Lieberman to host fundraiser for Reid

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) will host a fundraiser for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), whom he has often antagonized, on Sunday in Greenwich, Conn.

Lieberman left the Democratic Party after losing his Senate primary in 2006 and has had a tempestuous relationship with Democrats ever since.

He caucuses with his former party but he campaigned for Republican Sen. John McCain
(Ariz.) in the 2008 presidential campaign, and many Democrats were unhappy with his criticism of Barack Obama.

Reid was under pressure in January 2009 to yank
Lieberman’s chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee, but
decided against it.

Lieberman spokeswoman Erika Masonhall said the two men remain close.

“Sen. Lieberman supports his good friend Sen. Reid and was more than happy to help in his reelection efforts,” Masonhall said.

From the Connecticut Post:

The gesture of goodwill toward Reid, who was quoted earlier this year
as saying that Lieberman double-crossed him on health care reform, has
thrown even the most politically astute for a loop.

Connecticut’s top Democrat had to go back more than a year — to a
fundraiser coinciding with President Barack
Obama’s inauguration — to recall the last time she saw Lieberman
at a party event.

“If they’re friends, he could be helping a friend. I don’t know,
though,” said Nancy
DiNardo, the state Democratic
Party chairwoman.

Democrats in the know say this is the second time in about a year
that Reid has hit the Greenwich fundraising circuit, taking advantage of
the deep pockets of a town elite that doesn’t discriminate when it
comes to political stripe.

Hosting Reid this time around is venture capitalist Dan
Ciporin and his wife, Jill, at their $4 million midcountry home,
according to the reception’s invitation, which suggests a minimum
donation of $1,000 per person. Individuals can donate up to $2,400 for
the primary and $2,400 for the general election to Reid, who is seeking a
fifth term.