I lived in Connecticut very briefly in 2000-01 - just long enough to vote in one election. I arrived at my polling place in an urban district and waited in a long line of voters who were clearly fired up. When each person would enter the booth, cries of "Go for Gore! Go for Gore" filled the basement room. Eventually, a voter would emerge triumphant, calling out "I went for Gore!"
Of course, I had the dubious pleasure of voting twice for Joseph I. Lieberman. Along with many others (including Richard Blumenthal, who I deal with below), I thought Lieberman should have given up his spot on the Senate ticket as a show of confidence in Gore. But he didn't and now, despite having only lived in Connecticut for nine months, my vote helped to send Joe Lieberman back to the Senate for six more years, where he has proceeded to disgrace the Democratic party and the citizens of Connecticut.
I know all about the lesser of two evils business, but prior to that year I had been casting my Senate ballots for Paul Wellstone. So I don't like the idea that Joe Lieberman is walking around the Fox News and Wall Street Journal offices, kissing Bush and doing other nonsense in my name. I'm sure there are people who still live in Connecticut who feel the same way. So I decided to look into what were the actual vehicles one might look to - other than general expressions of disgust - to actually send Joe Lieberman home from Washington. Let's do this...
The most interesting matchup, as Markos floats, would be former Republican Senator and Governor Lowell Weicker - now a centrist independent - who was an early Howard Dean supporter - challenging Lieberman for the seat he lost to Joementum in 1988.
Lowell Weicker (from Wikipedia)
Weicker served in the Connecticut State House of Representatives from 1962 to 1966 and as first selectman of Greenwich, Connecticut before winning election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1968 as a Republican. Weicker only served one term in the House before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1970; he served in the U.S. Senate for three terms from 1971 to 1989 before being defeated for a fourth term by Joe Lieberman. He gained national attention for his service on the Senate Watergate Committee. During his Senate service, Weicker was always regarded as somewhat of a maverick, and a moderate-to-liberal voice in an increasingly-conservative Republican Party.
Weicker's political career appeared to be over after his 1988 defeat for reelection to the Senate by Joseph Lieberman, but two years later he ran [successfully] for Governor of Connecticut. In 2004 Weicker was a supporter of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's presidential bid. Rumors are surfacing that Lowell Weicker is considering a rematch to Sen. Joe Lieberman in the 2006 election cycle. He would run as an independent.
Both Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy and New Haven Mayor John DiStefano are challenging Governor Jodi Rell, but perhaps one might forgo that race to take on Lieberman since Rell is a popular governor - and there would be no quicker way to win the hearts of the national grassroots than to run against Lieberman.
Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy (from Stamford Dems)
Malloy was elected Mayor of Stamford in 1995 and is currently serving his third term. He has provided the people with open access to City government - including open office hours, open employee meetings, and the creation of a Citizens' Service Bureau, which handles citizens' complaints. His dedication to public safety in Stamford led to double-digit decreases in the crime rate, bringing the City's crime rate to a thirty-year low. He has been an advocate and strong supporter of the City's public school system, committing half of the City's capital budget to the public schools - an increase from one-third under previous administrations. Dan Malloy has worked hard to ensure that all citizens of Stamford have access to safe, affordable housing. Dan Malloy has worked hard to ensure that all citizens of Stamford have access to safe, affordable housing. He successfully obtained federal grants to redevelop areas of Stamford, including a $26 million grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
John DeStefano, Jr. (from Wikipedia)
DeStefano is the [Democratic] mayor of New Haven, Connecticut. A high-level aide under mayor Biagio DiLieto, DeStefano first ran for the mayor's office in 1989, after DiLieto announced he would not seek re-election. DeStefano won the endorsement of the New Haven Democratic Party, but was defeated in a Democratic primary by John Daniels. DeStefano ran again, successfully, in 1993. He has served six consecutive terms, during which his efforts have included a massive overhaul of New Haven's public schools, based principally on the magnet school model, and New Haven's selection as a federal "Empowerment Zone."
In 2004, DeStefano announced that he would run for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Connecticut.
One of the most interesting candidates is Connecticut's perpetually-emerging Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. Blumenthal should have gotten the chance to run for Lieberman's seat in 2000 and taking him on now would have the ring of poetic justice.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (from a 2000 Slate article)
Blumenthal--catalyst of state lawsuits against Microsoft, Big Tobacco, and now HMOs--is inspiring an emotion that he surely has never inspired before: sympathy. Blumenthal, after all, is the perennial golden boy of New England politics. He's smart, handsome, and rich. He has a great job suing the bejesus out of nefarious corporations. He's nicknamed "Mr. Perfect." Why would anyone feel sorry for him?
Blumenthal, once one of the most promising young Democratic pols in the nation, is languishing. He saw his bid for a federal appeals court judgeship collapse this summer, as the Clinton administration decided he couldn't win Senate approval before Clinton's term ends. Then, when Al Gore named Joe Lieberman as his running mate, Blumenthal seemed to have a free pass to Lieberman's Senate seat. If Lieberman decided to drop his Senate campaign, Blumenthal would have replaced him on the November ballot and waltzed to victory.
Blumenthal is blessed with every political virtue except recklessness and luck. His résumé makes Gore's look like a high-school dropout's... In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed him U.S. attorney for Connecticut, making him, at 31, the youngest U.S. attorney ever. He climbed ever upward in the '80s, winning election to the state House and Senate, marrying a rich and beautiful woman, fathering four kids, and still finding time to save an innocent man on death row.
In 1990, Blumenthal was elected to succeed Lieberman as attorney general. AG--a k a "Aspiring Governor"--was supposed to be a transitional job on the way to senator or governor, as it had been for Lieberman... His endless labor has gone unrewarded because he had nowhere to climb.
Other than Weicker, who has no reason to feel like he'd be hurting the Democratic establishment, it may be difficult to convince some of these popular Connecticut Democrats to undertake a perhaps-quixotic quest to run against a Senator from their own party that remains popular in Connecticut. However, the netroots has something to offer in this fight: the potential to support a new Democratic star on the national level, as with Paul Hackett.
A challenger who wanted to tell Connecticut voters the truth about Joe Lieberman would immediately, like Hackett, be the beneficiary of good will and money from the people who want to see one of the good guys stand up to Lieberman. And the national party would hardly hold it against them--they've got to be as frustrated with Lieberman's undermining as we are.
So I say we roll up our sleeves and begin the difficult lobbying for one of these fine politicians to challenge Lieberman in 2006. What do you all say? Who should run against Joe Lieberman in 2006?