Connecticut AFL-CIO endorses war hawk Joseph Lieberman for Democratic primary

John W. Olsen, chairman of the state AFL-CIO, said Lieberman was endorsed by a two-thirds voice vote of the approximately 350 delegates at its 6th Biennial Political Convention in New Haven.

Lieberman, a three-term incumbent, is facing a challenge for the Democratic ticket for the first time since entering the US Senate in 1988. Ned Lamont, a millionaire cable television executive from Greenwich, Conn., is opposing Lieberman’s stance on the war, tapping into growing opposition to the war and the Bush administration’s attacks on social conditions and democratic rights.

Lamont has been steadily gaining ground on Lieberman. A June 8 Quinnipiac University poll showed Lamont trailing the incumbent Senator 57 to 32 percent among all Connecticut Democrats, compared to 65 to 19 percent only the month before. Lieberman has indicated he may run as an independent candidate if he doesn’t win the Democratic nomination. He recently told reporters, “I am not going to close out any options.”

Lieberman would have to file 7,500 signatures on nominating petitions by August 9, the day after the primary, to secure a spot on the November ballot, meaning he would have to begin collecting signatures before the primary election results were tallied. The AFL-CIO has left its options open should Lamont win the Democratic nomination and Lieberman decide to run as an independent.

In supporting Lieberman in the primary, and leaving open the possibility that it may support him against Lamont if he loses in the primary, the Connecticut AFL-CIO has underscored the vast gulf that exists between the trade union bureaucracy and rank-and-file union members, as well as the working class in general. The Quinnipiac poll reported that 73 percent of all Connecticut voters disapproved of the way President Bush is handling the Iraq war.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2006/jun2006/conn-j29.shtml