Lieberman, McCain partnership gives both parties a bad headache
John McCain’s rising presidential campaign is provoking fresh questions for Republicans and Democrats alike about the role Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) would play in the general election if the Arizona senator secures the GOP nomination.
Republicans are questioning how much McCain would rely on Lieberman in a general election and whether a prominent role for the Democrats’ 2000 vice presidential nominee would mean an emphasis on issues attractive to independents rather than the conservative base. Senate Democrats are considering how they would handle the wildcard independent, whose support they badly need to retain their razor-thin majority in the upper chamber.
{mosads}After helping McCain sell his credentials to independent New Hampshire voters, Lieberman will be stumping for the Republican in three key primary states this week. He spent Monday on the campaign trail with McCain in Michigan in advance of that state’s critical primary on Tuesday, and now will head to South Carolina before rounding out the week at events in Florida on Wednesday and Thursday.
McCain has been pointing to his work with Lieberman on issues ranging from global warming to the Iraq war in a bid to woo independents and highlight McCain’s claims of bipartisanship in the highly polarized Senate. Lieberman votes largely with Democrats on such hot-button issues as gay marriage and abortion, which typically come up in election years. However, he, along with McCain, is also one of the strongest Iraq war supporters in Congress and has bashed Democrats for proposing timelines for withdrawing troops from Iraq.
“Sen. Lieberman is one of the most respected members of Congress, and it sends the message that John McCain can work with both sides of the aisle, that he can build consensus with people like Joe Lieberman,” said Mark McKinnon, a McCain adviser.
Their close work on the campaign trail, coupled with the desire of voters for the next president to change Washington, has fed speculation of a bipartisan ticket, and could make a McCain-Lieberman pairing appealing. McKinnon and campaign aides, however, say such speculation is premature since the GOP nominating contest is far from settled.
A senior Lieberman aide dismissed the possibility. “It’s not going to happen — he’s indicated it to [McCain],” the aide said.
Even if Lieberman does not take the No. 2 spot, he could still play a prominent role on the campaign trail. Some suspect he could be given a prime speaking spot at the Republican National Convention, like then-Sen. Zell Miller’s (D-Ga.) fiery 2004 address, which lampooned the Democratic Party.
But a prominent role in the campaign would almost certainly affect Lieberman’s already tricky situation in the Senate Democratic Conference. If McCain continues his ascent, Senate Democrats may be forced to exclude Lieberman from internal conference meetings since campaign politics are certain to increasingly shape their agenda. The Lieberman aide said the senator would likely not attend weekly lunches where the discussion topics would conflict with his loyalties. The aide said Lieberman skipped lunches last year that were dominated by the Iraq debate.
Much of the Democratic establishment abandoned Lieberman after he lost his Senate primary in 2006, but after he won as an Independent he decided to caucus with Democrats in the 110th Congress. He still has raised funds for Democrats, delivering $100,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in December alone, according to an aide.
McCain is no stranger to the notion of a bipartisan ticket. He toyed with the idea of joining Democrat John Kerry in his 2004 presidential bid before ultimately declining.
“I think that Sen. McCain would be well advised to consider someone of the stature of Joe Lieberman, who is a good Democrat, as long as McCain is prepared to have a vice presidential nominee who [backs] programs that liberal Democrats support and conservative Republicans do not,” said Lanny Davis, a Democratic strategist and longtime friend of Lieberman. Davis said he was “very disappointed” that his former Yale classmate is backing McCain instead of a more “preferable” Democratic candidate.
“It certainly would be quite amazing that a single individual could run in both sides of the ticket in one decade,” said former Rep. Charlie Bass (R-N.H.), who heads the centrist Republican Main Street Partnership and backs McCain.
Bass added that he is not advocating for such a ticket, but said he wanted to see a vice presidential candidate who would be attractive to independents.
The idea of Lieberman joining the GOP ticket would generate enormous controversy from fiscal and social policy conservatives, two key elements of the Republican base who turned out in large numbers to help deliver the White House to George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. They say that McCain would not need Lieberman since the senator already has strong defense credentials.
Grover Norquist, a prominent Republican activist and head of the group Americans for Tax Reform, said McCain needs a candidate who would shore up his record on the economy, which is emerging as the leading issue among voters.
Fiscal conservatives have been critical of McCain’s votes against tax cuts in the first term of the Bush administration.
Norquist added that if the 2008 presidential contest is about Iraq, the Republican nominee will be in trouble.
“Lieberman’s only non-left-to-center issue is Iraq, and if the Republicans win in 2008, it is if Iraq is not front-and-center,” Norquist said. “If Iraq is front-and-center, then we are in 2006.”
Social conservatives say that choosing Lieberman as a vice presidential candidate would prompt religious conservatives to flee to a possible third-party candidate.
“We would certainly be happier if he were making overtures to Sen. [Sam] Brownback,” said Connie Mackey, a senior vice president for the conservative Family Research Council. Brownback, a conservative Republican from Kansas, also is backing McCain’s candidacy.
Some strategists downplayed the impact of religious conservatives by noting that McCain already does not rely on this voting bloc for support.
“Those social conservatives might not want to vote for McCain anyway,” said Sarah Binder, a senior fellow of governance studies at the Brookings Institution. “My hunch is that McCain is not harmed by Lieberman’s stance; if anything, it may make him more attractive to independents.”
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