NYTimes

Mrs. Clinton Offers to Raise Money for Lamont Campaign

By JENNIFER MEDINA
Published: August 26, 2006
NEW HAVEN, Aug. 25 — In a private meeting at her Chappaqua, N.Y., home on Friday, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton offered to help Ned Lamont in his battle to unseat Senator Joseph I. Lieberman by sponsoring a fund-raiser, campaigning by his side and lending him one of her top political strategists.

That strategist, Howard Wolfson, said Mrs. Clinton wanted to throw her considerable political weight behind Mr. Lamont because the national Republican Party “is clearly invested in Ned Lamont’s defeat.”

“I think they are going to do what they can to see him defeated,” Mr. Wolfson said, adding that he was particularly concerned with “Bush-Cheney talking points.”

“They are going to attack him in the way Republicans do,” he said, “and he obviously needs to be and is going to be prepared.”

Mr. Lieberman, who lost to Mr. Lamont in the Aug. 8 Democratic primary, is running on his own Connecticut for Lieberman line, while still calling himself a Democrat, angering many other Democrats. At the same time, an array of Republican officials, including President Bush, have praised Mr. Lieberman while distancing themselves from their own candidate, Alan Schlesinger. Across the country, the Republican Party has tried to use Mr. Lamont’s primary victory as evidence that an antiwar fringe has captured the Democratic Party.

Mr. Lamont has made criticism of the war in Iraq and Mr. Lieberman’s steady support for it a central theme of his campaign.

Mrs. Clinton is facing her own antiwar challenger in the Sept. 12 Democratic primary in New York — Jonathan Tasini, who has criticized her for not apologizing for her decision to support legislation authorizing the war in 2002. But unlike Mr. Lieberman, Mrs. Clinton backed a proposal in the Senate calling for “a phased redeployment” of American troops starting by the end of the year.

Mrs. Clinton, who has known Mr. Lieberman for several years and endorsed him in the primary, has already contributed $5,000 from her political action committee to Mr. Lamont. Former President Bill Clinton campaigned for Mr. Lieberman in the primary, but has been critical of the senator’s views on the war in Iraq in recent days.

“I think on nearly every issue we are closely aligned,” Mrs. Clinton said of Mr. Lamont later in the day, after an event in Amityville, N.Y.

Since losing the primary, Mr. Lieberman has repeatedly said that he is not concerned about Mr. Lamont’s endorsements from nationally prominent Democrats.

Tom Swan, Mr. Lamont’s campaign manager, said that Mrs. Clinton did not make firm plans to campaign with Mr. Lamont, but said he was “extremely encouraged by the commitment” from the Clinton team.

“I am very optimistic that they will be very helpful in any way we need,” Mr. Swan said.

Dan Gerstein, a spokesman for Mr. Lieberman, said that he was skeptical of the level of support that Mrs. Clinton was offering, calling it typical of the “partisan playbook.”

“We will be curious to see if and when Senator Clinton shows up with Mr. Lamont, whether he will turn around and distort her record, too,” Mr. Gerstein said.

Mr. Lieberman has said Mr. Lamont distorted his record by describing him as a cheerleader for Bush policies, asserting that Mr. Lieberman has often criticized the president on Iraq and other issues.

Mr. Lieberman also responded sharply on Friday to Mr. Lamont’s assertion that Mr. Lieberman, as the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, did not do enough to question the qualifications of Michael Brown before he was made director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

In a news conference here on Friday, Mr. Lieberman said that he had been extremely critical of the Bush administration’s handling of Hurricane Katrina.

“Where was Ned Lamont and what was he up to when this was happening?” Mr. Lieberman said.

Mr. Lamont has said that his family donated money to relief agencies and that his communications company offered to help college campuses in the Gulf Coast region.

Angela Macropoulos contributed reporting from Amityville, N.Y., for this article.