The END OF THE LINE For Holy Joe?

[Segami]

:applause: :popcorn: :rofl: :popcorn: :applause: :popcorn: :rofl: :popcorn: :applause:


:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:



".....Start with Lieberman's relationship with the Democratic Party, which he votes with more than 90 percent of the time in the Senate. He provided critical support for the stimulus last year and for healthcare reform this year, and he's a strong supporter of, among many other liberal initiatives, cap-and-trade and an end to "don't ask, don't tell." To party leaders and the White House, this has made Lieberman valuable enough to make them look the other way whenever he's attacked them in public. But to the party's rank-and-file, both nationally and in Connecticut, this hasn't bought him an ounce of goodwill. That's what embracing the Bush administration's Iraq spin in 2005 and 2006 and John McCain in 2008 will do.



This makes it highly, highly unlikely that Lieberman will seek the Democratic nomination in 2012 -- and essentially impossible that he'd win it if he tried. Had he devoted himself after his 2006 reelection to restoring his standing within the party, he might now be in position to run for a fifth term as a Democrat. But that's not the approach he's taken. This also means an informal alliance is out of the question, one that would allow Lieberman to keep his independent status while running with the de facto support of the Democratic Party (the sort of deal Bernie Sanders had with Vermont's Democrats in '06).



There are plenty of credible, ambitious Democrats in Connecticut who will be interested in running for Lieberman's seat in '12. This will not be a repeat of '06, when establishment Democrats stuck with Lieberman in the primary, forcing grass-roots activists to recruit an unknown businessman named Ned Lamont into the race. Chris Murphy, who was just reelected to his third term in the House from a Waterbury-area district, is one of the most frequently mentioned Democratic prospects for '12. Rep. Rosa DeLauro and Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz could also be in the mix. One thing is clear: Democrats will nominate a strong candidate who will have the backing of the state and national party organizations -- and it won't be Joe Lieberman.

Lieberman's next option, then, would be to strike some kind of deal with Republicans.


cont'


<http://www.salon.com/news/joe_lieberman_iconn/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2010/11/12/joe_lieberman_2012>

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[Liberal_Stalwart71]

1. I hear that he has the lowest approval rating than any other senator.

If he wants to be reelected in 2012, I don't think going to the Republicans is going to help him much in that department.

I've noticed that he's been rather quiet since the health care debacle. We haven't heard much from LIEberman as of late, and his votes have been pretty good since then.

We'll see what happens. I think Ben Nelson is really the one we should be looking at in terms of his vote with Republicans...or even switching parties.

[hlthe2b]

2. We are all due one hell of a load of Schadenfreude....

If I were "Holy Joe," I'd be making a beeline from any potential lightening strikes or other source of karmic retribution.

[Segami]

5. I'll take my Schadenfreude with buttered popcorn and a LazyBoy.

[sharp_stick]

3. Murphy or DeLauro

would be pretty good candidates. Of the two I think DeLauro would be the most easily replaced with a winning Democrat in Congress as Murphy is in a relatively conservative district as far as CT goes.

Unfortunately I think Susan Bysiewicz has really diminished her electability over the last couple of years with a bunch of mistakes. She started a run for Governor but ditched it for a shot at Attorney General when Blumenthal ran for Dodd's seat. This AG run was stopped short when the pukes and the CT Supreme Court had her declared ineligible for the AG job. Then just last week she prematurely (unofficially) called the Gov race for Malloy before all the cities were in. She has time to repair her image but she's not going to be holding any public office for the next two years.

[AndrewP]

4. From LIEberman's perspective, doesn't he have to run as a Republican?

Beyond all of the other nonsense, the fact that he ran around the country with John McCain and served as his debate sparring partner during the 2008 election pretty much burned the last bridge possible......didn't it?