Calling it a “difficult but realistic” decision, the ever-optimistic Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut ended his presidential bid Tuesday evening, after failing for months to connect with voters the way he did when Al Gore picked him to be his running mate in 2000.
“I feel like a winner,” Lieberman told a group of supporters gathered in suburban Washington. “The judgment of the voters is now clear.”
Lieberman skipped Iowa, finished fifth in New Hampshire and had no chance of winning any of Tuesday’s contests. He had focused his efforts this past week on Delaware, where he narrowly edged out Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina to finish a distant second behind Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.
Surrounded by his wife and children, Lieberman remained steadfast in his position that he had the best chance of defeating President Bush in November because he’s a centrist Democrat. “I offered a mainstream voice and I still believe that is the winning choice for our party and our country,” he said.
But Lieberman never was able to overcome a campaign that struggled from a slow start, weak fundraising and a moderate message that was out of sync with Democratic primary voters.
The senator’s campaign gained a small shot of momentum in December when Gore endorsed former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, triggering sympathy for Lieberman who said he wasn’t even notified in advance by the former vice president.
After deciding to bypass the Iowa caucuses, Lieberman put so much emphasis on New Hampshire that he and his wife rented an apartment in Manchester for several months. He aggressively campaigned while strictly observing his Jewish Orthodox faith, which took him off the campaign trail for one day each weekend as the other candidates hunted for votes.
In the 2000 campaign, as the first Jewish nominee on a major party ticket, Lieberman came across as likable, steady and even funny. In this campaign, he tried to sell himself as a man who can work with both sides of the political aisle and someone not afraid to make unpopular decisions, such as voting for the war in Iraq.
But on the campaign trail and in the debates, Lieberman was often the lead criticizer, frequently focusing his attacks on former front-runner Dean. At 61, he was the oldest person in the seven-person Democratic field.
