Joe Lieberman has told CongressDaily (subscription required) that he will support Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine in her 2008 reelection campaign. Collins had endorsed Lieberman last year when he was running for reelection. Moreover, Lieberman affirmed his previous statements that he might endorse a Republican for president and would not rule out a switch to the GOP.
"I'm going to support Sen. Collins' re-election," he said in an interview with CongressDaily reporters. Lieberman, who was re-elected last year as an independent but continues to caucus with Democrats, added that his leadership PAC has already made the maximum contribution of $5,000 to Collins' campaign.
"This is without regard to who the Democratic nominee would be," he said. "I would just feel that I was not being honest to myself and everything I've said about what our politics should be like now if, for partisan reasons, I didn't support somebody who I think is a great senator."
... Lieberman also reserved the option of endorsing a Republican for president in 2008 and repeated statements that he has not ruled out a future -- albeit unlikely -- switch to the Republican Party.
During the wide-ranging interview, Lieberman said he had not discussed his decision with Senate Majority Leader Reid. His staff did inform Reid's office of the plan Thursday; a spokesman for Reid declined to comment.
Lieberman acknowledged his support for Collins could shape the balance of power in the Senate, which Democrats control by a single vote. But he said his decision was ultimately driven by "the wonderful productive working relationship" the two have and the fact that she campaigned for his re-election last year. [Emphasis added]
There is no question that Lieberman shares no allegiance to the Democratic Party. I don't begrudge him that--he's no longer a Democrat because he failed to live up to the expectations of Connecticut's Democrats. We all know how angry he's been the last year, so this shouldn't strike us as a surprise.
But yet again the political miscalculations by Bill Clinton, Chuck Schumer, and Harry Reid about the possible fallout of Lieberman winning the general election on his own ticket are coming back to burn the Democratic Party. Clearly Lieberman pulled the wool over the eyes of big name Democratic leaders -- people who may have been able to force him out of the race by publicly condemning his decision to ignore the will of CT's voters -- and now Joe is operating with no regard to the Democratic Party's needs. Lieberman has done everything but join the GOP in name. He is an independent-in-name-only (IINO). He endorsed someone outside of his caucus without consideration of who the Democratic challenger would be and he's giving money to her reelection campaign--$5000, the exact same amount Ned Lamont received from Hillary Clinton and a handful of other Democratic senators.
Worse still, Lieberman understands the importance of Collins seat for the control of the Senate. He knows that her reelection will limit the Democrats' progress towards a filibuster-proof majority. He's making decisions that could dramatically affect the future chances for a Democratic president to pass Democratic legislation while cutting Harry Reid out of the loop of his decision. How exactly is Lieberman caucusing with the Democrats? What do Democrats gain by having him as a member of their caucus? Someone tell me, I do not know.
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