JOSEPH LIEBERMAN Biography - Polititians

 
 

Biography » polititians » joseph lieberman

JOSEPH LIEBERMAN

Name: Joseph Isadore Lieberman                                                     
Born: 24 February 1942 Stamford, Connecticut                                       
                                                                                   
Joseph Isadore "Joe" Lieberman (born February 24, 1942) is a United States         
Senator from Connecticut. Lieberman was first elected to the United States         
Senate in 1988, and was elected to his fourth term on November 7, 2006. In the     
2000 U.S. presidential election, Lieberman was the Democratic candidate for Vice   
President, running with presidential nominee Al Gore, becoming the first Jewish     
candidate on a major American political party presidential ticket. He and his       
running mate won the popular vote, but failed to gain the electoral votes needed   
to win the heavily controversial election. Lieberman ran for re-election to the     
U.S. Senate while he was also Gore's running-mate, and he was re-elected by the     
voters of Connecticut. He attempted to become the Democratic nominee in the         
2004 Presidential election, but was unsuccessful.                                   
                                                                                   
During his reelection bid in 2006, he lost the Democratic Party primary election,   
but won reelection in the general election as a third party candidate under the     
party label "Connecticut for Lieberman." Lieberman is now officially listed in     
Senate records for the 110th Congress as an "Independent Democrat", and sits       
as part of the Democratic Senate caucus in the 110th Congress.                     
                                                                                   
Lieberman has been one of the Senate's strongest advocates for continued           
prosecution of the Iraq War. He is also a consistent supporter of Israel. On       
domestic issues, he strongly supports free trade economics. He has also opposed     
fillibustering Republican judicial appointments. With Lynne Cheney and others,     
Lieberman co-founded American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), an             
educational association with ties to Campus Watch. Lieberman has also voted with   
Republicans on some ethical issues, and is one of the Senate's leading opponents   
of violence in video games and on television. Lieberman describes himself as       
being "genuinely an Independent," saying "I agree more often than not with         
Democrats on domestic policy. I agree more often than not with Republicans on       
foreign and defense policy."                                                       
                                                                                   
Lieberman was elected as a "reform Democrat" to the Connecticut Senate in 1970,     
where he served for 10 years, including the last six as Majority Leader. He         
suffered his first defeat in Connecticut elections in the Reagan landslide year     
of 1980, losing the race for the Third District Congressional seat to Republican   
Lawrence Joseph DeNardis, a state senator from suburban Hamden with whom he had     
worked closely on bipartisan legislative efforts. From 1982 to 1988, he served     
as Connecticut's 21st Attorney General and emphasized consumer protection and       
environmental enforcement.