Lieberman an unseen force in Democrats' clash

Tom Curry National affairs writer • Profile • E-mail

WASHINGTON - His name only came up once in passing during Tuesday night’s presidential debate, but in a way, Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Democratic presidential contender himself in 2004, was very much present.

Four years ago, it was Lieberman up on stage during the debates with John Edwards and the other Democratic presidential hopefuls.

Now he is playing an important off-stage supporting role in the struggle for the 2008 nomination.

His amendment, co-sponsored by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., urging President Bush to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization has become a litmus test for the Democratic contenders.

Last month, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., voted for the Kyl-Lieberman amendment, joining 29 other Democrats and 47 Republicans as the Senate OK’d the non-binding statement.

Her vote triggered a fusillade of criticism from her rivals, former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C, and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., who portrayed the vote as something Bush might exploit to justify an attack on Iran.

“She shouldn’t have done it, because what she’s done is given this president with his history the first step in the authority to move (militarily) on Iran,” Edwards told reporters last Friday in Boone, Iowa.

He hammered at that theme again in Tuesday night’s debate, charging that the Kyl-Lieberman resolution “looks literally like it was written by the neo-cons…. It literally gave Bush and Cheney exactly what they wanted.”

MSNBC video   Edwards: Stand up Oct. 30: John Edwards argued in Tuesday night's debate that it was time for Democrats to oppose the Bush administration's policy toward Iran. MSNBC

So what do the measure’s sponsors, Kyl and Lieberman, think about their handiwork becoming the centerpiece of the Democratic presidential race?

Lieberman is 'troubled'
Adopting a tone of sorrow and bewilderment, not anger, Lieberman said Tuesday before the debate that his and Kyl’s measure “ought to be non-controversial.”

He said the use of the resolution as a litmus test for Democrats “troubles me, as it troubled me when the amendment came up on the floor of the Senate that 22 senators voted against it.”

Among them: Democratic presidential contenders Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware. Obama missed that vote.

Lieberman explained, “I thought it was so direct, factual, based on evidence the U.S. military has given us of the involvement of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps in training and equipping Iraqi extremists who… have been responsible for the killing of hundreds of American soldiers.”

Chuckling a bit, apparently in disbelief, Lieberman asked, “How can you vote against a request that the administration impose economic sanctions on a group that the U.S. military has presented us ample evidence is a terrorist group killing American soldiers?”

Clinton 'not in favor of doing nothing'
On Tuesday night, Clinton explained her vote by saying, “I’m not in favor of this rush to war, but I’m also not in favor of doing nothing. Iran is seeking nuclear weapons and the Iran Revolutionary Guard is in the forefront of that, as they are in the sponsorship of terrorism.”

Interactive Rate candidates' positions Visit msnbc.com's Candidates + Issues Matrix to rate the 2008 presidential candidates on their ideas about the key issues.

Lieberman acknowledged Tuesday that some senators don’t trust Bush, but said, “At some point, we’ve got to get over this distrust and partisanship.”

Thirty Democratic senators voted for the Kyl-Lieberman measure and thus, to some degree, they have gotten over that “distrust and partisanship.”

But Edwards and Obama are more sensitively attuned to the views of Democratic primary voters than are senators who aren’t running for president.

Magnifying their differences with Clinton is what Edwards and Obama think they must do to appeal to primary electorate, especially since the voting records of the three Democrats are identical in most respects.

Picking the president: The candidates Click to visit that candidate's MSNBC page or click the XML symbol for an RSS feed. John McCain                Barack Obama

MORE FROM POLITICS

Politics Section Front

Poll: GOP voters both united, divided Lawmakers to hold hearing on party crashers Divided Senate opens health care debate Reid: Senate to work weekends on health care Gibbs: Security team gets new Afghan policy Senate set for health care debate The Grio: Rep. Rangel faces challenge from former staffer Levin: Afghan forces key to success NYT: White House intruders want to sell tale Newsweek: Why Cheney should run in 2012 Politics Section Front   Add Politics headlines to your news reader: