The influx of national political reporters into Connecticut continues apace. Today, it's the Chicago Tribune's Jill Zuckerman, who finds a couple of old friends of Joe who are
throwing him an anchor.
And when I say 'old friends', I mean 'knew him as a teenager':
Tom and Carolyn Gaines have known and admired Sen. Joseph Lieberman since he was a teenager in Stamford.
Lieberman, 64, was a camp counselor to their son, Gary. He came over to the house for dinners. And Tom Gaines, an architect and founder of the Connecticut ACLU, recommended that his own lawyer hire Lieberman after he graduated from Yale law school, predicting that the young man would be governor of Connecticut someday.
They've known him for 30 or 40 years, been close friends, and now are voting for Ned Lamont. Why? Well, partially because of the war. But, primarily because of this:
Then came Lieberman's announcement that he would run for re-election as an independent if he loses the Democratic primary. The Gaineses were horrified, fearing that Lieberman's decision would split the party, throw Connecticut's seat to a Republican and deny Democrats the opportunity to take control of the Senate--though polls have indicated Lieberman would win a three-way race.
"He's sacrificing American history for his own ambition," Tom Gaines said. "The worst thing possible is for Republicans to get that seat. I just can't live with that. It's immoral."(emphasis added)
Not content to just vote for Lamont, the Gainses sent Joe a letter:
"We have been in your camp since your attorney general days--even after your position on the Iraq War with which we disagree," the letter said. "Now you have blackmailed us--vote for you in the primary or you will split the party and a Republican will win."(emphasis added)
Most of the rest of the article is an overall summary of the race, but I'll close with the closing sentence from the article:
Neither Tom nor Carolyn said they expect a response to their letter.
-dms