neb.) and Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii).
Bill Ghent, Carper’s spokesman, said that Jones “has been on vacation the last week and a half and has not been out there advocating what anyone should do regarding the Connecticut election.”
The view that Lieberman should lose his seniority is likely to become more ingrained among Democrats if Lieberman continues to align himself with Republicans, as he has in the last few days. Lieberman took a call from senior White House political strategist Karl Rove on the day of his primary election. And since losing, he has adopted rhetoric echoing Republican talking points.
“If we pick up like Ned Lamont wants us to do, get out by a date certain, it will be taken as a tremendous victory by the same people who wanted to blow up these planes in this plot hatched in England,” Lieberman said about U.S. troops in Iraq and the recently foiled terrorism scheme. “It will strengthen them, and they will strike again.”
In June, 38 Democrats and Sen. James Jeffords (I-Vt.) voted for a resolution sponsored by Sen. Levin that called for Bush to take several steps to change the “open ended commitment” of U.S. forces.
On the same day, 12 Democrats and Jeffords voted for another resolution requiring the redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq.
Sen. Russ Feingold (Wis.), a Democrat who voted for both resolutions, called Lieberman’s statement “regrettable” and said Lieberman “doesn’t get it.”
Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean has likened Lieberman’s recent statements to the rhetoric coming from Vice President Dick Cheney and Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman.
Asked yesterday about the race, Dean said, “Ned will win,” adding that Democratic turnout for Lamont will help the party in other Connecticut races.
Lieberman is expected to make a hard sell to Republican voters. Sean Smith, who stepped down as Lieberman’s campaign manager after the primary, told Lieberman as he was resigning that the candidate would have to pursue Republican voters in order to win the general election, said sources familiar with the conversation.
Lieberman said he agreed with the analysis, according to the sources.
So far, at least 26 Democratic senators have said they are supporting Lamont, including Reid, according to a survey conducted by The Hill. Reid spokesman Jim Manley said Democratic leaders would make no decisions about committees until after the election.
Jonathan E. Kaplan and Tyler Kirtley contributed to this article.
My goodness.
They certainly do get nasty when somebody escapes the plantation, don't they?
What's that "Hell hath no fury ... "?
..he should win and then jump over to the Republican party, now that would frost their bunnies
Doogle
Radical Islam issued you an ultimatum last week: "Your message or your life." ;)
What hurts the most is that the Democrats will have to spend money and time to fight for this seat, taking resources from other races. Too bad, eh?
Lieberman doesn't undermine their message so much as he demonstrates the absurdity of it. In order for him to undermine it it would have to have some basis in reality.
So the Dims stab Lieberman in the back and yet still expect subservience and loyalty?
Sounds like a good time for Lieberman to switch parties. I'm not sure the Republican Party needs any more liberals, but Lieberman is obviously persona non grata as a Democrat.
The Hezbollah Democrats stabbed Joe Lieberman in the back.
Best call a waaaambulance!
If he continues to alienate his colleagues, Lieberman could be stripped of his seniority within the Democratic caucus should he defeat Democrat Ned Lamont in the general election this November
Earth to Dems: if Lieberman doesn't run as an independent he won't have seniority as he won't be a senator.
The Dems are definitely riding the Duh train today.
As the message is and has been "I hate Bush", Lieberman is a heretic.
Nah, he's really not Republican material. His views on virtually everything except the WOT are pretty liberal mainstream.
What he should do is be a "Founding Father" of a new party; one which draws its main constituency from social liberals who are none-the-less strong on defense. Clowns like Dean, Feingold, and a few other of Jerry's kids will find themselves in the position of the Green party hopefuls: catering to a statistically insignificant, but vocal and closed-minded, single-issue base.
"...if the Lieberman thing turns into a side show and hurts our message and ability to take back the Senate, and the White House and the [National Republican Senatorial Committee] manipulate him, there are going to be a lot of unhappy people in our caucus.”
That entire caucus has been unhappy since at leaast 1994. They have NEVER gotten over losing their power in the Congress. Never will.
Well I hope that the Dems plan on picking up SIX seats because if they need Lieberman to take over AND they plan on removing his seniority AND plan on voting to redeploy troops (not that they have that authority), what makes them think that Independent Lieberman will caucus with them?
Oh that RADICAL Lieberman!! Man, their anger at this Lieberman comment truly show the Democratic Party as way, way out there with the anti-American moonbat crowd. I'm beginning to think that the whole Party needs to be taken down like a pack of mad dogs. Really, what happened to these people.
Yes, I do question their patriotism.
"Democrats are worried that Lieberman may be giving Republicans a golden opportunity to undermine their message."
Their message? Pray, tell, which message?
The one that says "Think for yourself at your own peril!" ?
The one that says "We're more interested in working with terrorists than with our president!" ?
Or the one that says "Not only are we going to New Hampshire, Tom Harkin, we're going to South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico, and we're going to California and Texas and New York … And we're going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan. And then we're going to Washington, D.C., to take back the White House! Yeaaaaagggggh!!!" ?
Whine on whine on!
GO JOE GO!!!!
Actually, since losing, he has adopted rhetoric echoing pro-American talking points, which is why so many Democrats are in such a tizzy...
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