CONCORD, N.H. – Forget Chris Dodd.
The other Connecticut Senator — the one who’s not running for president — is campaigning for someone else. Sen. Joe Lieberman, once a Democrat and now an Independent Democrat, has crossed state and party lines to endorse Republican John McCain, a fellow senator from Arizona.
“He’s a proud Republican, but he will always put America first and that’s the kind of person we need as president,” Lieberman told a cheering crowd at the Brown Bag Deli in Concord, N.H., on Thursday.
Lieberman himself was on the Democratic ticket for vice president in 2000 when he and Al Gore lost to George W. Bush. Lieberman has since moved away from the Democratic party after losing a primary race for the party’s nomination for the Senate in 2006. He is not supporting Dodd, who is running for the Democratic nomination for president, even though both share Connecticut.
Instead, Lieberman shares McCain’s support for the Iraq war and pleads for more bipartisanship in Congress. He portrays his support for McCain as an example of that bipartisanship.
“We’re weighted down with partisanship as people seem to identify themselves too often more as Democrat or Republican, instead of what we all are which is Americans,” Lieberman said.
He drew praise from some in the crowd.
“This is the perfect example of putting America first and party lines second,” said Larry Finder, the Co-Chair of the McCain campaign in Texas.
McCain supporters express gratitude for Lieberman’s help. He is having a positive effect on the campaign and with numerous voters, said TJ Costello of Austin, Texas.
“The big thing he does is he creates a buzz,” Costello said. Lieberman’s support, he said, show that McCain “is more than just a Republican ideologue.”
When McCain and Lieberman cross party lines to work together, said Costello, it “gives Americans an understanding that a president that goes into office could stop the gridlock that is going on right now.”
McCain arrived in New Hampshire on Thursday where he and Lieberman met up and attended a town meeting in Derry, N.H., together. The two will continue to campaign around the state until the Jan. 8 primary. The Connecticut Senator who is running for president — Chris Dodd — is expected to arrive here after the Iowa caucuses Thursday night. (Editor’s note: Dodd withdrew late Thursday from the Democratic race after losing in the Iowa caucuses.)
(Bryan Young, a sophomore magazine major, covered Dodd’s brief campaign for the Norwich Bulletin of Connecticut.)
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