It is true that the Democrats have a "Lieberman problem". But in addition to getting some facts wrong, Sunday's TIME Magazine article from Jay Newton-Small does not really measure the magnitude or breadth of the problem. So I have.
[At the outset, I should note that I am just one person, a political scientist by degree but wanderer by profession, who spent a few hours of research on his own to come up with this information. I do not have a staff to help me, nor do I live in Connecticut to provide some context or background for these votes. Instead, I provide this information as-is for the readers to make their own judgments.]
Newton-Small quotes Sen. Lieberman as follows:
"If you compare [McCain's] record to Senator Obama's, it's not just that Senator Obama has only been in the Senate for only three and a half years and McCain's been here 21 years," Lieberman huffed. "Senator Obama has done very little of that in his time here, very little bipartisan work."
Unfortunately, this same claim was made today by Sen. Sam Brownback, before he realized that not only had Obama worked across the aisle, but that he had worked across the aisle with - you guessed it - Sam Brownback.
Still, Sen. Richard Durbin is resigned about Lieberman's positioning.
"Without him we would not be in the majority," says Dick Durbin, the second highest-ranking Democrat in the Senate. "He votes with us on virtually every issue except for the war and, of course, his support for Senator McCain. There is disappointment, for sure, and many people have expressed concern about his role, but he's going to have to make that decision."
Is it true that Lieberman votes with the Democrats on just about everything but the war and supporting John McCain? Let's look at the tale of the tape.
In the second session of 110th Congress, there have been 159 roll call votes through June 26. Lieberman voted present or did not vote 12 times, leaving 147 votes. Of the remaining votes, Lieberman voted against the majority of Democrats 20 times (13.6% of the time). 11 of those 20 votes were on the FISA Amendments Act of 2007 (shaded in gray in the table).
This leaves nine roll call votes in 2008 in which Lieberman opposed the majority of Democrats. In six of these nine votes, Democrats were sharply divided, with at least twenty Democrats supporting each side. And in one vote, roll call 89, Sens. Lieberman and Dodd from Connecticut were the only Democrats to oppose the bill. (Hopefully a local or plugged-in reader can tell us why in the comments.) It is difficult to reliably analyze how many times Lieberman has voted with Sen. McCain in this session, because McCain has missed so many votes. (McCain has not voted in the Senate since April 8.)
Here are the details of the votes in this session of Congress in which Lieberman opposed the majority of Democrats.
Roll Call Vote | Description | Vote (Y-N-P/NV) | Dem Vote (Y-N-P/NV) | Lieberman Vote |
2 | Motion to Table Committee on the Judiciary Reported Substitute Amendment, as Modified, to S.2248 (FISA Amendments Act of 2007) | 60-36-4 | 13-36-2 | Yea |
11 | Feingold Amdt. No. 3915 to S.Amdt. 3911 to S. 2248 (FISA Amendments Act of 2007) | 40-56-4 | 40-8-3 | Nay |
12 | Feingold Amdt. No. 3913 to S.Amdt. 3911 to S. 2248 (FISA Amendments Act of 2007) | 38-57-5 | 38-9-4 | Nay |
13 | Feinstein Amdt. No. 3910 to S.Amdt. 3911 to S. 2248 (FISA Amendments Act of 2007) | 57-41-2 | 48-2-1 | Nay |
14 | Feingold Amdt. No. 3979 to S.Amdt. 3911 to S. 2248 (FISA Amendments Act of 2007) | 35-63-2 | 35-15-1 | Nay |
15 | Dodd Amdt. No. 3907 to S.Amdt. 3911 to S. 2248 (FISA Amendments Act of 2007) | 31-67-22 | 31-19-1 | Nay |
16 | Feingold Amdt. No. 3912 to S.Amdt. 3911 to S. 2248 (FISA Amendments Act of 2007) | 37-60-3 | 37-13-1 | Nay |
17 | Specter Amdt. No. 3927 to S.Amdt. 3911 to S. 2248 (FISA Amendments Act of 2007) | 30-68-2 | 29-21-1 | Nay |
18 | Feinstein Amdt. No. 3919 to S.Amdt. 3911 to S. 2248 (FISA Amendments Act of 2007) | 41-57-2 | 40-10-1 | Nay |
19 | Motion to Invoke Cloture Re. S. 2248 (FISA Amendments Act of 2007) | 69-29-2 | 21-29-1 | Yea |
20 | On Passage of the Bill (S.2248 as Amended) (FISA Amendments Act of 2007) | 68-29-3 | 20-29-2 | Yea |
31 | Smith Amdt. No. 3897 to S.Amdt. 3899 to S. 1200 (Indian Health Care Improvement Act Amendments of 2007) | 56-38-6 | 26-22-3 | Nay |
33 | Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Motion to Proceed to Consider S. 2633 (A bill to provide for the safe redeployment of United States troops from Iraq.) | 70-24-6 | 27-21-3 | Nay |
75 | Motion to Waive C.B.A. DeMint Amdt No. 4347 to S.Con.Res. 70 (FY2009 budget) | 29-71-0 | 6-45-0 | Yea |
76 | Landrieu Amdt. No. 4378 to S.Con.Res 70 (FY2009 budget) | 23-77-0 | 20-31-0 | Yea |
88 | Motion to Table Durbin Amdt. No. 4388 to S.Amdt. 4387 to H.R. 3221 (Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2007) | 58-36-6 | 11-36-4 | Yea |
89 | Motion to Waive CBA Murray Amdt. No. 4397 to S.Amdt. 4387 to H.R. 3221 (Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2007) | 44-40-16 | 37-2*-12 | Nay (*-with Dodd) |
120 | Landrieu Amdt. No. 4705 As Further Modified to S.Amdt. 4707 to S. 2284 (Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007) | 30-62-8 | 21-25-5 | Yea |
138 | Motion to Concur in the House Amdt. No. 1 to the Senate Amdt. to HR 2642, with an Amdt. No. 4817 to H.R. 2642 (Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008) | 34-63-3 | 28-22-1 | Nay |
139 | Motion to Concur to the House Amendment No. 1 to the Senate Amdt. with Amdt. No. 4818 to H.R. 2642 (Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008) | 70-26-4 | 24-25-2 | Yea |
So what conclusions can be drawn from this? I invited readers to make their own judgments at the outset of this diary. And I do realize that this is only one measure, and an imperfect one at that. I also realize that this analysis does not account for the effects on the party and the electorate of Lieberman campaigning for McCain. However, I have one observation of my own.
Lieberman's relatively reliable voting record - except on FISA, Iraq troop withdrawals, and a few scattered issues - may make the Senate Democratic caucus reluctant to strip him of his chairmanship or seniority. That is not to diminish the importance of those issues. However, with an enlarged majority in 2009 - anywhere from 54 to 56 Democratic caucus members without Lieberman - his vote would be less critical on those relatively few issues on which he will oppose Democrats. This could make it more, not less, likely that he will continue to caucus with the Democrats, and continue to keep his seniority and chairmanship.