Not a Big Tent

Roll Call reported Lieberman Unwelcome at Party Lunches .... “Sen. Lieberman has voluntarily decided not to attend luncheons when he believes it’s likely there would be discussions of presidential politics,”

McCain will have to depend on one of his other moles for information.

spokesman Marshall Whitman said, adding that Lieberman has never been told to stay away from the luncheons.

They just told him he wasn't welcome.

The decision comes in the wake of Lieberman’s attacks on Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) at the GOP convention last week, and essentially formalizes a deal Reid and Lieberman had cut earlier this year under which Lieberman would not attend meetings that included discussions of sensitive campaign or political issues. Lieberman for weeks has voluntarily forgone the weekly caucus lunches and weekly policy lunches on Thursdays. A Reid spokesman angrily denied that the Majority Leader had booted Lieberman from lunches.

Reid angrily denies a lot of things; that does not mean they are not true. Just that he did not want you to know

Although Lieberman caucuses with Democrats — thus giving Reid control of the Senate — his role in the McCain campaign has increasingly marginalized his standing with his Democratic colleagues.

And when McCain is elected in November he will probably put Lieberman on his cabinet.