Connecticut’s Bulldog

That's Joe Lieberman's response to the Lamont attack saying Lieberman was "Bush's lapdog". Lieberman replied: "I consider myself Connecticut's bulldog." The Hartford Courant has been giving excellent coverage of the primary battle in Connecticut. Today is no exception.

Lieberman, Lamont said at last week's debate with the senator, "too often is willing to undermine the Democrats, be it on issues of war and peace like the war in Iraq, or be it on a variety of other issues."

Lieberman counters that his job is to make tough choices that are not always presented in black and white terms, choices that often involve less-than-ideal legislation.

"When I disagree with my colleagues, I have the courage of my convictions to say so," he said in an interview Wednesday. And, he added, "If you wait to get 100 percent of what you want around here, you'll never get anything."

Democratic colleagues understand the need to compromise, and almost uniformly regard Lieberman as one of their own.

"A lot of people disagree with Joe on Iraq," said Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., who is featured on Lamont's website as a model of sorts for the challenger, "but the notion that that view doesn't make him a true Democrat is a mistake."

Lamont's forces brush aside such talk as insiders protecting an old friend. "That's Washington," said Liz Dupont-Diehl, his spokeswoman.

Voting Records

On paper, Lieberman's voting record would seem to end any suggestion that he's not true to the party. Pick almost any ranking, and he's in the same league as most of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate.

The liberal Americans for Democratic Action found him voting its way 80 percent of the time last year. The NAACP gave him an 85 percent mark, the Children's Defense Fund 89 percent, the AFL-CIO 92 percent.

Overall, Lieberman voted with Democrats 90 percent of the time last year, close to Connecticut Sen. Christopher J. Dodd's 94 percent, according to Congressional Quarterly's study of key votes.

But Lamont's camp says the Lieberman performance suggests he's not a hardcore Democrat. On key issues, Dupont-Diehl said, Lieberman took a position very different from other party members and then joined his colleagues for the final votes - or when other party members criticized his views.

The argument from the Lamont camp boils down to ideological purity being the only acceptable measure of being a Democrat. That's a deadly road for a political party to travel.