The Demublican

How did you make the decision?
I had decided as I approached this presidential election--as an independent Democrat affected by my experience in 2006 but also concerned about what partisanship was doing to our country--that I was going to wait until the two major parties nominated candidates, and then I would decide which candidate I would support. But then McCain called me. We're very close. We had just come back from a trip to Iraq on Thanksgiving Day. And he called me the next week and said, "OK, I don't want to get you in more trouble than you're in, but I think it would really help me if you came out for me now." I called him back a few days later and said, "I thought about it, and I'm going to support you, because I believe that among all the candidates you are the best qualified." That's how it happened.

The Clintons backed Lamont in the Connecticut [general] election, as did your colleague Christopher Dodd. That must have had some personal impact. You wouldn't be human if it didn't.
Sure it did. I do want to say in fairness that both the Clintons and Chris Dodd helped me in the primary. And some Democrats in the state--mayors and the Speaker of the House--stuck with me, which I greatly appreciate. I understood why Chris Dodd had to support [Lamont], because he was thinking of running for president. He did a commercial for Lamont … it hurt to see it. It hurt on a personal basis, not a political basis, because we had a very close relationship. I really have great affection for him. So, you know, that's life. You kinda go on, but I don't feel any need to get even. Did it affect the relationship? I'm sure it did. But you get over it, and you work with people. So my support for McCain is really quite affirmative and strong for McCain. It's not negative against anybody.

There's concern now that since you've backed McCain in the campaign that you'll start caucusing with the Republicans in the Senate and tip the balance of power.
I have no intention of doing that. I see no circumstances under which I would leave the Democratic caucus … Although I've now become more welcome among Republicans than Democrats, I feel a special responsibility not to leave the party, but to stay and fight for what I believe is right. I today represent a tradition which, historically, has been at the party's core when it has been successful. Truman, Kennedy, Humphrey, Scoop Jackson … [they were] progressive on domestic policy, very strong and idealistic [on foreign policy]. Now it's called neocon, but it used to be called New Deal, Fair Deal foreign policy … That's the combination that the Democratic Party is all about. I see America's statement of mission in the Declaration of Independence as a universal statement.

When you say "I have no intention …" or "There are no circumstances …" that still leaves a little wiggle room. Are you meaning to leave that there?
Well, I never want to say never. But I hope that I'm never in a position where I feel so frustrated and marginalized in the Democratic Party, particularly on foreign policy, that I feel forced to leave the party. I hope that never happens.

You've said that you will not run as a VP candidate, yet speculation continues. Do you categorically rule that out?
I do, I do. Been there, done that. I'm very grateful to be a senator.

Where can you best help McCain going forward, in which states and with which constituencies?
I'm doing whatever they ask me to do. I've so far been to New Hampshire, Michigan, South Carolina and Florida. I'm going back to Florida this weekend before the primary, and then I'll go back [on the campaign trail] the weekend before Super Tuesday and go wherever they want me to go. I wouldn't be surprised if I do some stuff in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts. In Florida, they sent me into some ethnic communities, obviously the Jewish community there, and the Cuban and more broadly the Hispanic community.