It's
official:
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a longtime supporter of Sen. Joseph Lieberman, said Tuesday she will not back the Connecticut Democrat's bid for re-election if he loses their party's primary.
"I've known Joe Lieberman for more than thirty years. I have been pleased to support him in his campaign for re-election, and hope that he is our party's nominee," the former first lady said in a statement issued by aides.
"But I want to be clear that I will support the nominee chosen by Connecticut Democrats in their primary," the New York Democrat added. "I believe in the Democratic Party, and I believe we must honor the decisions made by Democratic primary voters."
Lieberman is really putting his Senate colleagues in an uncomfortable position, again. His insistence upon running simultaneously for his Senate seat and the Vice Presidency in 2000 is just one instance. But while he's making life more difficult for his own party, he's making the Connecticut Republicans pretty happy.
"This is an earthquake happening in Connecticut politics," said George Gallo, the Republican state chairman. "There is no other way to characterize it."
Lieberman's decision means that should he lose the primary, the Senate race would turn into a three-way contest in November, giving Republicans their best chance at winning a U.S. Senate seat in Connecticut since 1988, when Lieberman unseated a three-term Republican incumbent, Lowell P. Weicker Jr.
"I'm ecstatic," Gallo said.
Update by kos: Jane has a fun post from the front lines (a 4th of July parade in Willimantic).
The dogs and I walked the parade with other bloggers like CTKeith (who threw "kiss" buttons from the float), DeanFan84, CTBlogger and many others (we even have a walk-on in the video above by Spazeboy). Maura from MLN had a great post yesterday entitled "Joe Arranges for His Own Plan B, But Opposes Plan B for Rape Victims" and that wound up on signs plastered to the float. It was definitely the parade’s biggest attention-grabber.
People responded really enthusiastically to Ned and Joe is increasingly becoming a state joke. Spazeboy also has a great video where he interviews people holding Lieberman signs, who admit they are Republicans.
Another people-powered candidate was marching as well -- Jim Webb in the 4th of July parade in Fairfax, Virginia.