Lieberman eclipses Bush at GOP convention

But Lieberman’s criticism of Obama and defense of Bush drives many Democrats to frustration and fury.

Watching on television was the man who defeated Lieberman in the 2006 Senate Democratic primary, Ned Lamont. Lieberman went on the beat Lamont in the general election.

“Joe continues to believe that he has a monopoly on patriotism and that those with a different view are not putting their country first,” Lamont said in an e-mailed comment to me after the speech. “Sen. Lieberman’s active campaigning would hurt McCain in Connecticut, and I am not certain that his campaigning helped Gore in Florida in 2000.”

He added Lieberman “was so over the top in his praise of Sen. Obama during our primary campaign in 2006; to call him a partisan empty suit two years later rings hollow to the people who know Joe best, the voters of Connecticut.”

But Republicans hope there are enough other Democrats and independents to make the Lieberman play worthwhile. McCain really has no choice: There aren’t enough Republicans for him to win the election.

On the convention flloor, Connecticut delegate Charles Chiusano, who lives in the suburbs of New York City, said an hour before Lieberman arrived at the podium that he was glad the Democrat was addressing the convention.

“It’s very good to be inclusive. In Connecticut, we are mavericks just like John McCain, and we vote for the person, not the party.”

But a Lieberman vice presidential pick, Chiusano said, “would have divided too much of the rest of the country who are not as open-minded as Connecticut is.”

Lieberman's appearance in St. Paul with the Republicans who worked to defeat him and Gore in 2000 is a symbol of the real purpose of these proceedings: to get to 270, the number of electoral votes McCain needs to win the presidency.

Some of those votes can be found in states that Lieberman and Al Gore carried in 2000, such as Pennsylvania, and some of them in Florida, a state that was decisive in 2000 and may be again on Election Day this year.

“I’ve had Lieberman at my house for a fund-raiser a few weeks ago,” said William Diamond, a  delegate from Palm Beach, Fla., who is a transplanted New Yorker. “He visited my temple and spoke there brilliantly. He made a fantastic argument on behalf of Sen. McCain, and he says Sen. Obama is a risk for the Jewish people and the state of Israel.”

Diamond said Lieberman will give McCain an edge in Florida “especially among Jewish voters. He packs the synagogues and the delicatessens wherever he goes.”

Lieberman virtually took up residence in Florida in the fall of 2000 to keep the state in the Gore-Lieberman column in the Democrats. He may be back again this fall.

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