Lieberman still open to Republican candidacy

Indepdendent Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.) this weekend reiterated that he has not ruled out running as a Republican for reelection in 2012.

In an interview on a local public affairs program, Lieberman said that he will "probably" run again as an independent but said that he could see himself as a centrist Republican.

"It’s possible," he said of a possible GOP bid. "A good old-fashioned New England moderate Republican."

Lieberman first said this cycle that he would not rule out a Republican bid in the midst of his spat with the Democratic base over the healthcare bill.

Lieberman won reelection in 2006 as an Independent after spending 17 years in the Senate as a Democrat. The Connecticut senator was defeated in the Democratic primary by Ned Lamont, who campaign against Lieberman's support for the Iraq War.

The senators' comments come almost a week after Republican Scott Brown won the Massachusetts special Senate election, which emboldened Republicans' attitude about winning in the Northeast.

When he first left the door open to a GOP bid this cycle, Lieberman said "It's unlikely I'd run as a Republican but I wouldn't foreclose any possibility.  I think the more likely thing is that I'd run as an Independent because that's what I am."

Liberals have recently targeted Lieberman -- who is still a member of the Democratic Caucus -- for holding out his vote on healthcare reform late last year until the public option and Medicare buy-in proposals were stripped from it. 

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h/t Think Progress