Reply #59: Two thoughts: [View All]

[salin]

1) The article title sounds stronger than the quotes - as in "If I wanted to run as an independent, I would. I'm running as a Democrat. I've been a Democrat all my life." So not quite closing the door - the other statements are pretty strong per being a democrat.

That said - he does leave the door open.

2) His even leaving the door a tad bit open is not good for moderates - in the sense that for a number of years the mantra has been to the lefter side of the party: work through the primary system, and then work for the candidate - even if the candidate is a centrist, because if elected the candidate will vote with the party. Such a very public figure (vice presidential dem candidate in 2000) to even indicate that were he not successful in the primaries that he would work around the party and do the thing that moderates accuse the left of doing (divide the vote so that a republican becomes more likely to win) just validates the concern (valid or not) that believing in the primary system and then if the favored candidate doesn't win - still throw support behind because it will be "less worse..." It leaves the sense that only the left-of-center folks are asked to be loyal.

I witnessed local elections that followed this trend. Instead of running third party - there were several "green democrats" that ran in the primaries (and won the primaries) - one open seat, and one contested seat (where the 'green dem beat the sitting dem'). In the run up to the next election the unseated dem (in the prmiary) and the retiring dem (whose district went for the green dem rather than the traditional dem in the primary) campaigned openly for the republicans in the general election. Wrote letters to the editor and "starred" at campaign fundraisers for the republicans. The County Council in that electtion flipped and became republican controlled - in great part because of the former democrat county council members.

It becomes harder to expect loyalty from one flank of the party, when the other flank is willing to do exactly what they accuse the first flank of doing - in terms of defecting and then intentionally splitting the party.

I hope that the writer of the story is overstretching Sen. Lieberman's position (which my first point suggests might be the case) - as this only serves to spread distrust and split the party in the sense of one of the Key centrists suggesting that he would split the party vote - if the party doesn't vote for him.

I have watched this dynamic on a local level - hard to watch on the national level.

If his words are not misrepresented, it gets harder and harder to accept the centrist call to "let the (primary) system work".