Former Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman is leading the search for an alternative choice to Joe Biden in 2024 election, arguing the ‘left of the Democratic Party has too much influence on the party,’ prompting the need for another choice on the 2024 ballot.
Lieberman, in his role as leader of No Labels, a group that promotes centrist, bi-partisan policies and politics, is working to give Americans an option that is neither Republican or Democrat but someone in the middle.
In an interview with DailyMail.com, Lieberman chided President Biden, who he’s known for years, for spending too much of taxpayers money and for not doing enough to govern from the center.
Former Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman is leading the search for an alternative choice to Joe Biden in 2024 election – Lieberman with Biden when they both served in the Senate
‘Some of the things [Biden] did were in response to the pandemic or to spend too much money,’ Lieberman said, adding that it ‘certainly contributed to inflation.’
‘I think in many ways the left of the party has influenced the administration,’ he noted.
The search for an alternative comes as polls show only about half of Democrats think Biden should run again. And the president is also facing declining support from two major voting blocs – black and Latino voters – that helped him win in 2020.
Additionally, a Suffolk University/USA Today poll from last summer found that 60 percent of voters say the nation’s two major political parties fail to adequately represent their views and believe a third-party option is needed.
Also of note in that poll, 79 percent of young voters – traditionally a Democratic voting bloc – said they would like a third option for president.
But who that third option could be remains a question mark.
Lieberman refused to talk about specific names when it comes to a candidate, saying, beyond politicians, the group would consider business leaders, thought leaders, and ‘entertainment industry celebrities – some of them take all this quite seriously.’
There has been speculation moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin could be a contender as could former Republican Gov. of Maryland Larry Hogan.
Biden formally announced last week he will seek a second term in the White House.
Democrats have expressed concern about his age – at 80 he is the oldest president in American history. He also has seen his approval rating drop to a low of 37%.
Biden shrugged off a question about his advanced years last week.
‘With regard to age, I can’t even say — I guess how old I am, I can’t even say the number, it doesn’t register with me,’ he said. He added he expected voters ‘to take a hard look at it, I would as well. I looked at it before I decided to run.’
His doctor has pronounced him fit to serve but Biden has shown signs he’s feeling his years: he sometimes walks with a limp, he has tripped walking up the stairs to board Air Force One, and he’s made multiple verbal gaffes.
There has been speculation that either moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin (left) or former Republican Gov. of Maryland Larry Hogan (right) could lead a third-party run
Biden also dismissed questions about his favourability rating.
‘I noticed the polling data I keep hearing about is I’m between 42 and 46% favorable rating,’ he said, ‘but everybody running for re-election in this time has been the same position, nothing new about that.’
Meanwhile, on the Republican side, polls show Donald Trump with a double-digit lead over other GOP possibilities.
Some Democrats worry, particularly if there is another Biden-Trump matchup, that the third-party candidate from No Labels could play a spoiler role and peel off enough moderate voters from the Democratic ticket to ensure a Republican victory.
Lieberman denied that was the group’s intention. And he knows the dangers a third-party can pose to an establishment candidate. In the 2000 presidential campaign, when Lieberman was Al Gore’s running mate, they fell just 537 Florida votes short of victory and Ralph Nader, the liberal activist and Green Party nominee, won more than 97,000 votes. George W. Bush’s win in Florida gave him the White House.
‘It’s not so much that we’re going to be spoilers. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure we’re not. It’s that we’re challenging the status quo,’ Lieberman said.
He noted that No Labels – at the moment – is focused on getting on the ballots in every state and not candidate recruitment.
So far, they have made the ballot in four: Arizona, Colorado, Alaska and Oregon.
Arizona is particularly crucial. Biden was the first Democrat to win the state since Bill Clinton in 1992. His victory was less than one percent but sealed his win over Donald Trump in the general election.
Lieberman said No Labels would hold a national convention April in Dallas and would know by then were or not running a third party candidate was viable.
‘If the 2024 election looks both like a repeat of 2020 but also like is just going to be another partisan, mudslide, we all are really get ready to run a bipartisan unity ticket to challenge the failed status quo,’ he said.
Polls show only 55 percent of black adults and 43 percent of Latinos support Joe Biden
No Labels has described what they are doing as an ‘insurance policy’ against extremist in either party.
And strategists in both parties are worried their bipartisan, work-together-message could hurt the respective candidates in the 2024 election.
Both Manchin and Hogan told The Washington Post last month that they weren’t ruling out being on a No Labels ticket, if it comes to fruition.
‘If enough Americans believe there is an option and the option is a threat to the extreme left and extreme right, it will be the greatest contribution to democracy, I believe,’ Manchin said. And as to being on the ticket: ‘I don’t rule myself in and I don’t rule myself out.’
‘I think it is really important to have that option. Because we have never been at the point we are today in America,’ Hogan noted. ‘The vast majority of people in America are not happy with the direction of the country and they don’t want to see either Joe Biden or Donald Trump as president.’
No Labels reportedly has a $70 million war chest its willing to invest in its presidential efforts.
Besides the threat of a third-party effort, Biden is also facing a revolt of support among some of Democrats most-reliable support groups: blacks and Hispanics.
It was black voters in South Carolina who helped make him the Democratic nominee after they gave him a massive win in the primary contest.
But, besides appointing Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court – a fact he featured in his announcement video for a second term – Biden has failed in other items important to African Americans, including protecting voting rights from GOP-led restrictions and enacting police reform.
In an AP-NORC poll conducted a week before Biden´s announcement, only 55 percent of black adults said they are likely to support him in the general election. Among Latinos, only 27 percent want Biden to run again in 2024 and only 43 percent said they would definitely or probably support him.
The campaign seems aware of its shaking ground with minority voters. Biden has hired hispanic campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez, who is the granddaughter of legendary labor leader Cesar Chavez, and he’s hired a black deputy campaign manager: Quentin Fulks.