Republican M. Jodi Rell said she doesn’t expect her party’s presidential nominee to pick Connecticut U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman as his running mate.
Lieberman, who was reelected on the Connecticut For Lieberman Party ticket in 2006, has been McCain’s chief attack dog and traveling bud in the campaign for president this year. (He even told Fox News it’s a “good question” to ask whether Democratic candidate Barack Obama is a Marxist.) Republican McCain has reportedly been considering asking him to run as his vice-presidential candidate. One poll showed that McCain would actually lose votes here if he chose Lieberman.
Lieberman was the Democrats’ vice-presidential candidate in 2000. He then fell out of favor with the party for his hawkish views on Iraq and his alliances with right-wing Republicans on some social issues, lost a primary, then went bolted the party and went “independent.”
“I think Joe has said publicly that if asked he would decline” to run with McCain this year, Rell said when asked about the prospect during a visit to New Haven Tuesday. “But I absolutely adore Joe as a friend. But I don’t think he’s likely to be the choice.” (Click on the play arrow to watch her full response.)