Lieberman May Support Republicans in 2010
(AP/Lauren Victoria Burke)
"I probably will support some Republican candidates for Congress or Senate in the election in 2010. I'm going to call them as I see them," Lieberman
"There's a hard core of partisan, passionate, hardcore Republicans," he said. "There's a hard core of partisan Democrats on the other side. And in between is the larger group, which is people who really want to see the right thing done, or want something good done for this country and them -- and that means, sometimes, the better choice is somebody who's not a Democrat."
As for whether he would run as a Democrat himself in 2012 , "That's an open question," Lieberman said.
Lieberman ran as an independent in the 2006 general election to hold onto his Connecticut Senate seat, after being knocked out of the Democratic primary by challenger Ned Lamont. He managed to hold onto his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security Committee by agreeing to still caucus with the Democratic party.
Lieberman's allegiance to the Democrats has proven to be unreliable, however. In the 2008 presidential election, he supported Republican candidate John McCain. Earlier this week, Lieberman said he would join a Republican filibuster against the Democrats' health care bill as it is currently written. Lieberman opposes the bill's government-run health insurance plan.
At least one Democratic leader on health care, however, thinks Lieberman will change his tune on the issue.
"When it comes down to getting the 60 votes necessary to pass this bill, I do not believe that Joe Lieberman would want to be the one person who caucuses with the Democrats … to bring this bill down. I don't think he wants to go down in history like that," Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) told reporters Thursday. "He still wants to be a part of the Democratic Party although he is a registered independent. He wants to caucus with us and, of course, he enjoys his chairmanship of the [Homeland Security] committee because of the indulgence of the Democratic Caucus. So, I'm sure all of those things will cross his mind before the final vote."
Lieberman also told ABC he will support Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd's reelection campaign in Connecticut next year.
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