Lieberman camp hits bid to oust senator from party

The campaign of Sen. Joe Lieberman yesterday described efforts to have Mr. Lieberman kicked out of the Democratic Party "Soviet-style tactics" and "dirty political tricks at its worst."

"These are Soviet-style tactics," Lieberman campaign spokesman Dan Gerstein said.

A group of peace activists has asked the New Haven registrar to strip the three-term Connecticut Democrat of his decades-long party association now that he's running for Senate as an independent.

The activists say they are working independently of Ned Lamont, the anti-war candidate who defeated Mr. Lieberman in the Democratic primary earlier this month.

"The Lamont campaign had nothing to do with this," said Lamont campaign manager Tom Swan. "We didn't even know the law they were quoting. All our work is focused on beating Joe Lieberman on November 7."

The group cited a state statute that allows for party affiliation to be "stricken or excluded" for two years if a candidate runs for office in a different party, the New Haven Independent reported Monday.

The registrar is reviewing the complaint.

Mr. Lieberman, who leads Mr. Lamont by 12 points in a recent statewide poll, says despite his independent status he plans to remain part of the Democratic caucus in the Senate.

Lieberman campaign manager Sherry Brown called the attack on Mr. Lieberman's party affiliation "dirty political tricks at its worst, ranking up there with the outrageous tactics that Katherine Harris and the Republicans used in 2000 in Florida to stop all the votes from being counted."

"This kind of ridiculous, partisan game-playing is not going to provide anyone in Connecticut with better jobs, better health care or better schools," she said.

The Lieberman campaign also has flashed its independent colors with two recent hires.

Republican pollster Neil Newhouse has signed on to be the campaign's pollster. A partner at Public Opinion Strategies, Mr. Newhouse has worked for Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, all Republicans.

The campaign also has hired Democratic strategist Josh Isay as its new press consultant. Mr. Isay has worked for a long list of Democrats as well as New York City's Republican Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

Of particular note is that Mr. Isay also has worked for Sen. Charles E. Schumer, the New York Democrat who now heads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is dedicated to defeating Mr. Lieberman in November.

Mr. Lieberman said the two men would help "bring our state together for a new politics of unity and purpose."

Henry Lowendorf, one of the protesters who wants Mr. Lieberman kicked out of the party, told reporters that Mr. Lieberman can't be both an independent and a Democrat.

"He shouldn't call himself a Democrat while he's running against the bona fide Democrat," he said. "He's running against the candidate the Democratic Party chose in a vote. He should be out."