Aug. 6: Supporters of Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and challenger Ned Lamont speak with Tim Russert of NBC's "Meet the Press" ahead of a hotly contested U.S. Senate primary.
By Tom Curry National affairs writer MSNBC
Tom Curry National affairs writer • Profile • E-mail
HARTFORD, Conn. - Democratic voters in Connecticut began casting their ballots Tuesday morning and by 10:30 this evening, both Sen. Joe Lieberman and his rival Ned Lamont will likely know whether Lamont’s daring challenge has succeeded in defeating the man who only six years ago carried the party’s banner as its vice presidential candidate.
By Tuesday night, Democrats will either have divorced Lieberman -- ending a political marriage that goes back to 1970 when he was first elected to the state legislature -- or they’ll have renewed their contract with the three-term senator, who has tried the patience of many Democrats with his support of the Iraq war.
Lieberman has vowed that if he loses Tuesday’s Democratic primary he will run as an independent.
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But some of Lamont’s followers hope that former President Bill Clinton and other party elders would pressure Lieberman to forego that independent bid if Lamont wins.
A victory by Lamont would be one of the most audacious political feats of the last 20 years.
There are about 650,000 active Democrats in Connecticut and voter turnout is expected to be high. Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.
The importance of independents
A crucial part of the electorate is expected to be the 13,000 independent voters who took advantage of the provision under Connecticut law allowing them to re-register as Democrats and vote in the primary.
As tension built during the hours before the balloting, Lamont campaign manager Tom Swan said, “I’m worried about ‘street money,’” cash paid to people to bring voters to the polling places. While finding and encouraging voters is legal, “street money” sometimes leads to allegations of voters being paid to cast ballots, which is illegal. “Bridgeport is a place I’d worry about because of the history of fraud,” Swan said.
A Lieberman spokesman said “no one at all remotely affiliated with the Lieberman campaign is involved in vote buying.”
A referendum on the war
At his campaign office in New Haven late Monday, Lamont reprised one of the basic themes of his campaign, the cost of the Iraq war.
He has called for pulling troops out of Iraq within one year.
“How come we’re spending $250 million a day over there and we can’t afford universal health care for every American… and I teach school in Bridgeport and we can’t afford to keep that high school open past two o’clock in the afternoon?” he said.
Lamont, who inherited wealth and added to it by starting a cable TV firm, teaches a class in business entrepreneurship at a high school in the hardscrabble industrial city of Bridgeport, although he lives in Greenwich one of the state’s wealthiest towns.
Business has much at stake in this race. Defense industry jobs at firms such as United Technologies and Electric Boat, which makes submarines, are vital to the state’s economy.
Asked whether executives and workers at those firms have reason to be nervous when they hear the term “anti-war candidate,” Lamont said, “That’s nonsense… We need a strong and robust defense, and Connecticut’s defense industry is going to be at the forefront of that. It’s going to be a defense suited to the war we’re in right now, the war on terror.”
He added, “I understand the importance of submarines. I know what it means in terms of intelligence, I know what it means in terms of counter-insurgency. It’s important you have a senator who can make that case.”
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Three-term US Senator  has conceded defeat to challenger Ned Lamont in Tuesday's Democratic Party primary election in the  of Connecticut. With 98% of precincts reporting, the Associated Press reports that Lieberman has 48% of the vote compared to 52% for Lamont. The winner of the primary faces the Republican Party candidate in the  but Lieberman confirmed tonight his intention to petition to run as an  against both the Democratic and Republican nominees. The polls  closed at 8 p.m. local time (UTC-5). 

The final result is highly anticipated due to the feud between Lieberman and Lamont. The major issue in the primary has been Lieberman's support for the . Lieberman, who was Democrat Al Gore's running mate in the 2000 US presidential election, opposed criticizing US President George W. Bush during wartime and was famously kissed on the cheek by Bush following his 2005 State of the Union address. Lamont has challenged President Bush's handling of the .

The campaign leading up to the election became increasingly acrimonious, with numerous "attack ads" used by both sides.

Because of the nature of the candidates and the marginality of the seat, the race has been seen by some as a "referendum" on the Democratic party or a "proxy vote" on the entire 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent war.

Colorado, Michigan, Missouri and Georgia also held primaries Tuesday.