Will the Lieberman independent candidacy split the Democratic Party?

[rogerashton]

Carper of Delaware and now Salazar of Colorado have announced support for Lieberman. Is there any such thing as the Democratic Party left?

Here is the scenario for '08. A Dean-style progressive wins the nomination against the opposition of the "centrists." Jeb Bush is nominated by the Pubs. The "centrists" form a New Democratic party to nominate one of their own number -- perhaps a Lieberman-Salazar ticket. McCain is invited to be nominated for vice president but refuses. (He is more of a party loyalist than the pundits like to think).

In this country, third parties have usually been formed by outsiders. The exceptions -- Roosevelt's Progressives and the Republican party, formed from remnants of the Whigs -- have had more influence than the rest.

Could a New Democratic Party win? Possible, but I would expect four more years in the *Bushes.

How would Hillary jump in this scenario?

Which "Democratic" party would survive? Could passion beat money? Is it possible that the '16 election would be contested by the Democrats and the New Democrats? Or would it be contested at all?

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

2. Even Washington-clique DLCers said they'll support Lamont

So, any "split" would consist on a very tiny portion on the Lieberman side. Maybe him and Zell Miller.

[Dogmudgeon]

3. No

Edited for spell check.

The past day has already refuted the common DU assertion that the world is controlled by the DLC. Hillary, for instance, pledged her support for Lamont quickly, and wrote him a $2000 check from HilPAC; Dodd, Bayh, and the other Dems so many progressives like to complain about didn't waste so much as a heartbeat on Lieberman; they immediately supported Lamont.

The DLC era is OVER. It was over in 2000. It is time for progressives to work on strengthening the party's dedication to liberal values, rather than to waste another moment in fear and loathing that a decaying dinosaur carcass may somehow come back to life.

We can stop playing defense now. It's time to push forward.

--p!

[Stinky The Clown]

5. Thank you!

I agree with everything you said.

[endarkenment]

4. No.

And I suspect Carper and Salazar will be getting a lot of pressure to not support Lieberman. However see other posts here. There really is an institution called The Democratic Party. It really does have lots of assets and resources that it provides for the support of Democratic candidates. Lieberman will not have any access at all to those resources.

Even if your scenario plays out, the 'centrists' (who would in reality be rightwing corporate greed heads and war party asshats) would not have control over the official Democratic Party. They would be marginalized just like any other third party effort in the last 140 years or so. If they can float a charismatic candidate (e.g. a Ross Perot) they can have an effect for a cycle or two.

The two parties are de facto institutionalized. So far, the path to power has been by working within one or the other of the two institutional parties, not by breaking away.

[leesa]

6. Nope. I think it was a long needed first step to making the party stronger

It was the DLC weakening the Party by insisting we needed to become Republicans to win and it turned the public and Democrats off.