Lieberman says he won't join Bush administration
Connecticut senator and former presidential candidate says he's not interested in becoming national intelligence director or Homeland Security secretary.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., said Sunday that he is not interested in becoming President Bush's national intelligence director or Homeland Security secretary -- saying he feels he can be more effective staying in the Senate.
Asked on ABC's This Week whether he is interested in a Cabinet post, Lieberman responded: " I'm not. I appreciate the floating. It's a quadrennial game here in Washington when a new administration takes shape."
The possibility of Lieberman -- a centrist who was his party's 2000 vice-presidential nominee -- leaving the Senate has turned into something of a political parlor game in his home state in recent weeks.
While Lieberman is popular in Connecticut and would have little trouble winning re-election in 2006, a possible resignation to take a Cabinet job would further boost the Senate's Republican majority -- since GOP Gov. Jodi Rell would appoint his successor.
"I do have some fundamental agreements with President Bush on America's foreign policy, and I want to give bipartisan support to those elements of the foreign policy, like what we're doing in Iraq today," Lieberman said Sunday. "But I think I can do it better in the United States Senate."