Bill Clinton to Campaign for Joe Lieberman

In a surprise move, former President Bill Clinton will campaign for Sen. Joe Lieberman in the Democrat's closely contested primary race in Connecticut.

Clinton plans to speak on Lieberman's behalf at an event in Waterbury on Monday afternoon, according to the senator's spokesperson Marion Steinfels.

"We are thrilled to have President Clinton come to the state to campaign for Senator Lieberman," said Steinfels. "It is not only a big day for our campaign, but it is a big day for Waterbury and Connecticut."

The latest Quinnipiac University poll reveals that three-term incumbent Lieberman trails millionaire businessman Ned Lamont, who has criticized Lieberman's strong support of President Bush's foreign policy in Iraq, by a margin of 51 percent to 47 percent among likely Democratic voters in the primary.

News of Clinton's support comes as a surprise to election watchers who remember that Lieberman was highly critical of Clinton during the 1998 scandal that lead to Clinton's impeachment.

Lieberman took to the floor of the Senate to condemn the president's infidelity with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

He slammed Clinton for "having extramarital relations with an employee half his age," termed the president's actions "immoral" and denounced as "premeditated" Clinton's efforts to conceal his involvement with Lewinsky.

But as NewsMax reported, Bill Clinton recently defended Lieberman's pro-war stance during a speech at the Aspen Institute, saying: "If we allow our differences over what to do now in Iraq to divide us instead of focusing on replacing Republicans in Congress – that's the nuttiest strategy I ever heard in my life."

Clinton and Lieberman have known each other since then-Yale student Clinton worked on Lieberman's first campaign for the state Senate in 1970, Connecticut's Journal Inquirer reports.

And Steinfels noted that Lieberman was the first senator from outside the South to endorse Clinton in his 1992 presidential campaign.

Lieberman has already filed papers allowing him to petition his way onto the November ballot if he loses the August 8 primary to Lamont. But Clinton won't support a Lieberman run as an independent, spokesperson Jay Carson told the Web site tpmcafe.com.

Said Carson: "He respects the primary process and will support the candidate that wins the Democratic primary and work to help that candidate win."

Earlier this month, Sen. Hillary Clinton announced that she would not back Lieberman's bid for re-election if he loses the Democratic primary and runs as an independent candidate, NewsMax reported.

Columnist Margaret Carlson, writing for Bloomberg.com, opined: "She may have been finally getting back at the Democrat who didn't stand by her man."