The Connecticut senator's announcement will end months of speculation. Lieberman won't run again

Sen. Joe Lieberman is retiring from the Senate in 2012, closing out a two-decade career that saw him rise to the Democratic presidential ticket only to be dismissed by his own state party a few years later over his support for the war in Iraq.

Lieberman will announce that he will not seek re-election Wednesday in Stamford, Conn., ending months of speculation about whether Lieberman would run as an independent, a Republican, a Democrat, or simply retire.


Several knowledgeable sources on Tuesday confirmed Lieberman’s decision not to run.

“He feels that after 24 years in the Senate and 40 years in public life, it’s time for a new season,” a Lieberman aide said Tuesday night. The aide said Lieberman isn’t bowing out because he was worried about re-election. “It would be tough fight, but that’s not a reason not to run for re-election.”

News of Lieberman’s decision came on the same day another veteran Senate Democrat, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, announced his retirement, signaling yet another year of turnover for Democrats already fretting over their politically vulnerable class of 2012 candidates.

The Democrats’ 2000 vice presidential nominee on the ticket with Al Gore, Lieberman today is still deeply unpopular with the liberal base over his steadfast support of the war in Iraq, as well as his aggressive campaigning for Republican presidential nominee John McCain in 2008. Lieberman is an independent Democrat — yet he remains a popular member of the Democratic caucus, and a leader on a wide range of domestic policy causes, while still leading the Homeland Security Committee.

Lieberman was a crusading attorney general in Connecticut in the 1980s, came to the Senate as a good government candidate, and methodically worked his way up the ranks as a reformer with a moderate voting record. He was so appealing to Gore in 2000 that he was tapped as the vice presidential nominee, making him the first Jewish candidate on a presidential ticket.

Lieberman is fond of quoting scripture on the Senate floor, and has openly discussed his Judaism over the years — on the Sabbath he’s been known to walk to the Senate chamber to avoid using a motor vehicle.

In his retirement announcement on Wednesday, Lieberman will return to the Old Testament, according to a source, quoting from Ecclesiastes: “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under Heaven.”

He started to decline in popularity within the liberal base in the lead up to the 2006 Democratic primary because he relentlessly supported President George W. Bush on the war in Iraq. He lost that primary to liberal Democrat Ned Lamont, yet in a remarkable comeback Lieberman won as an independent — and was largely forgiven by his own Senate Democrats, who refused to revoke his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee.

Lieberman has largely remained on good terms with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who resisted calls from the left wing of the Democratic Party to punish Lieberman for his disloyalty in the 2008 presidential race. Indeed, Reid liked to point out that Lieberman has been a loyal Democratic vote on many domestic issues over the years.

And while he still takes heat from the liberal blogosphere, many on the left saw Lieberman’s redemption in his leadership on the repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” ban on gays openly serving in the military last month. A Public Policy Polling survey conducted in late October put Lieberman’s approval rating among Connecticut voters at 33 percent. He had the support of 24 percent of Democrats, 34 percent of independents and 48 percent of Republicans.

Lieberman’s retirement announcement Wednesday will come a day after Susan Bysiewicz, former Connecticut secretary of state, said that she plans to enter the 2012 Democratic primary field for Lieberman’s Senate seat. Rep. Chris Murphy has also expressed interest in the Democratic primary.

In attempt to shield herself from criticism about her political savvy, Bysiewicz released internal polling data that showed her defeating several Democratic primary rivals, Lieberman and 2010 GOP Senate and gubernatorial nominees Linda McMahon and Tom Foley.

This will be the third statewide run the 49-year-old Bysiewicz has attempted during the past two years. After forming an exploratory committee for governor in 2009, she switched to run for attorney general after former Sen. Chris Dodd announced his retirement and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal launched a Senate bid.

Her campaign for attorney general ran into problems and ended last spring when the state Supreme Court ruled her ineligible to hold the office because she never tried a case as a lawyer.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee swiftly unloaded background documents on Bysiewicz Tuesday, under the bold headlines “ethical problems” and “embarrassment.”

Murphy, a third-term Democrat fresh off a convincing November victory, is expected to announce his candidacy by month’s end and Lieberman’s announcement could accelerate his timetable.

“My interest in running for Senate in 2012 is well known in the state, and I expect to announce my decision very soon. All I can say now is that this is going to be a pretty busy few weeks,” Murphy said in a statement released through his spokesman.

Murphy could find himself competing with third-term Rep. Joe Courtney, the 2nd Congressional District congressman who has also recently signaled he’s weighing a contest.

David Catanese and Martin Kady II contributed to this story