WATERBURY, Conn. — Before a roaring crowd in Waterbury's Palace Theater, Bill Clinton slung a companionable arm over Sen. Joe Lieberman's shoulder. He made a series of self-effacing jokes -- "the obligatory hillbilly poormouth," he explained -- which whipped up the audience even more. And then he covered Lieberman with the political equivalent of fairy dust.
In a 23-minute speech, the former president made the case that Democrats should not abandon their leaders over the war issue. Lieberman's unyielding support for the war in Iraq has turned Connecticut's Aug. 8 primary into a startlingly fierce contest, pitting a three- term U.S. senator and vice presidential nominee against a political neophyte, Ned Lamont, who advocates setting a deadline to withdraw troops.
Monday's event aimed to reverse that surge with a show of Democratic unity. Lamont, Lieberman said, "is spreading a big lie that I'm not a real Democrat." Anyone still uncertain, he said, should "ask that other fellow over there -- the big guy from Arkansas. He's known me since my first race for public office 36 years ago."
After praising Lieberman's record on education and healthcare, Clinton addressed what he called "the pink elephant in the living room."
"No Democrat is responsible for the mistakes that have been made since the fall of Saddam Hussein," he said. "We're not responsible for the fact that that a lot of those kids still don't have body armor ... and there's billions of dollars that have been given out in no-bid contracts and millions that are just missing. We're not responsible for that. So I say, we can fight later in the future about what do we do next, and honorable people can disagree."
Whether endorsements by Democratic leaders can save Lieberman's campaign remains to be seen. A Quinnipiac University poll released last week showed that support for Lamont has surged over the past month, and he now holds a 51%-to-47% lead over Lieberman among Democratic voters.
With two weeks left until the primary, the contest has transformed from "what looked like a blowout" early in the race to a white-knuckle finish, said Douglas Schwartz, Quinnipiac University poll director.
"I've never seen anything like this," he said.
Lieberman's fight for survival may presage trouble for other Democrats who voted to authorize force in Iraq or who oppose a deadline for troop withdrawal -- among them Clinton's wife, U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. At Monday's event, Lieberman supporters said they had been taken aback by the ferocious campaign waged by anti-war Democrats.
