Senate "centrists" are in disarray.
Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) has relinquished his position as co-chairman of the Senate Centrist Coalition, halting talks with co-chairwoman Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) over the future of the organization in favor of creating his own bipartisan group with Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.).
Snowe, meanwhile, has begun working with Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) to refashion the Centrist Coalition into a group that includes more than just ideological centrists and which they hope will appeal to Senators from all over the political spectrum.
As recently as early December, Snowe and Lieberman had said that they and their staffs were in talks over how to refashion the Centrist Coalition into a broader alliance of Republicans and Democrats who would work to end the vitriolic partisanship that has characterized Capitol Hill the past few years [...]
Lieberman, who rallied back from a stunning Democratic primary loss this year to win re-election as an Independent, appears to be charting a new course for himself as he assesses how to move forward as a self-described “independent Democrat.”
In this instance, Lieberman has reached out to a more conservative Senator, Alexander, instead of continuing to work with Snowe, who is one of the most liberal-leaning Republicans in the Senate [...]
Some Senators “may not want to go to the first group because they don’t identify themselves as centrists,” said Wittmann. He added that even though Snowe and Landrieu’s stated goal is expand the group’s membership to non-centrists, “a lot of people identify that with the brand of that organization previously.”
Snowe already has stated that she wants to rename the Centrist Coalition for precisely that reason.
Ferrier acknowledged that the two have a difference of opinion about how to craft a bipartisan group that encourages Republicans and Democrats to work together to craft legislative solutions and compromises [...]
Indeed, on Monday, Snowe and Landrieu sent a letter to 26 Senators asking those who are interested to gather at 4 p.m. Jan. 11 at a location to be determined to discuss how to move forward with a newly constituted bipartisan coalition.
The letter was sent to centrist Senators as well as conservatives who have shown a willingness to work across party lines in the past. The list included Sens. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) [...]
While still in the preliminary stages of development, the goal for Lieberman and Alexander is to create a group of Republicans and Democrats that primarily get together to socialize. However, Wittmann said legislative issues would likely be discussed as well. They plan to call it the Bipartisan Members Group.
Wittmann said the “important difference” between the two groups is that people attending the Lieberman-Alexander gathering “would not necessarily come into the group to come to agreement on issues.”
So this is how Lieberman remains relevant? He quits a "centrist" group designed to fashion "bipartisan solutions" (where were these Republicans when they had the majority, one wonders), in order to create a new group whose sole state mission is to have more DC cocktail parties?
Only in DC would people think the problem is too few cocktail parties...
Look, the problem here is a distinct lack of understanding of what the word "centrism" means. If it means, "Where the majority of the American people live", then there is already a "centrist" organization.
It's called the "Democratic Party".