A stunned Sen. Joe Lieberman yesterday said he was blindsided by former running mate Al Gore’s decision to jilt him and undermine his 2004 campaign by endorsing Democratic front-runner Howard Dean for president.
“I’m not going to talk about Al Gore’s sense of loyalty this morning,” Lieberman told NBC’s “Today” show after getting the heave-ho from his onetime partner and pal.
“I was caught completely off guard. No notice. I heard about it from the media,” said Lieberman – who’d put his own decision about running in 2004 on hold for two years out of loyalty to Gore.
Gore didn’t give Lieberman the courtesy of a phone call until yesterday morning – 15 hours after the news broke and was blazoned across every newspaper in the America.
“The call came too late,” was Lieberman’s response, aides said.
On “Today,” Lieberman was shown a 2000 news clip where Gore praised him to the skies as a man ready to be president and said he can’t explain why Gore ditched him.
“You’d have to ask Al,” he said,” because I’m the same person today I was when he said those very kind things about me.”
During the long days of the 2000 campaign, Gore and Lieberman and their wives bonded closely, especially during the Florida recount where Gore’s near-win depended on Lieberman’s strong support from Jewish voters.
Plenty of Lieberman fans were livid with Gore, saying the decision to ditch Lieberman for hot candidate Dean was a lousy way to repay a faithful ally who got a late start in the race because he waited for Gore to decide.
“I don’t think this is the way Al Gore should have rewarded Joe Lieberman’s incredible loyalty and decision to stick to his pledge to wait for Gore to decide. Gore didn’t even extend him the common courtesy of telling him,” said a Lieberman backer.
Sources said Gore decided to endorse Dean – now the Democratic front-runner while Lieberman trails well behind – while on a trip to Japan last week.
He notified Dean Friday and they decided to break the news yesterday in Harlem.
Lieberman noted that Gore and Dean have very different views on many issues but Gore yesterday made it clear that what trumped it all was the fact that Dean is outspoken against the Iraq war. Lieberman voted for the war in the Senate.
The first warning for Lieberman came shortly after 2 p.m. Monday when reporters called his staff to check escalating rumors that Dean was about to unveil a mega-endorsement – maybe Gore.
Lieberman was already en route to New York on the 4 p.m. USAir shuttle when the bombshell news hit the Associated Press wire at 4:43 p.m.
Lieberman press secretary Jano Cabrera e-mailed the story to his boss on his Blackberry – the handheld device that Gore, Lieberman and their aides pioneered as a way to stay in constant touch in the 2000 campaign.
In fact, a Blackberry touched off the bitter 2000 Florida recount when an aide advised Gore not to concede the presidential election to George W. Bush as he was en route to the site picked for his concession speech.
But even after the endorsement news broke, Gore didn’t call Lieberman – but finally dialed Lieberman’s cell phone around 7:30 a.m. yesterday, after the news was everywhere and Lieberman had already appeared on the “Today” show.
It wasn’t just Lieberman who got blindsided – so was his press secretary, Cabrera, who is one of the Democratic Party’s most popular operatives and one of Gore’s chief aides when Gore quit the 2004 race a year ago.
Still, Lieberman said he “will always remain grateful” to Gore for tapping him in 2000 as the first Jewish vice presidential candidate.
“I have no second thoughts . . . I did what I thought was right. I couldn’t run against the guy who gave me the opportunity to be vice president. No regrets,” Lieberman said.
Also blindsided was 2004 wannabe Dick Gephardt (Mo.), who put his entire national political operation behind Gore in 2000 and played an active role in speaking out for Gore-Lieberman during the Florida recount.
TALE OF THE TAPE
TAX CUTS
Gore: Advocated middle-class tax cuts in 2000
Dean: Wants to hike middle-class taxes by rolling back all of President Bush’s tax cuts
FREE TRADE
Gore: Free-trader and point man in pushing through the Nafta trade deal
Dean: Wants to drastically restrict free trade and Nafta
GUN CONTROL
Gore: Backed 1994 assault weapons ban
Dean: Opposed 1994 assault weapons ban
MEDICARE
Gore: Fought Newt Gingrich’s plan to limit Medicare growth
Dean: Backed Gingrich plan
SOCIAL SECURITY
Gore: Opposed raising the retirement benefits age
Dean: Advocated raising the retirement benefits age (now says he’s dropped the idea)
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
Gore: Supports
Dean: Said it should be based on class, not race – now says he supports it