When you think about it, there was only one acceptible response. Bush, as a Republican president, is the head of the Republican party. Any response other than that he planned to support the Connecticut Republican Senate nominee would have been the wrong one. Instead Bush hemmed and hawed and opined that a Bush endorsement of Lieberman might hurt Lieberman more than help him. It was probably as close as Bush dared go toward endorsing his Democratic friend:
G. BUSH: First, the Democrats have to sort out who their nominee is going to be and that's going to be up to the Democrats. And the rest of it's hypothetical.
KING: But he said he would run as an Independent, if he were...
G. BUSH: He also has said he's going to win his primary.
KING: I know you like him.
G. BUSH: You're trying to get me to give him a political kiss, which may be his death...
Then there was that July 20th New York Times ananysis of campaign contributions that found a strange affinity for Joe Lieberman among donors who normally favor the GOP:
Lieberman Finds Favor Among Donors That Usually Support G.O.P.
When it comes to supporting candidates for public office, the Associated General Contractors of America gives 90 percent of its campaign contributions to Republicans.
And then there is Senator Joseph I. Lieberman.
The group, which represents the construction industry, wrote a $4,000 check last month to Mr. Lieberman, the Connecticut Democrat who is facing a spirited challenge for his party's nomination from a political novice, Ned Lamont. The money was just a sliver of the $260,000 he has collected from political action committees since March.
But that donation and others like it have fed a perception, stoked by the Lamont campaign and its supporters on the Internet, that Mr. Lieberman is too cozy with Republicans. It is a vexing assertion for Mr. Lieberman, whose centrist politics and pragmatic style, once a source of pride, are now being held against him by liberals and antiwar Democrats.
...Anyone looking for evidence of Mr. Lieberman's bipartisan appeal can find it in his roster of recent contributors, which includes organizations that traditionally give more to Republicans. They include engineering and construction firms, some with contracts in Iraq. Those firms include Bechtel, Fluor International and Siemens, which support Republicans 64 to 70 percent of the time, according to data compiled by PoliticalMoneyLine, which tracks campaign and lobbying activities.
Florida Power and Light, which supports Republicans 84 percent of the time, gave $5,000 to Mr. Lieberman. Areva Cogema, a builder of nuclear power plants that gives 70 percent of its contributions to Republicans, contributed $1,000...The reasons for their support differ, and are not always clear. Most of these contributors did not support Mr. Lieberman in 2000, and many have supported only Republican candidates in Connecticut; the only other Connecticut candidate to receive a contribution this year from Areva Cogema, for example, was Representative Nancy L. Johnson, a Republican...
There have also been some odd Lieberman alliances over the years, like the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), an organization whose pitch includes fulfilling "Biblical prophesy," and whose work Lieberman actively supported from 1994-1999. Its Advisory Board has included prominent conservative Republicans like Gary Bauer; Bill Bennett; Chuck Colson; Jeane Kirkpatrick; Ralph Reed; Jack Kemp; and William Kristol, and its http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=international_fellowship_of_christians_and_jews">speakers have included Pat Robertson; Jerry Falwell; Pat Boone; and Donald Rumsfeld.
Next Tuesday Connecticut Democrats will go to the polls to decide who will represent the Democratic Party this fall in the U.S. Senate race. Once considered a shoo-in for the nomination, a primary victory for Lieberman is now in serious doubt. If he does lose the primary Lieberman is planning to remain in the race, running as an independent. Perhaps it is only fitting that his conservative Republican friends will finally have the option of voting for him without having to vote Democrat.
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