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Senators call in big guns for August Democratic primary

With their race quickly becoming a national symbol of rifts in the Democratic Party, Senator Joseph Lieberman and his challenger, Ned Lamont, are turning to national political figures to help bolster their campaigns for the Aug. 8 primary.

Former US president Bill Clinton was to visit Waterbury yesterday to campaign for Lieberman, who is fighting the perception that he is too closely aligned with US President George W. Bush.

As he stood outside a church after a campaign stop in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on Sunday afternoon, Lieberman borrowed the phrase that many political analysts have used to describe his campaign to retain his Senate seat.

"I'm in a fight here -- it's the fight of my political life," Lieberman said. "There's nobody I'd rather come on my behalf than president Bill Clinton. He's the last great success for national Democratic leaders. He knows what it means to be a Democrat, and he knows that I am a Democrat."

Besides Clinton, Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer of California was to campaign for Lieberman yesterday.

Lamont spent the weekend campaigning side by side with Democratic Representative Maxine Waters of California, who founded a group called the Out of Iraq Caucus in the House. Ohio Democratic Representative Marcy Kaptur, also campaigned for Lamont on Saturday.

Lamont will counter the planned visit by Clinton yesterday by announcing the endorsement of Carl Feen, a former Lieberman campaign official and a Clinton appointee who lives in New Haven.

The visits from so many elected officials put the race's importance to the Democratic Party into sharp focus. At separate campaign events just a few kilometers apart on Sunday, both Lamont and Lieberman said they had the future of the party at heart.

With the primary just over two weeks away, polls of likely primary voters show Lieberman and Lamont, a wealthy cable executive from Greenwich, in a virtual tie.

Clinton's appearance could buoy Lieberman's campaign, his advisers say, particularly among undecided voters and Democrats who may not already be planning to vote in the primary.

"It is significant and unusual for an ex-president to endorse in a primary," said Lanny Davis, a former White House lawyer in the Clinton administration and a close friend and supporter of Lieberman.

"It will send the wrong signal for the Democratic Party to be based just on one issue alone, even if it is as important as the Iraq war. The Democratic Party cannot afford a litmus test to prevent a three-term senator to be renominated," Davis said.

In 2000, when Lieberman ran as Al Gore's vice presidential running mate, the two distanced themselves from Clinton.

Both the former president and his wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, support Lieberman but say they will back the primary winner.

Lieberman is preparing to run as an independent in November if he loses to Lamont in the primary.
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