Upstream | January 18, 2011 | 24 comments

Joe Lieberman Won't Run for Re-Election

source: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/lieberman-will-not-run-for-re-election/?hp

Image
EthicalVegan
January 18, 2011, 5:27 pm
Lieberman Will Not Run For Re-Election
By DIEGO RIBADENEIRA





Senator Joseph I. Lieberman will announce on Wednesday that he will not seek a fifth term, according to a person he told of his decision.

Mr. Lieberman, whose term is up in 2012, chose to retire rather than risk being defeated, said the person, who spoke to the senator on Tuesday.

“I don’t think he wanted to go out feet first,” the person said,.

A longtime Democrat who lost a bitter primary battle to Ned Lamont in 2006, Mr. Lieberman won re-election as an independent that year, largely benefiting from a weak showing by the Republican candidate, who received less than 10 percent of the vote.

But Linda McMahon, the wealthy pro-wrestling tycoon who spent $50 million on an unsuccessful Senate race last year, has already signaled she may run again in 2012.

Aides to Mr. Lieberman were in Stamford late Tuesday making preparations for his announcement on Wednesday.

One aide, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement, said Mr. Lieberman arrived at his decision around Thanksgiving but postponed revealing his decision until after the legislative effort that culminated in the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” ban on gays in the military – an effort in which Mr. Lieberman played a central role.

A person close to Representative Christopher Murphy, a three-term Democrat from Connecticut, said he was considering a run for Mr. Lieberman’s Senate seat and would announce his intentions in the coming weeks.
  1. groups:
    Community,   Politics,   Random,   Current Tonight,   6 more
  2. tags:
    Democrats,  U.S. Politics,  Joe Lieberman,  U.S. Senators
  3.     
    |

24 comments // Joe Lieberman Won't Run for Re-Election

more from Upstream:
from the community

top videos