For all you here at DKos who love to rip on us CT Dems for "Electing Joe Lieberman":
GOP Gave Joe A Boost
Money Poured In After Lieberman Primary LossBy DAVID LIGHTMAN, Washington Bureau Chief
WASHINGTON -- It's no secret that Joe Lieberman got strong support from Republicans last year, and that he has made strong overtures this year to Senate Republicans as he pursues a new, more bipartisan legislative path.
This is what we Lamont Supporters were up against.
From today's Hartford Courant
But new data show the extent of the help he got from big GOP donors in the last weeks of his 2006 campaign, as they poured more than $1.5 million into his final pre-election push - with subtle but unmistakable help from the White House.
The information was compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Its data are the first detailed look at the sources and amounts of GOP money that went into the Lieberman campaign.
So while the rest of the Democrats were renegging on their pledges to support Lamont, Lieberman was getting the red carpet treatment from the Republican Brass. Who am I talking about exactly?
In the general election, in which Lieberman ran as an "independent Democrat," his take from Republicans soared 80 percent. He collected more money from Republicans than from Democrats. And of major donors - giving $200 and more - Republicans exceeded Democrats.
Officially, the White House stayed out of Lieberman's 2006 race, and Lieberman, who today caucuses with Senate Democrats, did not actively seek its support. But the signs from the White House were unmistakable.
"A lot of people would call and ask, `What's our position?"' Charles R. Black Jr. said last week. The former Bush adviser, who remains close to the president, said, "And I'd say, `There's no official position, but if I were you, I'd help Joe Lieberman.'"
There were other signals. On primary day, White House political guru Karl Rove called the senator. "He's a personal friend," Rove said later. "I called him. It was a personal call."
So Karl made the call and the GOP bankroll came to the rescue.
Throughout the campaign, the White House and Republican Party sent other veiled, and less veiled, messages. Vice President Dick Cheney, for instance, would mention at rallies how the Democratic Party had moved away from Lieberman. Sen. Susan M. Collins, R-Maine, campaigned with Lieberman two weeks before the election. Melvin Sembler, a former Bush administration ambassador to Italy and former GOP finance chairman, held a fundraiser at his Florida home.
[...]
"I like Joe, and I like what he does. It's not complicated," said Richard DeVos Sr., co-founder of Amway (now Alticor Inc.), the Michigan-based marketing firm. DeVos gave $75,600 to Republicans for the 2006 election - 99 percent of his contributions - and $500 to Lieberman.
"I like the way he tries to bring both sides together," he said. "I wish more people would do that."
Other Republican donors included brewery chairman Peter Coors, former New York Sen. Alfonse M. D'Amato, Wall Street financier Henry Kravis, real estate magnates Trammell and Harlan Crow, and John C. Whitehead, a deputy secretary of state in the Reagan administration.
So it was us CT Democrats who dropped the ball. When the Republicans brought out the big guns against us, who answered the call on the Democrats side? Aside from John Edwards, the list is pretty thin.
And before you jump down our throats, just remember this interesting set of statistics:
After Lieberman's victory, exit polls found he received the support of 70 percent of Connecticut Republicans, 34 percent of Democrats and 54 percent of independents.
UPDATE: I'd be remiss if I didn't also give a shout out to Senator Kerry and Wes Clark, who also put themselves out to help Ned. While I mentioned Edwards by name in the Diary, it was only because of his supporters, Edwards is the most prominent today (prominent in the sense that he is consistently in the headlines).