My BLOG is only a few weeks old and it is typically focused on the GOP, the Conservative movement and how it can regain its prominent status. I did not expect to see this happen to Senator Joseph Lieberman the current chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.

November 7, 2008; by Nikki Weigartner: Joseph Lieberman’s Committee Chair in Jeopardy. The long and the short of the story, very well written by the way, is that Lieberman had met with Harry Reid, and the information that was put out by CBS showed the Reid felt that Lieberman [who votes over 95% with the Democratic caucus] had to be punished for his support of John McCain.

November 6, 2008; by Sam Stein: Joe Lieberman To Be Stripped of Committee Chair? Again in a good story, Mr. Stein makes the argument that Reid will likely tell Lieberman that he is being stripped of his committee chairs. The key sentiment being that it was a payback for supporting John McCain.

Finally, I found this cool BLOG site, Mad Kane’s Political Madness posting entitled Ode to “Traitor Joe Lieberman (click here). It was posted on November 7, 2008 and updated since. The point of the posting is “good ridden to bad rubbish”. Let Lieberman caucus with the GOP or whomever else he wishes.

Now here’s the interesting part. There were hundreds of stories and postings about how Lieberman was not needed and was a traitor and he truly deserved to loose his chairmanships. In some cases in spite of the fact that the Democrats don’t have anyone with Lieberman’s experience in Homeland Security.

November 17, 2008, CNNPolitics.com; Lieberman Likely to Keep Top Democratic Posts, sources say (click here for the story). Apparently Dana Bash and Ted Barrett have information that Senate Democrats appear willing to let Senator Joe Lieberman keep his Chairmanship of Homeland Security.

November 17, 2008, NBC’s Ken Strickland: LIEBERMAN TO STAY PUT? Mr.Strickland makes the point that President Elect Barrack Obama tilted the scales in Lieberman’s favor.

I suggest a slight different reason for keeping Lieberman:

Minnesota’s Senate Race goes to recount, with 206 votes separating Norm Coleman (R) and Al Franken (D) see the WashingtonPost.com story here. Additional information is that Franken had over 362,000 fewer votes than Barrack Obama received. The suggestion there is that if a voter chose Obama he would have selected Franken.

Alaska Senate Race goes towards Begich (D) as Stevens (R) falls some 814 votes with some 30,000 ballots remain to be counted. See the related story here.

UPDATE: Begich Declared the winner November 18, 2008. One (1) down two to go. Will Obama’s gamble with Lieberman work?

Georgia Senate Race is truly up for grabs right now. The run off election is scheduled for December 2, 2008 and it was a very tight race to begin with, now Obama is sending his surrogates to help Jim Martin (D), including Bill Clinton as part of winning team, President Elect Obama’s entire Ohio Field team. The GOP is sending down McCain [who won Georgia on election night] (see story here). As of November 13, Daily Kos published the results of a poll of likely voters with a margin of error of 4% where Chambliss (R) leads with 49% to Martin’s (D) 46%: Clearly within the margin of error.

So, to me the reason why Lieberman received the support of President Elect Obama is a simple political calculation. Lieberman can be punished later, at a time of the party’s choosing. At this point in time, with a 57 to 43 senate majority and the possibility and the probability that there will be at least 2 additional Senators on the Democrat’s rolls and then the results of the run off election being so close; this would be the wrong time to punish Lieberman and push him to caucus with the Republican party.

No, I don’t think it is fair play or goodness. What I do believe is that it is cold political calculations from the master of running an election: President Elect Obama.

The Lee’s Summit Conservative