With their race quickly becoming a national symbol of rifts in the Democratic Party, Senator Joseph Lieberman and his challenger, Ned Lamont, are turning to national political figures to help bolster their campaigns for the Aug. 8 primary.
Former US president Bill Clinton was to visit Waterbury yesterday to campaign for Lieberman, who is fighting the perception that he is too closely aligned with US President George W. Bush.
As he stood outside a church after a campaign stop in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on Sunday afternoon, Lieberman borrowed the phrase that many political analysts have used to describe his campaign to retain his Senate seat.
"I'm in a fight here -- it's the fight of my political life," Lieberman said. "There's nobody I'd rather come on my behalf than president Bill Clinton. He's the last great success for national Democratic leaders. He knows what it means to be a Democrat, and he knows that I am a Democrat."
Besides Clinton, Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer of California was to campaign for Lieberman yesterday.
Lamont spent the weekend campaigning side by side with Democratic Representative Maxine Waters of California, who founded a group called the Out of Iraq Caucus in the House. Ohio Democratic Representative Marcy Kaptur, also campaigned for Lamont on Saturday.
Lamont will counter the planned visit by Clinton yesterday by announcing the endorsement of Carl Feen, a former Lieberman campaign official and a Clinton appointee who lives in New Haven.
The visits from so many elected officials put the race's importance to the Democratic Party into sharp focus. At separate campaign events just a few kilometers apart on Sunday, both Lamont and Lieberman said they had the future of the party at heart.
With the primary just over two weeks away, polls of likely primary voters show Lieberman and Lamont, a wealthy cable executive from Greenwich, in a virtual tie.
Clinton's appearance could buoy Lieberman's campaign, his advisers say, particularly among undecided voters and Democrats who may not already be planning to vote in the primary.
"It is significant and unusual for an ex-president to endorse in a primary," said Lanny Davis, a former White House lawyer in the Clinton administration and a close friend and supporter of Lieberman.
"It will send the wrong signal for the Democratic Party to be based just on one issue alone, even if it is as important as the Iraq war. The Democratic Party cannot afford a litmus test to prevent a three-term senator to be renominated," Davis said.
In 2000, when Lieberman ran as Al Gore's vice presidential running mate, the two distanced themselves from Clinton.
Both the former president and his wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, support Lieberman but say they will back the primary winner.
Lieberman is preparing to run as an independent in November if he loses to Lamont in the primary.
In a market in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena, customers flock to Ache Moussa’s stall to have their long plaits smeared with a special paste in an age-old ritual. Each strand of hair, from the root to the end, is slathered in a traditional mixture of cherry seeds, cloves and chebe seeds, the most important ingredient of all. Users say the recipe makes their hair grow longer and more lustrous. Local and natural hair products are gaining popularity across Africa as people turn away from commercial cosmetics. Moussa applies the mixture and shapes the client’s locks into a gourone — a traditional hairstyle consisting of
‘ONE FELL SWOOP’: Overturning a landmark ruling that said judges should defer to experts would ‘cause a massive shock to the legal system,’ a dissenting opinion said Prosecutors overstepped in charging Jan. 6, 2021, rioters with obstruction for trying to prevent certification of the 2020 presidential election, the US Supreme Court said on Friday, throwing hundreds of cases into doubt, while another controversial ruling struck down 40 years of legal precedent on federal agencies’ ability to regulate critical issues. The matter was brought to the court through an appeal by former police officer Joseph Fischer, a supporter of former US president Donald Trump who entered the Capitol with hundreds of others in 2021. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said prosecutors’ interpretation of the law would “criminalize
The US yesterday wrapped up its first multidomain exercise with Japan and South Korea in the East China Sea, a step forward in Washington’s efforts to enhance and lock in its security partnerships with key Asian allies in the face of growing threats from North Korea and China. The three-day Freedom Edge increased the sophistication of previous exercises with simultaneous air and naval drills geared toward improving joint ballistic-missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and other skills and capabilities. The exercise, which is expected to expand in years to come, was also intended to improve the countries’ abilities to share missile warnings —
‘APOCALYPTIC : An UN official said that Lebanon was ‘the flashpoint beyond all flashpoints,’ and a conflict that involved it would draw in Syria and other nations Israel on Wednesday said that it does not want war in Lebanon, but could send its neighbor “back to the Stone Age.” The border between the two countries has seen daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants since the attack on Israel by Hezbollah’s ally Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, which triggered the war in Gaza. Fears those exchanges could escalate have grown in the past few weeks as cross-border attacks intensified and after Israel revealed it had approved plans for a Lebanon offensive, prompting new threats from Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said