CT Poll out: Leiberman 51-Lamont 27% Also ran 9%

[DKW 86 7,410]

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/08/09/D8JD3FMO0.html

Lieberman Files to Run As Independent

Aug 09 3:30 PM US/Eastern

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By STEPHANIE REITZ

Associated Press Writer

HARTFORD, Conn.

Sen. Joe Lieberman filed to run for re-election in November as an independent, saying Wednesday it would be "irresponsible and inconsistent with my principles" to quit. But Democratic leaders in Washington rallied around the man who beat him for the nomination, Ned Lamont.

In a statement issued in Washington, two top Senate Democrats _ Harry Reid of Nevada and Chuck Schumer of New York _ said they "fully support" Lamont, an anti-war candidate who tapped into voter anger over Lieberman's support of the Iraq war.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (she is next for the Daily-Kos and MoveOn.org bunch) reiterated her pledge to back the winner of the primary. She stopped short of calling for Lieberman to quit the race but urged the senator to "search his conscience and decide what is best for Connecticut and for the Democratic party" before going forward with an independent campaign.

The final returns from Tuesday's primary showed Lamont defeating Lieberman 52 percent to 48 percent.

Early Wednesday, the Lieberman campaign delivered two boxes of petitions to the secretary of state's office, and aides said they contained more than enough signatures to qualify the three-term senator for the November ballot.

The move would set up a three-way race this fall among Lamont, Lieberman and Republican Alan Schlesinger, who has trailed far behind both Democrats in recent polls.

"I think it would be irresponsible and inconsistent with my principles if I were to just walk off the field," Lieberman said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Lieberman said he not bothered by losing the support of his Democratic peers, noting he lost Tuesday's primary even with their backing.

"In the end the people make up their own minds, and this is going to be a people's campaign," Lieberman said.

At a Democratic unity rally Wednesday morning, Lamont, a political newcomer who has held only local office, grinned broadly as he took his place with his new Democratic colleagues _ most of whom had originally endorsed Lieberman and campaigned for him.

"Nancy, I got to tell you," he told party chairwoman Nancy DiNardo, "I like being on your team."

Lieberman said that he fired his campaign manager and spokesman, and asked for the resignations of his campaign staff.

"We did not answer, adequately answer, the distortions of my record on Iraq and my relationship with George Bush, that the Lamont campaign put out," said Lieberman, though he said he did not blame campaign workers.

White House press secretary Tony Snow said Tuesday's primary bodes poorly for the Democratic Party this fall.

"I know a lot of people have tried to make this a referendum on the president, and I would flip it," Snow said from Crawford, Texas, where President Bush is spending time at his home. "I think, instead, it's a defining moment for the Democratic Party, whose national leaders now have made it clear that if you disagree with the extreme left in their party they're going to come after you."

Lieberman's 10,000-vote loss Tuesday sent shock waves through the local and national Democratic party. It was Lieberman's first loss in a Connecticut campaign since 1980, and he has long been one of Connecticut's most popular Democrats. Lieberman is just the fourth Senate incumbent since 1980 to lose a primary.

Lamont won by hammering away at Lieberman's support for the Iraq war and accusing him of being too close to Bush. His campaign was embraced by liberal bloggers, who saw the campaign as a chance to take down an incumbent and play a bigger role in the Democratic party.

A Quinnipiac University poll released in July showed that 51 percent of likely voters would support Lieberman in a three-way race, versus 27 percent for Lamont and 9 percent for Schlesinger, a lawyer who was formerly a legislator and mayor.

Though having both Lieberman and Lamont on the ballot could split the Democratic vote, Schlesinger is not considered a major threat. His campaign stumbled in July after it was learned that he used a fake name to gamble at a Connecticut casino and had been sued over gambling debts at two New Jersey casinos. Republican Gov. M Jodi Rell urged him to drop out of the Senate race, but Schlesinger called the gambling a "non-issue" and vowed to remain in the race.

In a statement in which they threw their support to Lamont, Reid and Schumer, the party's leader and the head of its campaign committee, respectively, said: "The perception was that (Lieberman) was too close to George Bush and this was, in many respects, a referendum on the president more than anything else."

Similarly, Lieberman's fellow Connecticut senator, Chris Dodd, who had been campaigning for Lieberman, said he regretted his close friend's decision and would now campaign for Lamont.

The Republicans called Lieberman's defeat a "shame."

"Joe Lieberman believed in a strong national defense, and for that, he was purged from his party. It is a sobering moment," Republican National chairman Ken Mehlman said. (The Republicans are already framing the 2006 Election as the Democrats are for "Defeat and Retreat." The Dems are helping them do it.)

Lieberman had already filed paperwork to create a new party called Connecticut for Lieberman.

[Tiger in Spain 0]

".......it's a defining moment for the Democratic Party, whose national leaders now have made it clear that if you disagree with the extreme left in their party they're going to come after you."

"Joe Lieberman believed in a strong national defense, and for that, he was purged from his party. It is a sobering moment"

Those 2 statements say it all!

[DKW 86 7,410]

".......it's a defining moment for the Democratic Party, whose national leaders now have made it clear that if you disagree with the extreme left in their party they're going to come after you."

"Joe Lieberman believed in a strong national defense, and for that, he was purged from his party. It is a sobering moment"

Those 2 statements say it all!

TIS, the real sad statement is watching the Dems deny what they are doing when everyone else watching can see it so clearly. Does it not remind you of the June 28, 1934, 'The Night of the Long Knives'" Where Hitler Purged his buddies in the Nazi Party just before he took over all power.

The Roehm Purge

The event in history most frequently cited as evidence of Nazi persecution of homosexuals is known variously as the Blood Purge, the Night of the Long Knives, and the Roehm Purge. Steakley writes that "the indisputable beginning of Nazi terror against homosexuals was marked by the murder of Ernst Ro[e]hm on June 28, 1934, 'The Night of the Long Knives'" (Steakley:108). It was on that night (actually over an entire weekend) that Adolf Hitler's closest aides orchestrated the assassinations of hundreds of his political enemies in one bloody sweep. Among the victims of this purge were Roehm and several of the top officers of the SA.

[Tiger in Spain 0]

You're absolutely right. At times I am guilty of over-generalizations of the democrat party in tying them all into one distinct group but, in reality, there are 2 distinct groups of democrats...the looney libs headed by Dr Demento and then the moderates. The moderates of the party know that standing up against this kooky faction will end their political careers. The Lieberman defeat just proved that. These hijackers are not afraid to cut the throats of anyone that refuses to drink the kool-aid.

Lieberman made a grave mistake when he went to Iraq and came back supporting the president and our troops. This support for Americas national defense strategy drove the last nail in Lieberman’s political Democratic coffin. It went against the "Anybody But Bush - Cheer for Americas defeat to thwart Bush" camps campaign to obstruct anything this administration does. I hope he comes out this November as an independent and wipes the floor with these liberal hoodlums.

[Jenny AU-92 0]

Makes you want to register to vote in Connecticut, doesn't it? If I were a Republican that lived there, I would not waste my vote on the GOP candidate, especially since it looks like he has personal issues that would not make him a good representative. I would vote for Lieberman, and would encourage my fellow Repubs to do likewise.