http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-stealth.artaug01,0,3447233.story?coll=hc-headlines-homeBut Yost knows that Lieberman's campaign staff is a little touchy on the subject of his backup plan to run as a petitioning candidate if he loses next week's primary. At least you get the sense they would be touchy if you could get one of them to actually discuss it.
Or return a phone call, even.
"I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you," was the breezy response from Lieberman's campaign manager, Sean Smith, when asked about the petition drive last week. "I don't get updates. I am completely uninvolved."
So uninvolved, Smith said, that he has no idea who is running the petition drive. After saying he would find out and call back with the information, Smith failed to return repeated phone calls last week. Messages left for the campaign's spokeswoman, Marion Steinfels, were also unreturned.
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"They don't want anybody to know about it," said George Jepsen, a former state Democratic party chairman and a Lamont supporter. "Because when Democrats understand he's trying to have it both ways, they're appropriately offended by this. Joe Lieberman owes his career to the Democratic party."
Jepsen's successor, Nancy DiNardo, supports Lieberman. Asked why she thought the Lieberman campaign was keeping the petition drive under wraps, she said, "I'm not aware of that. I haven't discussed it with them."