Kos: MoveOn mulls financing Lieberman opponent

[Gold Metal Flake]

"As the Courant reports, MoveOn is kicking around the idea of financing a primary opponent to Joe Lieberamn."


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/12/1/131356/816

For those interested.

[Skidmore]

1. If that happens, Lieberman will be out there badmouthing

Moveon just like the Pubbies.

[FreedomAngel82]

6. What are you talking about...

he is a pubbie. He needs to go ahead and change already!!

[mattclearing]

10. A D still matters for majority status.

As much as I hate Lieberman, I don't advocate him switching unless someone will replace him on our side. That's a net loss of a single Dem in the senate, which is valuable, no matter how that Dem votes.

[mndfler]

2. At the very least

we might be able to get Joe to start being more of a Democratic Democrat and less of a Fox News Democrat if we can make him worry about the primary.

[liveoaktx]

3. I'll donate to them if they do.... Lieberman might as well be Republican

I heard Tori Clarke say yesterday on CNN that Lieberman was a "Democrat's Democrat" - pretty bad when Republicans are slavering all over him and Bush quoting him in his speech.

[onenote]

4. If it happens I'll be badmouthing MoveOn

Lieberman isn't going to be defeated and he probably won't alter his positions. He's got a favorable rating in the high 60s even though chimpy is below 40 percent.

Any money spent by MoveOn fighting Lieberman is money poured down the drain...money that could be put to far better use supporting Democrats who are running against incumbent repubs (like DeWine or Santorum) or for seats being vacated by repubs (like Cunningham's seat).

onenote

[LondonReign2]

5. Agreed.

Let's destroy Santorum, Delay, Schmidt, et al before we eat our own, even if our own aren't as far left as we'd like.

We do we Dems insist on shooting each other when there are so many better Pub targets?

[RB TexLa]

7. Very much agreed

Guess a 51 to 49 republican majority in the senate with a smiling Senator Joe Blow R-Conn would be a great present from moveon.org

[mattclearing]

12. I disagree.

I think Lieberman is ripe for a primary challenge. We're not talking about a general election. It's not like the Conn. conservatives are going to get a say.

I'd bet Lieberman polls pretty weak among Dem. primary voters...a decent primary challenge would unseat him as the nominee.

[onenote]

14. and then what....

Total voter registration in Connecticut in 2004 was around 2.1 million. The number of registered Democrats dropped from 685,000 to around 630,000 between 1999 and 2004. I'm not exactly sure what it was by election day 2004. I'm also sure of the current repub registration but it was 465,000 in 1999. The biggest bloc of voters in the state is unaffiliated, probably in excess of 900,000. So even if you're right that Lieberman could be bounced in a primary (and the fact that Lieberman gets approval ratings in the high 60 percent range certainly casts doubt on that assumption), its anything but a lock that a more progressive candidate could defeat the repub candidate where there is no incumbency involved. The most popular elected official in the state is a repub and 3 of the state's representatives are repubs. Sure they're moderate repubs, but I doubt that they're significantly better than Joe on certain issues like the environment or choice. So there's absolutely no guarantee that any other Democrat (other possibly than Richard Blumenthal who almost certainly will never challenge Lieberman) would win the seat and the Dems could be one step further away from recapturing the Senate rather than one step closer.

Not a good result.

onenote

[LondonReign2]

16. Exactly

It isn't as if the result wouild be certain if Unnamed - D ran against Unnamed - R. Why waste our resources here when 98% of the Repubs are far worse than Lieberman?

Sometimes we Dems have no common sense.

[NewJeffCT]

28. Unfortunately...almost 0 chance of Lieberman losing to a Democrat

The way politics works in Connecticut, Lieberman is almost guaranteed his Senate seat for life unless a super strong Republican came along - Rowland could have given him a battle 10 years ago, and maybe Gov. Jodi Rell could now.

However, the top 3 Democrats in the state - John Larson & Rosa DeLauro in the US House and state Atty General Dick Blumenthal - have 0 interest in challenging Lieberman or the party structure. It's sort of like how Republicans keep winning the mayor's race in NYC, despite Democrats way outnumbering Republicans there. I doubt even the fairly outspoken mayor of New Haven, John DeStefano, would challenge Lieberman (he's currently running for governor next year)

The only Democrat that would stand a chance would be a high profile celebrity that lives in state - Paul Newman (who was more seriously talked about as a challenger to Lowell Weicker 20 years ago) is the only one that springs to mind, and isn't he like 70 something?

[Burried News]

8. A simple question for anyone seeking an elective office ...

will you vote to impeach George Bush for a fraudulent war in Iraq?

Lieberman will never vote to impeach Bush. Hit the road Joe.

An opponent who makes it clear that Greenwich money is behind Joe, that he is in favor of an interminable war in Iraq and that he has been a supporter of Buch for 6 years will make it a very interesting race. If nothing else it will further flag Lieberman for the Republican he is.
As a Republican Joe has no problem with party discipline - do you Joe? After all, what would Newt Gingwretch do to a guy like Joe? He'd Rove him over in the clover and do it again.

[Freddie Stubbs]

9. Members of the Senate cannot vote to impeach ANY federal official

Please read the Constitution of clarification.

[onenote]

13. sort of right, sort of wrong

The House votes to impeach. The Senate tries the impeachment and votes whether to remove from office. So the post, while not technically accurate (and while being pretty silly IMHO) was not really off base in the sense that Senators can decide the fate of an impeached federal official.

onenote

[Freddie Stubbs]

11. You can't beat someone with no one

So far no one has the nerve to challenge Senator Lieberman.

[Swamp Rat]

15. Time to clean house!

[onenote]

18. let's start with the repubs before we start cleansing our own party

[Swamp Rat]

19. I disagree

We can do both at the same time.

[onenote]

20. actually, we can't

we have enough trouble raising sufficient money to wage effective campaigns against incumbent repubs without pissing it away fighting other democrats.

onenote

[Swamp Rat]

23. Some of them are democrats in name only, but do NOT vote in our

interests. That puts them on par with "so-called" moderate republicans, and I will campaign even harder to get them out during the primaries.

The acid test: I will not support any democrat who gave Bushler authorisation to go to war. Period. If I knew it was wrong and the WMD evidence was misleading at the time, so should have they. A vote of confidence for Bushler shows either incompetence, complicity or both.

"Not in my name!"

[onenote]

25. so will you not vote or will you vote for repubs that supported the war?

Either way, you don't help get the repubs out of power do you?

And by the way, a lot of the folks you characterize as being "on a par with moderate repubs" are far more liberal than even the most moderate of repubs. Here's a link to a good comparison involving some DUers favorite whipping boy, Lieberman:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2285245#2285289

onenote

[Swamp Rat]

27. Too many assumptions and fallacies in your post.

Waste of my time.

Ciao! :hi:

[onenote]

29. or maybe you don't have a good answer

At least do us all the courtesy of pointing out the fallacies. If you're right, I'll be the first one to admit it.

onenote

[Burried News]

31. Thanks Swampy - I had to get off the boards for awhile.

The whinner needs to know that when he chose a different master than the people, he made a bed that he will find uncomfortable to lie in. I suspect when he campaigns he is going to find out that alot of people in CT have a major bone to pick with him and the Democratic machine that keeps him in office. (I lived in CT for 15 years so I know he isn't all that popular and if voter turnout is high, he can be had.)

[Burried News]

30. He's not our whipping boy and to say so is pretty silly IMHO.

Visit Daily Kos and you will find more than a few fed up with Joe. If you think Joe or any Democrat like Joe should be left alone because on balance he/they are better than a Republican, perhaps you need to rethink some things. When Howard Dean points out that every state is in play I think a good many of us take that alot further and alot more seriously than you think. AND - money may not be the be all and end all of things. The Northeast is, and has been for quite awhile against Bush and the war. Not only are the numbers astonishing for a sitting President - but the depth of feeling is also incredibly strong and DURABLE.

I respect your desire to keep the party as you have known it together but I don't intend to lose to the NeoCONS by alowing them to use cash and the threat of cash to create two Republican Parties.

[400Years]

33. we will never beat the repubs until we clean our own house

Joe has to go.

[depakid]

17. I think a lot of people would donate at this point

all it would take is for someone with a little guts and a reasonable amount of visibility to step up to the plate.

It would also send a message that the Dems are not beholden to Lieberman and that his views do not represent the majorty of those in the party.

[Selatius]

21. This is THE best way to challenge Lieberman

Rather than challeng him through a 3rd party candidate in the general election and potentially risk a Republican victory, challenge him within the party structure and hope there's enough dissent to deal with "entrenched management."

[in_cog_ni_to]

22. I'll donate! I may even travel to CT. and work for the opponent.

Lieberman is doing nothing but giving the RW talking points against Democrats..."Well, Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman says we need to stay the course in Iraq." PUHLEEEEEZE. He's HURTING our party.


CAMPAIGN SLOGAN FOR OPPONENT: Joe needs to go!

[robbedvoter]

24. Come on, Connecticut! There must be an honest man there to run!

I think democrats from all over the country would get involved. Joe is extremely damaging to us all as an inside Bushbot.

[mmonk]

26. Count me in

[Burried News]

32. Kick and nominated n/t