Two interesting details in this Politico story.
“Sen. Lieberman’s preference is to stay in the caucus, but he’s going to keep all his options open,” a Lieberman aide said. “McConnell has reached out to him, and at this stage, his position is he wants to remain in the caucus but losing the chairmanship is unacceptable.”
[snip]
Lieberman’s aide told Politico on Friday morning that “essentially what transpired is that Sen. Reid talked about taking away his position perhaps for another position, and Sen. Lieberman indicated that was unacceptable.”
[snip]
The aide also said that Lieberman was not offered a subcommittee, as has been reported, but rather was offered chairmanship of a lesser committee. He didn’t specify which one he was referring to. However, if Lieberman left Homeland Security, Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) would be next in line and would have to give up Veterans Affairs, which would then be open for Lieberman.
Shorter Joe "tough on security" and "count the military votes even if they were sent after the election" Lieberman:
Making sure we pass legislation that will ensure we treat the men and women who have bravely served our country fairly is "unacceptable."
I’m also very curious about the sourcing of this paragraph:
Lieberman has since been having phone conversations with colleagues, but he has yet to meet with any in person. Most senators are receptive to Lieberman’s argument that allowing him to stay represents the type of unity that President-elect Barack Obama espouses.
Is this Dangerstein’s Lieberman’s anonymous aide’s claim that Democratic Senators are receptive to his spiel, or did Ryan Grim actually talk to any of these Democratic Senators? Given that there is one source cited in the article, I suspect it is the former–but it’d sure be nice if Grim would let us know if Democrats are going wobbly for Joe again. Update: From Redshift in comments:
I contacted Ryan Grim (he was the one who interviewed me for the blogger profile column in Politico a while back.) He said the source for the statement:
Most senators are receptive to Lieberman’s argument that allowing him to stay represents the type of unity that President-elect Barack Obama espouses
was the unnamed Lieberman aide, and the article will be updated to reflect that.
In other words, Lieberman is spreading claims that he has support, but there is no real indication that anyone but Evan Bayh really does support him.