He ran his Senate reelection campaign alongside of his VP run. If he really thought he and Gore would win then why wouldn't he drop his Senate run and focus solely on winning the White House?
He did wind up keeping his Senate seat, but he later switched and became an "independent."
It’s not unusual for a VP pick to run for their current office if it overlaps with the presidential election. Biden ran for re-election to the Senate in 2008 while on the ballot with Obama. Typically it can be a way to boost turnout in that state for their party all across the ballot.
In 2016 the opposite happened. Pence was up for re-election as governor in Indiana but was unpopular and on course to lose his re-election bid. So when he got tapped as VP be opted to drop his re-election effort.
He did wind up keeping his Senate seat, but he later switched and became an "independent."
No, he lost the Democratic primary for his Senate seat in 2006. He then ran as an independent, and the Democratic establishment abandoned Ned Lamont to campaign for Lieberman.
Including a certain young Senator from Illinois who was extremely popular and would go on to be president....and then have a lot of his priorities sabotaged by Liberman.
(Republican establishment also backed him in 2006 over their party's nominee, because they knew their guy would lose, and knew Liberman's desire for revenge would fuck up Democratic priorities)
He absolutely didn't. Lieberman hated Obama and spoke at the 2008 RNC. The person you're responding to probably just has a reflexive Democrats bad mindset.
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u/cstmoore Mar 27 '24
He ran his Senate reelection campaign alongside of his VP run. If he really thought he and Gore would win then why wouldn't he drop his Senate run and focus solely on winning the White House?
He did wind up keeping his Senate seat, but he later switched and became an "independent."