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Lowell P. Weicker Jr., who swaggered through three terms as Connecticut’s last Republican senator, challenging Richard Nixon over Watergate and the GOP’s rightward shift under Ronald Reagan, then willed the state’s income tax into existence in a second act as a third-party governor, died Wednesday. He was 92. His death at Middlesex Hospital was announced by his family. Weicker left elective office in January 1995 as Connecticut’s 85th governor, capstone to a career dominated by two decades in Washington, where he emerged as a fierce defender of abortion rights, the separation of church and state, and funding for social services,...

link to new Lieberman ad Lamont: Weicker's Bear Cub Combatting the Weicker endorsement of Lamont with a newly launched web ad that uses that historical political perspective. The ad says in part, "He's never gotten over losing his senate race to Joe Lieberman. But instead of coming out of hibernation, he's sent his bear cub instead. Ned Lamont. RUN!" Andrew Sullivan: Worst ad ever? Josh Marshall: This has to be the most ridiculous ad I've ever seen. It's not even that it's mean. It's just too silly and stupid to believe. Ryan Sagar, Real Clear Politics: It's enough to make...

HARTFORD, Conn. --Wealthy Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont took steps Monday toward becoming an official challenger to U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, naming a campaign manager and forming a candidate committee. Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail | Breaking News Alerts Lamont, 52, also began searching for a headquarters for a possible Democratic primary contest against Lieberman, a three-term incumbent and the 2000 Democratic nominee for vice president. "It is a significant step forward," said Tom Swan, who is managing what he calls an exploratory campaign. "I am happy that Ned asked me to play a role within this campaign."

An introdcution to the 2006 US Senate Races. Today is Connecticut.

December 18, 2005--In 1988, Democrat Joe Lieberman defeated maverick Republican Lowell Weicker to win his first of three terms in the U.S. Senate. Weicker later became Governor of Connecticut by running as an Independent. The 74-year old Weicker is now considering challenging Lieberman once again. It's not revenge says Weicker, it's because of Lieberman's support for the Bush Administration's policy in Iraq. A Rasmussen Reports survey shows that a Weicker candidacy might create serious problems for the incumbent Democrat. In a head-to-head match-up with no Republican candidate, Lieberman leads Weicker 54% to 32%. However, running as an Independent, Weicker attracts...

WASHINGTON — Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman may be some Republicans' idea of a good Democrat, but a growing number of fellow party members in his home state couldn't disagree more. "It's at the point where he's no longer interested in his own party's opinion, he's really out of touch with reality," said Mitchell Fuchs, chairman of the Fairfield Democratic Town Committee in Connecticut. "For me, he's crossed the line a number of times." Passions flared after Lieberman's recent trip to Iraq. Upon his return, the three-term senator pointed to what he views as progress on the ground there and suggested...

If there is anyone in this country who has a right to a grudge against George W. Bush, it is Joe Lieberman, Connecticut's junior Democrat in the United States Senate. After all, Lieberman was sure he was going to be inaugurated as America's first Jewish vice president in January 2001. He certainly came close enough to victory but, along with Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore, he found himself having to swallow an electoral college defeat following the bitter dispute in Florida which decided the election. As such Lieberman is an icon not just of American Jewish achievement but as a...

If Former Gov. Weicker Were To Run Against Joe Lieberman, Would You Vote for Him?

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Former Connecticut Gov. Lowell Weicker said Monday that Sen. Joe Lieberman deserves a stiff challenge in his bid for re-election next year - but it won't come from Weicker. Despite some speculation to the contrary, Weicker said he would not run against Lieberman, a Democrat who ousted him from the Senate in 1988. That, however, didn't stop him from attacking the incumbent. Speaking at a Rotary Club luncheon, Weicker sharply criticized Lieberman and President Bush over the Iraq war. "I have seen this country propagandized into war," said Weicker, a Republican-turned-independent. "It's now a second wave...

The conspiracy theorists have been having a field day with the report in the Feb. 25 edition of The Hartford Courant that offered up details into how Virginia Democratic Gov. Mark Warner apparently helped to introduce independent gubernatorial candidate Russ Potts to former independent Connecticut governor Lowell Weicker and indirectly to senior campaign consultant Thomas D'Amore. Will the news that Potts and Warner have both refuted the Courant report have the expected cooling effect on the punditry? "I initiated the call to Gov. Weicker. That's how it happened," Potts told The Augusta Free Press on Thursday. "The governor's recollection of...

LOOK WHO'S FOR DEAN It had to happen. Nine years after he last held office, 23 years after his own brief and—not surprisingly—unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination, Lowell P. Weicker Jr. injected himself back into national politics last week. The 72-year-old Weicker—the former Republican senator from Connecticut (1970-88) who was easily the lawmaker most hostile to conservatives in his own party (lifetime American Conservative Union rating: 17%). He became governor of the Nutmeg State (1990-94) over candidates of both major parties and then got a state income tax through the legislature. The man whom many consider the most...

If I can't have Reverend Al, make it Dean!Announcement is scheduled VIA conference call this afternoon..(Dean Campaign/Hartford Courant)