Running Silent (Lieberman and campaign volunteers won't discuss petitions)

[Pale Blue Dot]

http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-stealth.artaug01,0,3447233.story?coll=hc-headlines-home

But Yost knows that Lieberman's campaign staff is a little touchy on the subject of his backup plan to run as a petitioning candidate if he loses next week's primary. At least you get the sense they would be touchy if you could get one of them to actually discuss it.

Or return a phone call, even.

"I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you," was the breezy response from Lieberman's campaign manager, Sean Smith, when asked about the petition drive last week. "I don't get updates. I am completely uninvolved."

So uninvolved, Smith said, that he has no idea who is running the petition drive. After saying he would find out and call back with the information, Smith failed to return repeated phone calls last week. Messages left for the campaign's spokeswoman, Marion Steinfels, were also unreturned.

<snip>

"They don't want anybody to know about it," said George Jepsen, a former state Democratic party chairman and a Lamont supporter. "Because when Democrats understand he's trying to have it both ways, they're appropriately offended by this. Joe Lieberman owes his career to the Democratic party."

Jepsen's successor, Nancy DiNardo, supports Lieberman. Asked why she thought the Lieberman campaign was keeping the petition drive under wraps, she said, "I'm not aware of that. I haven't discussed it with them."

[gratuitous]

1. Loyalty is a one-way street in Liebermanville

And it only flows toward Joe. Lanny Davis had a nauseating, issue-dodging letter to the editor today in the New York Times. Poor Lanny couldn't understand why the Times endorsed Lamont, given all these swell things Joe has done to challenge President Bush. Why, did you know that Joe opposed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge? Oddly enough, it keeps coming up for a vote in the Senate. And he "opposed the Bush tax cuts." Unfortunately, Lanny can't specify which ones, but you can bet that Joe opposed them! And Joe has been really, really upset by the administration's torture regime at Abu Ghraib and even wrote some legislation with John McCain. But he's been just a smidge too busy to actually, you know, hold the administration to account. But he's said many, many things that Lanny (a busy guy in his own right) couldn't quite enumerate that show that Lieberman isn't just some supine sycophant for the Bush administration.

If it's insignificant or hopeless, Joe's been there. But the war . . . ? Hey, let's talk about Lieberman's environmental record, mmkay?

[RCinBrooklyn]

2. Send Joe packing. Contribute to www.nedlamont.com. This is our time! n/t