posted August 09, 2006 03:02 AM              

Lieberman Loses Democratic Primary
Vows Run As Independent

POSTED: 12:47 pm EDT August 8, 2006
UPDATED: 11:29 pm EDT August 8, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Joe Lieberman, crippled by his support for the Iraq war, lost the Democratic nomination for a fourth term Tuesday to a political newcomer who portrayed him as an apologist for the Bush administration.

His loss to Ned Lamont - just six years after his party made him its vice presidential candidate - made him only the fourth incumbent senator to lose a primary since 1980. But he pledged to petition his way onto the November ballot as an independent candidate.

"As I see it, in this campaign we just finished the first half and the Lamont team is ahead. But, in the second half, our team, Team Connecticut, is going to surge forward to victory in November," Lieberman said late Tuesday.

Nationally known for his centrist views and his party's vice presidential nominee in 2000, the 64-year-old Lieberman has endured harsh criticism in his home state for supporting the war and has been labeled by some Democrats as too close to Republicans and President George W. Bush.

Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman is trailing in early returns.

The three-term lawmaker is struggling to overcome a tough primary challenge and escape payback from his own party for supporting the Iraq war.

Six years after Democrats backed him for vice president, Lieberman was trailing with 48 percent, to political novice Ned Lamont's 52 percent, with 81 percent of precincts reporting.

Lieberman has been locked in a battle with Lamont fueled by anti-war sentiment in the nation's most closely watched primary race.

Polls had showed the race tightening between the two, with Lamont holding a slight lead.

Jack Ellovich said he voted for Lieberman, citing the three-term senator's experience.

"He's already got the standing in the Senate," said Ellovich, after casting his vote at a downtown Hartford precinct. "I think he can get stuff done for Connecticut and I don't think Lamont really knows how the system works."

Others, however, said they were swayed by the 2000 vice presidential candidate's support for the Iraq war, saying he is too close to Republicans and Bush.

"I'm completely for Lamont because of the war issue. I'm totally disgusted with Lieberman and his positions. I think he sold us out," teacher William Clement, 57, said after casting his vote for Lamont in Hartford's west end.

"He's more like Bush than anything else. I think he's his little puppet," voter Raymond Deauchemn, 55, said in Norwich.

Lamont, a political novice, is the millionaire owner of a cable television company.

Lieberman's Web Site Offline

Lieberman's campaign claimed earlier Tuesday it has been victimized by computer hackers who support Lamont.

The senator's official campaign Web site, Lieberman2006.com, was down Tuesday morning. An alternative site, joe2006.com, has also been offline.

The site had been hacked and apparently it was throughout the senator's campaign, which couldn't even use e-mail Tuesday.

Lieberman campaign manager Sean Smith told reporters on Tuesday that "they have totally attacked our Web site and e-mail system. If Ned Lamont has a backbone in his body, he will call on these people to cease and desist."

Lieberman staffers said they're going to the U.S. Attorney and other law enforcement officials to complain.

A spokesman for the Lamont campaign told reporters on Tuesday that it had no knowledge of the alleged web site attack.

Lieberman remained confident Tuesday despite trailing in early returns.

"I feel they were flirting with the other guy for a while, wanting to send me a message," he said Monday during a stop at a restaurant in Hartford. "I got their message. I think they want to send me back to Washington to continue working with them, fighting for them, and delivering for Connecticut."

As their poll numbers tightened, Quinnipiac Poll Director Douglas Schwartz said people may have had second thoughts about Lamont, whose only political experience is two years as a Greenwich selectman and six years on the town's Board of Estimate and Taxation.

The race attracted tremendous interest, both in Connecticut and nationally. Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz predicted turnout Tuesday of 40 percent, much higher than the 25 percent that is typical of state primaries.

More than 14,000 Connecticut voters switched their registration from unaffiliated to Democrat to vote in the primary, while another 14,000 new voters registered as Democrats, according to state statistics.

"People want change and people like what they hear from Ned," said Liz Dupont-Diehl, Lamont's campaign spokeswoman.

Some argued the GOP would be better off if Lieberman had won, on the theory that anti-war activists would become discouraged and stay home in November.

Others argued that Republicans would be better off with Lamont prevailing. That way, the argument goes, they can try to win over voters by telling them the Democrats have been taken over by an anti-war fringe and can't be trusted to protect the nation's security.
Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.