Do the Right Thing

What will Joe Lieberman do?

The Connecticut primary is three days away. On Tuesday, voters will decide between Senator Joe Lieberman and his upstart rival Ned Lamont, who was a complete political novice a few months ago but who is currently leading Lieberman in the polls by double digits.

What will Lieberman do if he loses?

The Senator has said that if he loses the primary he will run as an independent, but one of his Senate colleagues thinks that is unlikely.

New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg, in a live radio interview that was reported on the website of NBC's Connecticut affiliate and by USA Today, has said that if Lieberman loses by a wide margin on Tuesday, he would "take a look at what reality is" and most likely decide not to run as an independent.

Lautenberg is not basing this on any conversation he might have had with the Connecticut Senator. This is merely his personal hunch. But I can only hope he's right.

For Lieberman to run as an independent would mean that he would consider holding on to office more important than anything else. And if he's going to do that, why bother with running as an independent? He might as well switch parties altogether and become a Republican. After all, Republicans don't give a shit about the rules -- I'm sure they could find a way to get him on the November ballot as the standard bearer for their party.

But I don't think Lieberman wants to be remembered as a sore loser who only cares about the power and perquisites of office. The fact is that Senator Lieberman is a lifelong Democrat, and he should give some thought to his party and to the voters of Connecticut. If those voters decide that they no longer want him in the Senate, if they give him what Winston Churchill (who was voted out of office in 1945) once called "the order of the boot," then he should accept that judgment as gracefully as possible and support the winner of the Democratic primary.

I hope that the Senator can have that much class, and that he doesn't disappoint me. Let's hope that, if the vote doesn't go his way on Tuesday, Senator Lieberman does the right thing.

Tom Moran