Clinton To Stress Party Unity

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Clinton To Stress Party Unity But Lieberman Support Is Primary-Dependent

By MARK PAZNIOKAS, Courant Staff Writer

On the Palace Theater stage in Waterbury, former President Clinton is expected today to urge Democrats to redirect their anger over the war in Iraq away from Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman and toward Connecticut’s three congressional Republicans.

Clinton previewed his message in a speech earlier this month: “If we allow our differences over what to do now in Iraq to divide us instead of focusing on replacing Republicans in Congress, that’s the nuttiest strategy I ever heard in my life.”

But Clinton’s visit, while a timely boost to an incumbent suddenly struggling to stay even in a Democratic primary with an anti-war challenger, Ned Lamont, offers multiple story lines and imagery, not all of which will be flattering to Lieberman.

One of the scheduled speakers is Waterbury Mayor Michael Jarjura, re-elected as a write-in candidate last fall after losing a Democratic primary, a reminder that Lieberman is prepared to run as a petitioning candidate should he lose the Aug. 8 primary.

Clinton has no intention of undercutting his endorsement of Lieberman from the Palace stage, but a spokesman said Sunday that Clinton has the same position as his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton: His support would end with a Lieberman loss in the primary.

“He will support the Democratic nominee, regardless of who wins,” said Jay Carson, a spokesman for the former president.

Still, the Lieberman campaign is using the visit by Clinton, who remains the Democrats’ biggest draw six years after leaving the White House, to counter Lamont’s claim that Lieberman has undermined Democrats on the war and the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, an abortion opponent who succeeded the court’s swing vote, Sandra Day O’Connor.

As a Yale University law student in the midst of the Vietnam War, Clinton volunteered in Lieberman’s first race – a successful campaign in 1970 for the state Senate, unseating an incumbent Democrat, Edward Marcus. Clinton is expected to reflect on Lieberman’s long career as a voice for civil rights, the environment and labor.

“It’s going to be a thrilling afternoon, a really important afternoon for me personally,” Lieberman said during a campaign stop Sunday.

Lieberman said that Clinton’s appearance, which was arranged before a Quinnipiac University poll declaring the race a virtual dead heat, is the result of his direct invitation to the former president.

“We speak regularly,” Lieberman said. “Somebody else talked to him about the campaign, and he said he was really following it and concerned about it, concerned not just about me, but about the implications of this campaign for the national Democratic Party, for our chance to take back control of Congress this fall, which we dearly want to do, and for our chance to begin a movement to take back the White House in 2008.”

Bill Curry, a former Democratic gubernatorial nominee who worked in the Clinton White House, said Clinton still feels an affinity with Lieberman as a member of the centrist group, the Democratic Leadership Council.

“Joe Lieberman and Bill Clinton are as identified with the Democratic Leadership Council as any politicians in the country,” Curry said. “They are arguably the two Democrats most identified with the organization and the coalition it represents.”

Lanny J. Davis, who was Clinton’s Yale classmate and a special White House counsel, said Clinton’s willingness to take sides in a primary is unusual for a former president and signals the importance that the race holds for national Democrats.

Clinton has endorsed old friends in at least two other primary campaigns this year: Mike Beebe for governor in Arkansas, and John Stroger, an Arkansas native who is president of the Cook County board of commissioners in Illinois.

Aside from a 36-year friendship, Lieberman and Clinton also famously clashed in 1998 over Clinton’s sexual misconduct. Lieberman was the first Democrat to condemn Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky from the Senate floor, expressing dismay over the president’s relationship with the White House intern and the lies Clinton told to cover it up.

“Such behavior is not just inappropriate. It is immoral,” Lieberman said.

Ultimately, Lieberman spoke against Clinton’s impeachment. But the 25-minute speech raised Lieberman’s national profile, cementing his image as a moral voice in the Senate and probably contributing to his selection two years later as Al Gore’s running mate.

The episode remains a sore point for some Democrats, possibly to Lamont’s advantage.

“I think the Clinton event for him is a two-edged sword,” said Tom Swan, Lamont’s campaign manager. “I can’t help thinking that every time Lieberman and Clinton are in the same picture, won’t people be reminded of how destructive Joe can be to other Democrats?”

Courant Staff Writer Christopher Keating contributed to this report.

Contact Mark Pazniokas at mpazniokas@courant.com.

Copyright © 2006 by The Hartford Courant