With weeks left until Election Day, Sen. Joe Lieberman has to mine three different types of voters for support if he wants to put together a new coalition that will let him keep his seat.
He’s going to have to hold onto most of the Democrats who voted for him in the Connecticut primary, attract some Republicans and take a sizable chunk of independents, who make up a majority of the state’s voters.
He plans to move to define Democratic nominee Ned Lamont, whose criticism Lieberman was slow to counter during the primary, early on in the general contest, sources said.
Among the ways he’s doing that is painting Lamont as too “partisan” to get elected and taking advantage of the fact that many general-election voters don’t know much about the new Democratic nominee.
The embattled senator is running as an independent after upstart anti-Iraq-war rival Lamont ousted him in last week’s primary. For months, Lamont pounded on Lieberman’s support for the war and his perceived coziness with President Bush.
Lieberman aides insisted the war will not be an issue for him in the general election, despite polls showing a growing number of GOPers don’t like the way things are going in Iraq.
“His stance on the war on terror and national security . . . almost act as a buffer with moderate and conservative voters” who may not like other parts of record, said one source close to Lieberman.
“At the end of the day, how does he win? By being authentic and being real,” the source said, adding that the millionaire Lamont had long been a moderate before he “completely rein-vented himself” for the Senate campaign.
Dan Gerstein, Lieberman’s new communications director, wouldn’t go into strategy, but he echoed the campaign’s mantra – that Lamont had “distorted” the senator’s record.
“We’re not going to let that happen in the general election,” Gerstein said. “People are going to see very clearly who Joe Lieberman has always been, and get to know the real Ned Lamont.”
Lamont campaign manager Tom Swan shot back, “This whole race for Lieberman is about Lieberman and [staying] the course.”
He accused Lieberman of spinning tales, saying: “We stuck to [his] record. You tell me one thing where we distorted his record. They outspent us 2 to 1 on misleading attacks . . . We will not let him have the money advantage this time around.”
Party lines
Party affiliation of Connecticut’s registered voters, and how Joe Lieberman (left) could appeal to each group:
INDEPENDENT – 44%
832,000
Stress centrist views and that he’s above “partisan politics”
REPUBLICAN – 22%
435,000
All security, nearly all the time – along with kind words from key GOP officials
DEMOCRAT – 34%
661,000
Highlight past support from unions and emphasize his record that appeals to Democratic base