 | It's bad politics, it's bad dinner theater, and it's the Dhimmicrats. What more can you want? |
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Critics of Sen. Joe Lieberman's independent run to keep his job attacked on two fronts Monday, with one group asking an elections official to throw him out of the Democratic Party and a former rival calling on state officials to keep his name off the November ballot.
A group whose members described themselves as peace activists asked Sharon Ferrucci, New Haven's Democratic registrar of voters, to remove Lieberman from the party, arguing that he cannot be a Democrat while running under another party's banner. The request could lead to a hearing in which Lieberman, the Democrats' vice presidential nominee in 2000, would have to argue that he still adheres to the party's principles. "The law is pretty clear he is no longer a member of the Democratic Party in good standing," said group leader Henry Lowendorf. "There was an open vote and he was voted out. He joined a different party."
| I'd actually enjoy being at that hearing. |
Ferrucci said she would research the request, the first of its kind in her two decades on the job.
| "Why me, Lord," she was heard to mutter. |
Lieberman campaign manager Sherry Brown said the effort was "dirty political tricks at its worst." "This kind of ridiculous, partisan game-playing is not going to provide anyone in Connecticut with better jobs, better health care, or better schools," she said.
| Nor will any of the candidates, but that's not the point. |
Since losing the primary, Lieberman has referred to himself as an "independent Democrat" and said he plans to remain part of the Democratic caucus in Washington, even though several leading Democrats have called on him to give up his independent run.
As of Monday, about 4,600 of the 7,500 voters' signatures Lieberman collected to petition his way onto the November ballot had been verified, and Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz said she expects Lieberman will ultimately have enough.
Lamont distanced himself Monday from the peace activists' request. He told reporters that Lieberman should not be removed from the Democratic rolls, and that Lieberman has the right under state law to form the new party. "He's got the right to run. It's not what I would have done," Lamont said.
| Thanks for that insight, Mr. Historical-Footnote-for-2006. |
John Orman, a Democrat who gave up a challenge to Lieberman last year, argued in complaints filed with the state Monday that Lieberman should be kept off the Nov. 7 ballot. Orman, a Fairfield University political science professor, accused Lieberman of creating "a fake political party," adding: "He's doing anything he can to get his name on the ballot."
Campaign spokesman Dan Gerstein said Lieberman has followed the law in his re-election effort. |