Reply #4: Weicker is a good man.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

My parents who are card carrying Democrats voted for him for Senate as a Republican and for Governor as an Independent in 1990.

1976: President: Carter(D)
Senate: Weicker(R)

1982: Governor: O'Neill(D)
Senate: Weicker(R)

1988: President: Dukaukis(D)
Senate: Weicker(R) (Lieberman won/was state Attoney General at the time and very conservative)

The Republicans never liked him much after he went after Nixon during the Watergate hearings in 73'.
During the eighties he critisized Reagan's fiscal and social policies and was one of the first politicians to take issue
with AIDS at a time when it was considered to be a stigma.

He lost in 1988 when many Republicans supported Lieberman, including William Buckley. They saw him as someone who while not as conservative as they would like, he would be better than Weicker for them. They also wanted revenge on Weicker for what he had done to the Nixon administration. The Repugs thought they could take the seat back in 94' with a conservative but Lieberman moderated his views and won with 70%!

By the way, he supported the Dem's in 2000 and 2002. In 1990 he left the party for the same reasons that Jim Jeffords did. That is both of them were strognly opposed to the party's hard right agenda. I should mention that as governor he instated the State Income Tax and as a result of this being unpopular, he did not run again 1994. He had several death threats (from the hard right wingers) made against him for his controversial views (the income tax being one of them). In all fairness, the state income tax kept this state in great condition for many years and now our Repug Gov. John Rowland has screwed everything up! This endorsement may win independents but will give CT state republicans another reason to HATE Dean as CT Repugs despise this man for having a mind of is own. On the other hand, don't all Repugs just hate the idea of independent thought?