Friday, August 11, 2006

G.O.P. to Force McCaskill to Choose Between Lamont and Lieberman

National Republicans believe they can capitalize on anti-war candidate Ned Lamont's upset victory over Sen. Joe Lieberman Tuesday by forcing Democratic candidates across the country to say who they support in November.

That's according to Time's Mike Allen in an online piece.

"One of the nip-and-tuck Senate races this year is in Missouri, and backers of Sen. Jim Talent are preparing an attack on his opponent, State Auditor Claire McCaskill, that is emblematic of the sort that will be seen all over the country within 24 hours. "Does Claire McCaskill support the wishes of the angry left by endorsing Ned Lamont's candidacy or will she support the man who was chosen by Al Gore as the Democrat's 2000 nominee for Vice President?" the National Republican Senatorial Committee asks in a statement that will force McCaskill to talk about messy party business instead of her favored issues of government accountability and affordable health care. The NRSC blasted similar releases into 10 states," Allen writes.

Lamont bested Lieberman in Connecticut's U.S. Senate Democratic primary Tuesday. Lieberman now says he'll run as an independent in November. We asked McCaskill who she supported before the results rolled in, and she declined to answer. Will she now answer the question up front and get it out of the way?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Choosing to answer that question or choosing to not answer it could be a lose/lose situation for McCaskill. She is definitely selling herself as a moderate but she does not want to cause a rift with her own party members. If she does not answer, then it looks like she has something to hide. She needs a witty comeback to defuse the question- like Reagan did on the question of age in the 1984 debates. I do not think that this will play for more than a few weeks but you never know what will convince the moderate voters on who is the right person for the job.