Ned Lamont, the Greenwich Democrat who challenged U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman two years ago, believes his former opponent will soon join the Republican minority in Congress.
Lamont declined to say Thursday whether the junior senator from Connecticut and self-described “independent Democrat” should be punished for backing U.S. Sen. John McCain’s presidential bid.
“My sense is he’s psychologically moving into the Republican column,” Lamont said. “I think he’ll probably jump.”
Lamont, an entrepreneur and millionaire, challenged Lieberman’s support for the Iraq war and won the Democratic primary in 2006.
But Lieberman formed a third party, Connecticut for Lieberman. With support from Republicans and unaffiliated voters, he won the general election.
Lamont had expected Lieberman would make peace with state Democrats.
“I thought he’d go to all the towns and say ‘Hey look, I know the war has separated us but on all the other big issues I’m with you,’ ” Lamont said.
But Lieberman’s work for McCain and running mate Sarah Palin proved where his true loyalties lie, Lamont said.
“It used to be just about foreign policy, but it’s now on a wider variety of issues,” Lamont said.
Lieberman spoke at the Republican National Convention and campaigned in battleground states for the ticket. He was not shy about criticizing Democrat Barack Obama on the stump or before media pundits, despite the fact he mentored Obama in the Senate and Obama had urged state Democrats to re-nominate Lieberman in 2006.
Lamont chaired Obama’s campaign in Connecticut, where the Democrat beat McCain, 930,424 to 584,725.
He said it was gratifying to see the majority of Americans vote for another anti-Iraq war candidate.
During their campaign in 2006, Lieberman branded Lamont as a representing the far left he feared was taking over the Democratic Party, particularly on foreign policy and defense.
“Hearing Obama talk about foreign policy and Iraq and tough-minded diplomacy, (it) was gratifying to see that’s the mainstream of American foreign policy these days,” Lamont said. “They tried to make us into some lunatic fringe, but I think two years later you see where the country’s headed and the world’s headed.”
One possible punishment for Lieberman is being stripped of his chairmanship of the Senate Government Services and Homeland Security Committee.
As speculation about Lieberman’s fate increased Wednesday, the senator’s office sent out an e-mail announcing he had helped secure more than $25 million in security grants for Connecticut in fiscal year 2009.
But Lamont said Connecticut has nothing to fear if Lieberman loses clout with the Democratic majority in Congress.
He said the state still has U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd and, with Democrat Jim Himes’ defeat of long-time U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, an entirely Democratic delegation in the House of Representatives.
“Chris Dodd endorsed Obama early. So we have a pretty senior guy who has the president’s ear,” Lamont said. “I think our state’s going to do just fine and Senator Lieberman is irrelevant to that calculation.”
Lieberman’s term is not up for another four years and there has been some speculation he will not run again.
Lamont said he would consider running again for the Senate seat. “That’s a long way away,” he said. “We’ve got many bridges to cross between now and then.”
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