HARTFORD, Conn. — After losing the Democratic nomination and seeing longtime political allies and national party leaders endorse his opponent, Sen. Joe Lieberman set off Wednesday on a rarely traveled path: trying to win election to the U.S. Senate as an independent.
It will be a daunting task.
He will no longer be able to turn to party committees for money needed to compete against the multimillionaire Democratic nominee, Ned Lamont, who won Tuesday's primary, 52% to 48%.
Nor can Lieberman expect big-name Democrats to come to campaign for him, as occurred in the weeks preceding the primary when former President Clinton and others rallied to his side. Instead, he can expect relentless attacks questioning his loyalty to the Democratic cause and intensifying pressure that he drop out of the race.
"Can he win? Yes. Is it hard? Absolutely," said Jennifer Duffy of the Washington-based, nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
The contentious Connecticut contest, shaping up as the backdrop for some of this year's most memorable political theater, quickly was marked by several unusual developments.
Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political strategist, called the Lieberman campaign Tuesday night. The White House said the call was purely "personal."
Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, publicly declined to endorse his own party's Senate candidate when pressed on MSNBC on Wednesday. Vice President Dick Cheney, usually media-averse, participated in a conference call with reporters to talk about the Connecticut race -- and express regret about Lieberman's defeat.
Cheney said he had "a good deal of respect" for Lieberman, his counterpart on the Democratic presidential ticket six years ago whose political career has been imperiled by his strong support for the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq.
Cheney said he considered it "a perhaps unfortunate and significant development" for Democrats that they would "in effect, purge a man like Joe Lieberman."
Whether such remarks would help or hurt the senator as he fights for his political life was unclear. But Lieberman left little doubt that he was committed to the battle.
As his campaign filed with state officials the petition signatures required to qualify him as an independent candidate, Lieberman told NBC's "Today" show that, "I am committed to this campaign -- to a different kind of politics, to bringing the Democratic Party back from the extreme ... to the mainstream."
