Shays: Lieberman’s Election ​“More Important”

U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman said at a New Haven campaign stop Tuesday that he does, after all, want to see the Democrats retake control of the U.S. House of Representatives — then was joined by a Republican congressman who praised him as a ​“national treasure” and called Lieberman’s reelection more important than his own.

There was nothing inherently inconsistent in the unscripted chain of events at New Haven’s Lawn Club, where Lieberman, U.S. Rep. Chris Shays, and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro addressed a gathering of construction firms, unions, and advocates holding a ​“transportation summit.” Lieberman, a three-term incumbent Democrat, is running for reelection as a ​“Connecticut for Lieberman Party” candidate after losing the Democratic primary. But he has promised to caucus with Senate Democrats if he wins. At the same time, he has emphasized his ability to work across party lines, including with Republicans like Fairfield’s Chris Shays.

However, the two moments, occuring in a hallway press conference outside the event on Lieberman’s way out, demonstrated the confusing and sometimes contradictory message Lieberman has been tweaking as he seeks to appeal to former Democratic supporters, conservative Republican voters, and independent moderates all at once in the nationally watched three-way race.

The exchanges began when the Register’s Mary O’Leary asked Lieberman about widely quoted remarks in Sunday’s Courant. In that article, Lieberman was asked which party he’d like to see win control of the House of Representatives in November. He didn’t have an answer. (Click here to read that article.) By Tuesday, Lieberman was saying he does indeed want the Democrats to gain control, but to govern in a bipartisan way. Click the arrow below this pictured screen to hear his response about why he took a few days to arrive at that answer.

At the same time, Lieberman needs to appeal to Republican voters directly, because they’re his strongest base of support. That task became trickier Monday when the official Republican candidate in the race, Alan Schlesinger, dominated the candidates’ three-way debate; if Schlesinger can rise from his current 4 percent standing in the polls to the mid-teens, he’d probably swing the election to Lamont. Click the play arrow to hear Lieberman’s day-after assessment of how Schlesinger’s performance affects his prospects.

Follow-up question: How can you present yourself as the choice of conservative voters, while saying you’ll caucus with the Democrats? Click the play arrow to hear his answer, which focused on being an ​“independent” who ​“builds bridges.”

As Lieberman spoke, U.S. Rep. Shays wandered out. They greeted each other warmly. ​“You have a Republican here… You’re saying you would support Democrats… Is that awkward?” Lieberman was asked. Shays answered the question for him; click on the play arrow to watch Shays talk about how ​“this guy is a national treasure.”

Then, before leaving, Shays spoke with Channel 61’s Shelly Sindland. He told her: ​“Joe Lieberman’s election is more important than my election. That’s the bottom line. I’m voting for Joe.”

Pushing Experience

In his remarks to the transportation summit, Lieberman pitched his experience as a reason for reelecting him. Click on the play arrow to watch him take credit for getting extra millions for Connecticut in the last federal transportation bill. He argued that the state will need him again when the next transportation bill comes up in 2009.

Without mentioning the name of his Democratic opponent, Ned Lamont, Lieberman also responded to one of Lamont’s refrains: that Connecticut ranks 49th out of the 50 states in the amount of federal aid it receives compared to the amount of tax dollars it sends to Washington. Lieberman argued that a different statistic is more relevant: the amount of federal dollars Connecticut receives per capita. On that basis, Connecticut ranks eighth, he said. Connecticut’s high incomes skew the ranking that Lamont cites, he argued.