This makes the reasoning of the conservative voter complicated. There is an understandable reluctance to cast a ballot the effect of which could be to turn the Senate of the United States over to Democratic management. The organizational vote is very tight. The Democrats need to gain six seats in order to organize the Senate next January.
Mr. Lieberman -- just to begin with -- is not an orthodox conservative. He is closer to being an orthodox liberal. If you subtracted from his record his important votes on international affairs, he would emerge as a blue-ribbon Democrat, the kind of Democrat a Democratic presidential candidate could comfortably tag for vice president. It is not surprising, then, that, even though Lieberman is running as an independent, he has said that if sent back to the Senate, he would join with the Democrats to organize the chamber. And, conceivably, his vote would be critical.
Now add to this complication a further factor. Much of the enthusiasm for Joe Lieberman over the years has been from mainstream Democrats. Their loyalty to Lieberman is striking, but in politics, vows of fidelity are renewable every 24 hours. During the primary campaign, both Bill and Hillary Clinton supported Lieberman. After the primary, however, they both shifted over to Lamont, with Bill Clinton giving as his reason that Lieberman had accepted the "Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld" position on the invasion of Iraq.
We leave for last, as is expected in political tallying, the factor of temperament and character. Joe Lieberman is a singular human being. He has personal support from people who know him, and who sense in him a true love for God and country.