Lieberman should drop out of election race: Dean

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman should
bow out of the November’s congressional race altogether after
his defeat in Connecticut’s Democratic primary, a top Democrat
said on Sunday.

Lieberman, a three-term senator and Democratic vice
presidential nominee in 2000, lost to political newcomer Ned
Lamont in Connecticut on Tuesday and said he plans to run as an
independent in the November election.

Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee,
said Lieberman should support his party — and Lamont — rather
than running against him to defeat the Republicans.

“I know how hard this is for Joe, and he is a good person,
but the truth is I lost one of these races and I got behind my
party’s nominee and I think that is what you have to do if you
want to help this country,” Dean, former governor of Vermont,
said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“The way to help this country is to limit Republican
power.”

Democrats see Lieberman’s loss as a referendum on President
George W. Bush and the Iraq war, while Republicans says it
shows that Democrats are soft on national security issues.

Lamont defeated Lieberman by 52 percent to 48 percent in
the August 8 primary but polls taken around that time showed
Lieberman ahead in a three-way race with Lamont and the
Republican candidate, former state legislator Alan Schlesinger,
who is not seen as a strong threat.