Lieberman’s Conservatism to Blame for Campaign Failure, Experts Say
WASHINGTON –Sen. Joseph Lieberman’s moderate views and mild manner dealt insurmountable blows to his chance of winning the Democratic presidential nomination, political experts said Wednesday.
Lieberman withdrew from the race Tuesday night, after finishing far behind the frontrunner in eight state contests and lagging in campaign contributions. He returned home to Connecticut Wednesday and was embraced by state politicians in both parties.
Lieberman set himself apart from leading Democratic candidates by vociferously supporting the war in Iraq , a position that did not go over well with the largely liberal voters who participate in Democratic primaries and caucuses, said Carroll Doherty, editor of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, which has done extensive polling on the race.
“The war was just so widely unpopular with primary voters. That issue set him back enormously,” Doherty said.
While some other contenders, including the current frontrunner, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts , initially voted to give President Bush authority to go to war, they have since criticized his handling of the aftermath. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who once led in the polls but has failed to win any states so far, gained popularity by opposing the war from the outset.
Although polls showed Lieberman “in the top tier of candidates” late last year, Doherty said primary voters were turned off by what to Democrats is a conservative message. The turnaround, he said, was “stunning.”
In political campaigns, “ideas matter,” Doherty said. “He was on the wrong side of the big issues.”
Ross K. Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University in New Jersey , said Lieberman was too tame for primary voters and caucusgoers.
“He had a centrist view that wasn’t appealing to angry Democrats who wanted revenge on George Bush,” he said. “His manner of expression is mild. He’s reassuring rather than belligerent.”
The most conservative of the Democratic candidates, Lieberman tried to garner support from moderate Democrats and independents. But his platform never caught fire.
Allan Lichtman, chairman of the History Department at American University in Washington , said that primary voters were not inspired by Lieberman’s message. “Democrats are angry and they want someone who can beat Bush,” Lichtman said. “Lieberman seemed too close to Bush” on policy issues.
Political experts also said the nature of primary elections worked against Lieberman. People who vote in primaries, whether Democratic or Republican, are generally not as centrist as those who vote in national elections. “In primaries, the Democrats who vote are more distinctively liberal than average Democrats,” said Dennis Goldford, a political science professor at Drake University in Iowa .
Lieberman started the race with a great advantage: name recognition, a result of his run for vice president on Al Gore’s ticket in 2000. “In our polls this year he was by far the best-known candidate in a crowded field, which is a significant advantage,” Doherty said.
But Goldford said that the national recognition did little to propel Lieberman’s campaign.
“While he certainly was known to those in the New England area and those who followed national politics, he really had no national constituency,” Goldford said.
Goldford said that Lieberman was “plucked from relative obscurity” when Gore made him his running mate in 2000. And while he is recognized nationally, Goldford said it is merely as “a loser on the presidential ticket.”
Lieberman also became known in 2000 as the first Jewish candidate on a national ticket.
When Gore chose him, questions arose as to whether his religion would hurt the Democrats’ chance of retaining the White House. But commentators generally have dismissed religion as the explanation for Gore’s loss of the presidency in 2000 or Lieberman’s poor showing now. Baker said religion was “absolutely not” a factor this year.
Lichtman said because Lieberman was on the ticket four years ago, “he had to start out ahead and stay ahead” to have a chance of winning the nomination.
Lieberman’s inability to raise campaign funds also crippled him. Dean raised three times as much and Kerry twice as much as Lieberman.
John Green, director of the Bliss Institute of Politics at Akron University in Ohio , said that Lieberman was hurt by Gore’s endorsement of Dean. Fundraisers who had previously worked with Gore and former President Bill Clinton “signed on with other candidates because they want to go with the one who’s most likely to win,” Green said.
