HARTFORD, Conn. – Top Democrats on Capitol Hill abandoned Sen. Joe Lieberman one by one Wednesday and threw their support to Ned Lamont, the anti-war challenger who defeated him in the primary. But Lieberman said his conscience demands that he run as an independent in November.
“I think it would be irresponsible and inconsistent with my principles if I were to just walk off the field,” Lieberman said a day after his loss to the political newcomer in a race that was considered an early referendum on the Iraq war.
Top Senate Democrats, including John Kerry and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, Harry Reid of Nevada, Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and Chuck Schumer of New York, said they supported Lamont as the duly elected choice of Connecticut’s Democratic voters.
Reid and Schumer, who is the party’s Senate leader, and the head of the Democratic Senate campaign committee, said in a joint statement: “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. The results bode well for Democratic victories in November and our efforts to take the country in a new direction.”
Kennedy called Lamont’s victory “a clarion call for change,” and a spokeswoman said Kennedy planned to campaign for the nominee.
Lamont raised no public complaint about Lieberman’s plan to run as an independent and predicted he would win in November even with Lieberman on the ballot. “He’ll end up splitting the Republican vote,” Lamont told CNN. “He gets a lot more support from Republicans than he does from Democrats.”
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