Lieberman
Loses Battle Over War
By John Whitesides
09 August, 2006
Reuters
HARTFORD, Connecticut
(Reuters) - Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman lost a Democratic
Party showdown to a relative unknown on Tuesday, a casualty of voter
anger over his support for the war in Iraq and President George W. Bush.
Six years after he was chosen
the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Lieberman fell in a tight
Senate primary battle to wealthy businessman Ned Lamont, who called
him a cheerleader for Bush and urged voters to send an anti-war message
to the country.
Lieberman conceded defeat
but said he would file petitions on Wednesday to run as an independent
in November.
"Tomorrow, we launch
a new campaign to unite the people of Connecticut," he told cheering
supporters at a downtown Hartford hotel. "If you're fed up with
the nasty partisanship in Washington, then I ask your help."
Lamont's outsider bid to
unseat the three-term senator in Democratic-leaning Connecticut offered
a gauge of anti-war sentiment among voters before the election in November,
when control of Congress will be up for grabs.
"Connecticut voters
do not call for change lightly but today we called for change decisively.
No more stay the course," Lamont told supporters at a victory celebration
in Meriden, where he was flanked by black leaders Jesse Jackson and
Al Sharpton.
"Stay the course is
not a winning strategy in Iraq and it is not a winning strategy in America,"
said Lamont, who sent an e-mail to supporters asking them to contact
Lieberman and urge him to reconsider his independent bid.
The Connecticut race attracted
national attention as a referendum on the war and Democratic anger at
Bush, with Lamont calling Lieberman a Bush "lapdog."
Lieberman fought back, emphasizing
his experience and Democratic credentials and calling himself a reliable
opponent of Bush's domestic agenda.
He argued a quick pullout
of troops "would be a disaster for Iraqis and for us" but
said the Bush administration had made mistakes in its conduct of the
war.
LIEBERMAN TO RUN AS INDEPENDENT
Lieberman wrote a Wall Street
Journal article last year headlined "Our Troops Must Stay"
and warned Democrats about criticizing Bush on the war.
Lamont, whose last bid for public office was an unsuccessful 1990 state
Senate race, will be the Democratic Senate nominee in November against
Republican Alan Schlesinger, a former state legislator seen as little
threat.
To run as an independent,
Lieberman must file petitions with 7,500 valid signatures with the Connecticut
Secretary of State by the end of the day on Wednesday.
Lieberman, who held a wide
lead in polls over Lamont in May but trailed him by double digits in
a poll last week, portrayed his loss by a spread of 52-48 percent as
a sign of momentum and called it "a much closer race than all the
pundits were predicting."
Polls show Lieberman, who
draws support from independents and Republicans, leading in a three-way
race with Lamont and Schlesinger but that could change after Lamont's
primary win and months of heavy media coverage for the challenger.
His independent bid will
also put pressure on congressional Democrats in Washington, who will
have to choose between supporting Lamont, the choice of Democratic voters
in Connecticut, or their colleague Lieberman.
Lamont's win offered vindication
to the army of grass roots Internet activists who rallied around his
campaign and provided volunteer muscle and energy for the cable television
executive and political novice.
Lamont spent more than $3
million of his own money and a total of $5 million on the campaign,
although he was still outspent by Lieberman's $7 million campaign.
More than 275,000 ballots
were cast in the primary, in which about 27,000 newly registered Democrats
were able to vote. Some towns in Connecticut were recording more than
50 percent turnout, officials said, high for a primary.
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