That same year in New York a three-way race developed for the Senate.
The appointed incumbent, Senator Charles E. Goodell, had been a moderate
Republican in the House. But as soon as he was appointed by Governor
Nelson A. Rockefeller (R-NY) to the Senate he wasted no time in becoming
a clone of ultra-liberal Republican Senator Jacob A. (Jack) Javits
(R-NY). So Conservative Party nominee James L. Buckley, the brother of
William F. Buckley of NATIONAL REVIEW and various television adventures,
ran not only against the Democratic liberal but also against the
Republican liberal. Then Vice President Spiro T. Agnew delivered a
famous speech in New York in which he attacked Goodell and all but
endorsed Buckley. Buckley won in a three-way contest. Conservatives
argued strongly that since he was elected on the Conservative line, and
since there was no other elected Conservative, he should form a caucus
by himself. Buckley thought otherwise and caucused with the Republicans.
That was the case for six years. Then Buckley ran for re-election as a
Republican. He was soundly defeated by Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan
(D-NY). Buckley tried once more to be elected Senator, this time from
Connecticut. Running as a Republican, Buckley was trounced in that
election bid.
More recently, of course, there was one celebrated independent who, by
leaving the Republican Caucus and joining the Democratic Caucus, caused
control of the Senate to switch from Republican to Democrat. James P.
Jeffords had his 15 minutes of fame by causing the Democrats to control
the Senate. He became a committee chairman for about 18 months. Then
Republicans won back control of the Senate. When Jeffords switched he
had just been re-elected in the 2000 election as a Republican. Now, six
years later, Jeffords is retiring. The Republicans were gunning for him
and the Democrats were not all that enthusiastic about him either.
Had Buckley followed the advice of those who helped elect him on the
Conservative line (New York has multiple parties and a candidate may
choose to run on one of several different lines) he might have survived
the 1976 election. There was a real feeling of a pox on both of your
houses in New York. Even though Buckley would caucus by himself, he
could have carved out a place for himself as a true independent. By
becoming Richard M. Nixon's favorite Republican, as one magazine article
put it, Buckley seemed to fade in significance as the term wore on.
Back to Senator Lieberman, who has a decent chance of being elected as
an independent in a three-way race. Republicans are running a weak
candidate who was thought to be a sacrificial lamb against Lieberman.
Now that Ned Lamont is the Democratic nominee there is a whole different
picture. Some Republicans are pushing to get a stronger candidate on the
ballot. Unless that happens, and it doesn't appear that it will, Senator
Lieberman will likely get the support of many Republicans inasmuch as
the issue in his primary campaign was that he was too close to President
George W. Bush. Lamont even ran a TV ad showing President Bush planting
a kiss on Senator Lieberman's cheek on his way down the House of
Representatives main aisle to deliver the State of the Union message.
Lieberman already has announced that if re-elected he will continue to
caucus with the Democrats. That cannot be a comfortable decision. Most
in the Democratic Caucus will have supported Lamont. Even several
Senators who endorsed Lieberman in his re-election bid have withdrawn
their endorsement now that Lamont is the Democrat nominee. But what are
the alternatives? He could elect to caucus with the Republicans but that
would be equally uncomfortable. Except for his support of the war on
terrorism Lieberman is a garden-variety liberal Democrat. True, he has
flirted with school choice and he has given lip service some of the
morality questions, but on abortion, for example, he votes with the
liberals all the way-this despite the fact that Lieberman calls himself
an Orthodox Jew. Orthodox Jews are prolife. Some have denounced him for
that and other reasons. He could caucus by himself. That may be very
lonely since the Senate is really an exclusive club.
On the other hand, he may be able to carve out a unique place in Senate
history. If he were elected as an independent and remained as an
independent he well could become a third force in American politics.
That is unlikely to happen just because Lieberman has so many friends in
the Democratic Caucus. He can forgive them if they have supported
Lamont. And let us not assume that Lieberman is going to win. Lamont is
a good campaigner and Connecticut is a very liberal state. Nonetheless,
it will be interesting to see if good old Joe can win a fourth term by
playing between both major parties.