CQ TODAY PRINT EDITION
– CONGRESSIONAL AFFAIRS
Sept. 9, 2008 – 2:01 p.m.
Lieberman to Skip Democratic Caucus Lunches, at Least for Now
By Kathleen Hunter, CQ Staff
In their first caucus lunch since the national party conventions, Senate Democrats couldn’t help but talk about colleague Joseph I. Lieberman , the former longtime Democrat who bashed that party’s nominee and boosted the Republican ticket last week in Minnesota.
Senators generally expressed disappointment in Lieberman, said Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the majority whip. Lieberman wasn’t in the room, deliberately staying out of the discussion.
“It was his choice,” Durbin said.
Lieberman, I-Conn., shed his official Democratic Party label two years ago after he lost a primary contest, but has continued to caucus with the Democrats, giving them their narrow 51-49 operating majority. However, he also has vigorously championed the presidential bid of GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona, to the disappointment of Democrats who support Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.
On Wednesday, Lieberman plans to again align himself with McCain when he introduces a resolution, co-authored by another McCain surrogate, Lindsey Graham , R-S.C., that praises the 2007 buildup of troops in Iraq. McCain was an early advocate of the troop surge.
Lieberman approached Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., about a week before the August recess and told him that he no longer planned to attend the party’s Tuesday caucus lunches, said Joe Shoemaker, a spokesman for Durbin.
Lieberman spokesman Marshall Wittmann said Lieberman has not ruled out attending lunches before the election, but that he “does not attend the lunches when he thinks there is a likely discussion of presidential politics.”
Lieberman decided this was a good week to skip the lunches “because the senator believed it was likely there would be a discussion of presidential politics,” Wittmann said.
Reid said Tuesday that the Democratic caucus still welcomed Lieberman.
“Joe Lieberman has been invited to everything we’ve done,” Reid said. “He’s been invited to all the chairman’s meetings. He’s been invited to all of the caucus luncheons. He’s a part of the caucus, and if he chooses not to attend any one of these, that’s his decision. Not ours.”
Reid said he had not spoken to Lieberman since the convention but had left his colleague a voice mail on Tuesday.
No Punishment in the 110th, but . . .
Lieberman’s relationship with the party that nominated him as its vice presidential candidate eight years ago has been testy since Lieberman announced last year that he would support McCain’s presidential bid.
Lieberman to Skip Democratic Caucus Lunches, at Least for Now
Reid has stressed repeatedly that Lieberman will not be punished in the 110th Congress for supporting McCain, noting that the Connecticut senator votes with Democrats on nearly everything except selected defense and foreign policy issues.
Durbin declined to comment on whether Lieberman might be stripped of his gavel in the next Congress.
Reid said, “I haven’t had a discussion with Sen. Lieberman about that, and I won’t until after the election. We’re going to have an election on Nov. 4. Unless something changes, things will continue as they have been.”
Still, tensions have escalated since Lieberman criticized Obama during a Sept. 2 speech at the Republican National Convention.
“I think Sen. Lieberman is quite courageous in supporting the candidate best suited for the presidency,” said Minority Leader Mitch McConnell , R-Ky. “Obviously, we are pleased he’s reached the same decision we have.”
Still Donating to Democrats
Lieberman currently chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Reid spokesman Jim Manley said last week that the Democratic caucus might want to review that after the elections.
However, unless the party significantly enlarges its tenuous majority, Democratic leaders are unlikely to risk doing anything that might prompt Lieberman to switch to the GOP in the 111th Congress, which begins in January.
Lieberman has said since his GOP convention speech that he does not intend to stop caucusing with the Democrats.
Several Republican leadership aides said they were not aware of any invitations that had been extended to Lieberman to begin attending the weekly GOP lunch instead.
“I’m astonished that so many [Democrats] are so hard on” Lieberman, said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, top Republican on Lieberman’s committee. “But for his willingness to caucus with them, they are in the leadership.”
Indeed, when the leadership elections were held, Sen. Tim Johnson , D-S.D., was too ill to attend. There are 49 Republicans and 49 Democrats, plus Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders , an independent who caucuses with Democrats. The vote to put Democrats in charge was never in doubt because of Lieberman’s loyalties.
And Lieberman has reinforced that loyalty by giving $100,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Lieberman to Skip Democratic Caucus Lunches, at Least for Now
Upon Lieberman’s return to Washington this week, he was greeted with the resignation of his legislative director, Joe Goffman. Goffman said Tuesday that his decision to leave was “exclusively” for career development reasons.
Catharine Richert and Jonathan Allen contributed to this story.
Comments
LIE-berman should resign his seat after the election. He lied to his constituents about how he would vote and which party he would support. He's damaged his state by apperently losing the Chairmanship of the Homeland Secutirty Committee which is of great importance to the State of Connecticut and the loss of his seniority as a Senator. He should resign in shame as the liar and unethical scoundrel that he is. 4 more years of Bush/McCain will destoy his state as well as the rest of the country. His extremist views on Foreign Policy are as large a danger as the threat of Al -Qaeda. He is a traitor to his Party and his State.
First, Lieberman performed an act of heroism in supporting McCain. Such a Marxist as Corn should be able to easily apprehend such fact. Second, stripping Lieberman of his gavel in the next Congress would not affect Lieberman at all, but would seriously and adversely affect the Democrat Senate. Either way Lieberman has a bright future. Piss him off sufficiently, and he becomes a Republican. A Senator with as limited a sense of history as Durbin could apprehend that.
Can't wait for LIEberman to get his just due. The guy lost his party's primary,and then,strictly out of ambition and egotism,formed his own convenient Independent Party. He deserves to be summarily kicked out of the Democrat Party,and sent scurrying to his buddies across the aisle. Good riddance..
For all the "disappointment" (HANDWRINGING) that the members of the SDC have spewed, in a way they themselves are indeed responsible for Lieberman's national prominence. Just think, had they been willing -as a group- to stand on principle, rather than craving for the perquisites of committee chairs, then he quite likely would be a relative leftist Republican representing a fundamentally contrary constituency. Moreover, THE single biggest reason the Obama ticket is currently faring no better than even with the McCain ticket -at least in national poll averages- is that its fellow Democrats have full operational control of Congress (rather than just the House), thereby blunting somewhat the change-Washington message of the out-of-the-White-House party.
POST A COMMENT
Oops! The following errors must be addressed: