SAY IT AIN'T SO, JOE :

Lieberman Critical of Gore for Moving Campaign Off Center (ADAM NAGOURNEY, July 29, 2002, NY Times)

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut said last night that during the campaign for the White House in 2000, Al Gore drifted away from the centrist Democratic appeal that had been at the core of both men's political identities. [...]

"Al said some things in the campaign that were not the logical continuation of things--his voting record in the Senate and his career in public service," Mr. Lieberman said. He noted that Mr. Gore had initially campaigned on what he described as a "pro-growth" platform that emphasized fiscal discipline, the importance of business and curbing the deficit.

"The people versus the powerful unfortunately left that track and gave a different message, which may have been caused by the pressure that the Nader campaign was giving us," Mr. Lieberman said, referring to Ralph Nader, the Green Party candidate. "But I think it was not the New Democratic approach."

This is just silly. They won (or as good as won) the election by pitting people against each other and getting their base to turn out. If they hadn't had that big turnout--and if Bush's drunk driving arrest hadn't come out--they may well have lost by 5%. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 29, 2002 1:40 PM