Marc Ambinder and Mike Allen are both reporting this afternoon that Joe Lieberman will appear in New Hampshire to endorse John McCain’s presidential campaign.
A source familiar with the endorsement said that the two will appear of NBC’s Today Show tomorrow morning and at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire.
The endorsement could help McCain with independents in the state…. The move will heighten speculation that McCain might ask Lieberman to join his ticket.
A few thoughts. First, this news hardly comes as a surprise. As far back as January, Lieberman said he would consider backing the Republican nominee in ’08. Obviously, given that McCain and Lieberman have been joined at the hip in support of Bush’s Iraq policy for five years, I would have been more surprised if he didn’t endorse McCain.
Second, McCain’s campaign is certain to score points with the David Broders of the world, but this endorsement may not deliver much in the way of primary votes. Indeed, Lieberman’s support in New Hampshire is hardly impressive — remember the classic “three way tie for third place“?
And third, on the possibility of a McCain-Lieberman ticket, this has been touted of late by everyone from The Weekly Standard’s William Kristol to National Review’s Peter Wehner, though it seems terribly far-fetched given Lieberman’s support of abortion and gay rights.
This is the natural evolution of an embarrassing senator who lost his way quite a while ago. It’s unlikely, in a 51-49 Senate, that the Democratic leadership will punish Lieberman for this (by, say, reevaluating the decision to give him a committee chairman’s gavel he never uses), but it’s hardly an unreasonable move given the circumstances.