Sen. Joe Lieberman Won't Seek Fifth Term

Enlarge this image toggle caption Alex Brandon/ASSOCIATED PRESS Alex Brandon/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent, won't run for a fifth term, according to several reports.

The New York Times reports that Lieberman, who caucuses with Senate Democrats, wanted to get out while the getting was good.

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman will announce on Wednesday that he will not seek a fifth term, according to a person he told of his decision. Mr. Lieberman, whose term is up in 2012, chose to retire rather than risk being defeated, said the person, who spoke to the senator on Tuesday. “I don’t think he wanted to go out feet first,” the person said.

And from the Hartford Courant:

"You can bet the farm" that Lieberman won't seek a fifth term in 2012, said a Democratic insider who is close to the 22-year Senate veteran. But neither Lieberman nor his Senate office would confirm that. "U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) will announce his plans for 2012 at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 at the Marriott Hotel in Stamford, Connecticut.at 12:30 p.m.," went the cryptic e-mail advisory sent to the media by his Senate office at 1:35 p.m.

Lieberman won re-election in 2006 after a bruising Democratic primary battle which he lost to Ned Lamont.

His party's Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000 Lieberman, a center-right Democrat on many issues, enraged his party's base with his support for the Iraq War, among other things.

He won re-election as an independent and continued to enrage many Democrats. In 2008, he spoke at the Republican National Convention in support of his friend, the GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain.

Some Democrats wanted his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee yanked. But because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid needed every vote in his caucus, Lieberman managed to hang on to his chairmanship.