courant.com: Still A Democrat, Joe Says, To Preserve Seniority

courant.com: Still A Democrat, Joe Says, To Preserve Seniority: Still A Democrat, Joe Says, To Preserve Seniority



By MARK PAZNIOKAS
Courant Staff Writer

November 9 2006

Now that he's won re-election as a petitioning candidate, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman is pledging to remain a Democrat, if for no other reason than to keep his 18 years' seniority in the Senate.

"I'll sign up with the caucus to protect my seniority," Lieberman said Wednesday. "My seniority is important to my ability to deliver for the state of Connecticut."

Lieberman briefly joked about how the Republicans might coax him into joining the GOP, a switch that could keep the closely divided Senate under Republican control.

"There is a little playfulness in me that wants me to make a joke about that, but it's too serious. The answer is no," he said. "When I give my word I stick with it, and I am definitely going to organize with the Senate Democrats."

He said he delivered that message Wednesday in a phone conversation with the Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid of Nevada. He did not take Reid's call on election night.

"He was gracious enough to call me last night, but in the pandemonium, I didn't get to take the call," said Lieberman, who did accept a congratulatory call Tuesday from a Republican friend, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.

Lieberman was re-elected Tuesday without the backing of a major party, rebounding from losing the Democratic primary to Ned Lamont. Unofficial results showed Lieberman beating Lamont, 562,850 to 448,077.

With all precincts reporting, the finish of the five-man race was: Lieberman, 49.8 percent; Lamont, 39.6 percent; Republican Alan Schlesinger, 9.7 percent; Ralph Ferrucci of the Green Party, one-half of one percent; and Timothy Knibbs of the Concerned Citizens, four-tenths of one percent.

Lieberman said exit polling showed him winning only 25 percent of the Democratic vote; his victory was due to the support of unaffiliated and Republican voters.

On Tuesday night, he described his re-election as a victory of the "mainstream over the extreme," a statement that seemed to put him at odds with Democratic voters, who overwhelmingly backed the anti-war candidacy of Lamont.

"My mission now is really an independent mission," Lieberman said Wednesday, calling his win a mandate to "be beholden to no one except the voters of Connecticut and my own conscience."

At a noon-time press conference in Hartford, he declined to articulate his role in the Connecticut Democratic Party, nor could he give a philosophical reason for organizing with the Senate Democrats.

Other than keeping his seniority, he was asked, what is the reason to organize with the Democrats?

"Well, I've been a Democrat," he replied.

Any reasons beyond that?

"Seniority is an important factor," he said.

Democratic State Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo said she was uncertain what role Lieberman saw for himself in the state party.

"You know, everything is new right now," DiNardo said. "The senator never left the party. We don't have a litmus test for people to be members of the party. We certainly don't throw people out of the party."

She said she encouraged Lamont to remain active, saying his candidacy had energized the party and attracted new voters.

Under state law, Lieberman remained a registered Democrat as he sought re-election as a petitioning candidate on his own ballot line: Connecticut for Lieberman.

Lieberman, 64, is poised to become the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee if Democrats regain the majority. Official results from Tuesday give Democrats a 50-49 majority, with the race in Virginia undecided.

The senator said he remains opposed to imposing a deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

"What we are doing now there is not working, but that doesn't mean in any sense that it is time for us to retreat," he said. "This is a test in a very difficult and dangerous hour in our history."

(News broke of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's resignation after Lieberman's press conference. He later issued a statement praising the president's choice of a successor, Robert Gates, but withholding judgment until confirmation hearings.)

At times, Lieberman seemed to struggle with closing the book on his bruising campaign, in which he often was vilified by Internet bloggers as being too cozy with the Bush administration.

In response to a question, he had trouble describing how the energy exhibited by the bloggers and other Lamont supporters might contribute to politics. He saw many of them as "destructive."

"There's too much venom in our politics. There's too much hatred," Lieberman said, adding that his comment applied to both parties. "If we don't stop hating the people across the political aisle, how are we going to strengthen this country and get anything done?"

He also groped for an answer when asked whether he took anything to heart from his critics and opponents in the recent campaign, saying many of their comments were "hurtful."

Lieberman said he will continue to operate as always by making a judgment and sticking with it, even if unpopular. Then he softened his answer, perhaps sensing he was too unyielding.

"I have no sense of self-righteous perfection here, trust me," he said. "You just do the best you can. And you listen to people who have a different point of view. Because you know they might just happen to be right."