US: Former vice-presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman's struggle to retain the Democratic nomination for a Connecticut Senate seat received a fresh blow yesterday when the New York Times endorsed his anti-war rival, Ned Lamont.
Mr Lieberman, who has been in the Senate since 1988, has angered many grassroots Democrats with his enthusiastic support for the Iraq war and for President Bush's conduct of the "war on terror".
Mr Lamont, a wealthy cable television executive and JP Morgan heir who was almost unknown a few months ago, is ahead of Mr Lieberman in polls of voters in next week's Democratic primary. Mr Lieberman has said he will run as an independent if he loses the Democratic nomination.
The New York Times yesterday said Mr Lamont deserves the Democratic nomination, dismissing Mr Lieberman's claim that he is being targeted by left-wing, anti-war activists because of his bipartisan approach to politics.
"In his effort to appear above the partisan fray, he has become one of the Bush administration's most useful allies as the president tries to turn the war on terror into an excuse for radical changes in how this country operates," the paper said.
Although the Iraq war has become the biggest issue in the primary campaign, the New York Times observed that Mr Lieberman had also lost support among Democrats because of his support for other Republican policies. These include the privatisation of social security - the US state pension system - and federal intervention in the case of Terry Schiavo, a brain-dead Florida woman whose husband wanted to end her life-support.
The paper reserves its strongest criticism, however, for Mr Lieberman's failure to hold the Bush administration to account for restricting civil liberties and expanding presidential power in the name of national security.
"There is no use having a senator famous for getting along with Republicans if he never challenges them on issues of profound importance. If Mr Lieberman had once stood up and taken the lead in saying that there were some places a president had no right to take his country even during a time of war, neither he nor this page would be where we are today. But by suggesting that there is no principled space for that kind of opposition, he has forfeited his role as a conscience of his party, and has forfeited our support," the paper said.
Prominent Democrats, including former president Bill Clinton, have campaigned for Mr Lieberman in recent weeks, urging Democrats not to reduce the primary to a referendum on the Iraq war. Senator Hillary Clinton is also backing Mr Lieberman, but she has stated she will support whoever wins the Democratic nomination.