Joe Lieberman Joseph Lieberman Office: Junior Senator, Connecticut Political party: Democratic Term of office: January 1989-Present Preceded by: Lowell Weicker Succeeded by: Incumbent (2007) Born: February 24, 1942 Stamford, Connecticut Died: Spouse: Hadassah Lieberman Joseph Isadore Lieberman, (born February 24, 1942) is a Democratic U.S. senator from Connecticut, best known as Al Gore's running mate on the Democratic ticket in 2000. The religiously-observant Lieberman is the first Jewish candidate in the United States to have been nominated by a major party as their Vice Presidential candidate. In 2004, Lieberman campaigned for the Democratic nomination for President, but gained little support from primary voters and dropped out of the race. Lieberman defeated liberal Republican Lowell Weicker to win election to the United States Senate in 1988 and was re-elected in 1994 and 2000. A former chair of the influential Democratic Leadership Council, a collection of centrist and conservative Democrats, Lieberman is considered to be one of the most conservative of prominent Democratic politicians. He has been a strong supporter of the U.S.-led 2003 invasion of Iraq and criticized some of his opponents in the 2004 Primaries for their opposition to the war; he is also generally more sympathetic to the role of religion in public life than many within the Party, and he first achieved national notice for his public criticism of President Bill Clinton's ethical conduct during the Lewinsky scandal in 1998.
On other issues, such as abortion, gun control and the environment, Lieberman's views more closely follow the positions of the Democratic party mainstream. Although sometimes characterized by his more liberal colleagues as a "Republicrat", Lieberman is viewed by others as a Democrat in the tradition of Washington Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson, who advocated a hawkish foreign policy and a liberal domestic program and whom some consider to be an ancestor of modern neoconservatism.
In 2005 media reports suggested that Lieberman might replace Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Lieberman dispelled the rumors, saying "It's a total fantasy, there's just no truth to it."
