When Joe Lieberman ran against challenger Ned Lamont in Connecticut's 2006 Democratic senatorial primary race, the incumbent senator said that no one was more for health-care reform than he. Democrats chose Lamont, at which point Lieberman ran as an "Independent Democrat," but also as a Republican hero, due to his support of the Iraq War. Lieberman won, thanks to independents, Republicans and some Democrats who remembered him back when.

"I get tired of answering questions about Joe Lieberman," Lamont told me today, "because he so delights in having everybody talking about him."  But Lamont recalled Lieberman's liberal-minded campaign against him on health care. "He was a vocal supporter of the Medicare buy-in," a proposal Lieberman now says would have him voting with Republicans against the Democrats' health-care bill.

Three months ago, Lieberman told editors at the Connecticut Post that he would go for a Medicare buy-in for the uninsured starting at age 55 -- if Democrats got rid of the public option. Democrats proposed replacing the public option with the buy-in. Lieberman immediately did a 180, saying he'd vote against that, too.

Lamont, who's considering a run for Connecticut governor, says he wants to look forward and not back on that contentious 2006 race. He did say, however, "I've had hundreds of emails from folks who wish they had a second chance."

www.fromaharrop.com

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