George Stephanopoulos on ABC just reported
According to a close Lieberman adviser, the President's political guru, Karl Rove, has reached out to the Lieberman camp with a message straight from the Oval Office: "The boss wants to help. Whatever we can do, we will do."
This is getting more and more interesting...
UPDATE
Lieberman camp in their [non-denial denial http://www.tnr.com/blog/theplank?pid=30176]
Even given Lieberman's generally good relations with the White House, this seemed hard to believe. So we asked Lieberman advisor Dan Gerstein, who had this to say:
Not true. Rove made a personal call, no help was offered, and we are not interested regardless.
--Michael Crowley
The White House might help Lieberman by putting the kibosh on any move to replace the weak Republican candidate, Alan Schlesinger, with a stronger candidate.
And it might be able to convince Schlesinger to drop out of the race and endorse Lieberman in the final week or two, when it's too late for another candidate to fill the GOP slot. A quiet White House effort to steer some money in Lieberman's direction is another possibility.
This is a tricky dance for Lieberman. He needs to figure out a way to get the benefits of Bush support -- some votes from loyal Republicans -- without turning off the independents and moderate Democrats he needs to win. The safest course may be a polite "thanks but no thanks" to the White House offer.
Right now, the absolute # is still tougher for Lamont in a 3-way race. He has to solidify democratic voters, peel off independents and GOPs. This may sound counter-intuitive, I always argue the easies way for Lamont to win a three-way race is for CT GOPs to find a more viable candidate. First of all, there is NO way any 'viable' GOP candidate can squeak out a win in such a vicious anti-Bush climate. The winner will be either Lamont or Loserman. GOPs won't vote for Lieberman with a viable alternative. Democrats will further solidify around Lamont for fear of losing this seat. The math will no longer add up to Loserman if such scenario exists.
We all know Holy Joe is not going to quit. I believe he'll probably be emboldened by some three-way poll #s. He is probably still in the lead in a three-way poll.
Hopefully, GOPs will find a better alternative sooner rather than later!!