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Monday, July 03, 2006

 
LIEBERMAN CUTS AND RUNS Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) has now confirmed what was already widely expected: He will run as an independent if he loses the Connecticut senatorial primary.

If you're having trouble figuring out what's at stake in this race, here's a flashback to a New York Times editorial that ran July 14, 2005:

This was a sad week for the war on terror. The Senate voted, disgracefully, to shift homeland security money from high-risk areas to low-risk ones--a step that is likely to mean less money to defend New York and California against terrorism and more for states like Wyoming. Before the vote, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff made a powerful appeal to the senators to distribute the money based on risk. But the Senate, led by Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, and other small-state representatives, put political pork ahead of national security.

[...]

Senators had a chance to fix next year's formula, but they voted to make it worse. The original homeland security budget would have allocated 70 percent of the money according to relative risks. Senators from the highest-risk states, led by Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, introduced an amendment to raise that number to 87 percent. Ms. Collins, supported by Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat, introduced an amendment to lower to 60 percent the amount given out according to risk. (Emphasis added.)
Connecticut Democrats: Vote for Ned Lamont. Connecticut voters: Send Joe Lieberman home.


CONTRAPOSITIVE is edited by Dan Aibel. Dan's a playwright. He lives in New York City.