Here is a quick round-up of Lieberman related news:
No new public Lieberman supporters. Yesterday, I identified eight Senators as likely Lieberman supporters. Five of the eight--Inouye, Landrieu, Ben Nelson, Pryor and Salazar--are both Gang of 14 members, and were also public supporters of Lieberman in 2006 even after he lost the primary to Democratic nominee Ned Lamont. No surprise on these five, as they have regularly and actively undermined the Democratic caucus in the past. The other three are Evan Bayh (former DLC chair), Chris Dodd (fellow nutmeger), and Tom Carper of Delaware (the other public Lieberman supporters in 2006). This is relevant because it shows there is nothing remotely surprising about the Politico article on Lieberman's support group. Everyone mentioned in the Politico article is drawn from these eight, which is actually a good sign. If the Politico couldn't dig up any public supporters not from this group of eight, then Lieberman has not grown the size of his supporter group.
Media narrative on Lieberman willfully misleading, or just plain ignorant?Kagro X discusses how the Washington Post continues to frame the Lieberman fight as a struggle over whether or not to keep in the caucus, rather than the accurate struggle over whether or not he keeps the chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee. Given how pro-Lieberman the traditional media was during the 2006 Senate campaign, this sort of willfully misleading writing would not come as a surprise. However, I'd like to throw out a different possibility: the traditional media is actually plain ignorant of the details on the current fight. Keep in mind that the Washington Post considered states where Obama was leading by 7% or more "toss-ups," but states that McCain was leading by less than 5% "Lean McCain." They only changed their electoral map at my urging. So, it is entirely possible that the Washington Post is just bad at this, and is allowing their desired view of the world--evil lefty activists trying to excommunicate Lieberman--get in the way of understanding the actual course of the fight.
Durbin shifting to Lieberman? The most disturbing report of the day is the news that Senator Durbin, #2 in the Democratic leadership, might be shifting his support to Lieberman. This report is all the more disturbing because it comes from Howard Fineman, who was the earlier source indicating that Durbin wanted Lieberman to lose his committee chair. Flipping Durbin might be just the support that Lieberman needs, both because it gives him a foothold within the leadership and because of Durbin's close, Illinois ties to Obama. When we had the entire leadership, a large pool of Lamont supporters, and a large group of freshman to rely upon, I really liked our chances to win this fight. However, if Durbin has flipped, then Lieberman probably has at least an even chance of retaining his chairmanship.
Six days until the vote on Lieberman. Now, more than ever, we need to keep up the pressure on our Democratic Senators. Make contact with one here.
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