Reply #130: Lieberman had his initial backers sure [View All]

[Tom Rinaldo]

And they had to go somewhere when it was obvious he was fizzling. Outside of the DLC however I don't agree he was as much the settled choice of some of those you list as you do however. Of course the media was going to talk about him. Lieberman had the greatest National name recognition of any Democrat. There are more than one division inside the Democratic Party. Everything can't be neatly boiled down to DLC and non DLC. Some players in the National Democratic Party don't even care much about ideology, they just want to hook their wagon to a proved winner who they think won't overly rock the boat. Lieberman, with his high national profile, started out convincing some that he would be that man. Others were just as comfortable with Kerry and Gephardt because they had coexisted peacefully enough with both men at the national level for a long time. They were simply afraid of outsiders.

The wording of your original post linked Clark to Lieberman pretty directly, and that is what I was calling into question. I'm sure when some original Lieberman supporters thought Clark was the only guy left who could beat Bush they supported him, at least for awhile. Same thing can be said about Bob Graham supporters. Lieberman himself was pretty viscious toward Clark since he knew he couldn't survive finishing behind Clark in New Hampshire, and I think the Clinton people with Clark's campaign were never happy with Lieberman to begin with.