Lieberman Rents N.H. Apartment

Joe Lieberman’s troubled presidential campaign at least is getting homier.

Hoping to telegraph his commitment to this state’s first-in-the-nation primary on Jan. 27 -- and to provide a roof for the large family entourage that stumps for him here -- the Democratic senator from Connecticut plans to move into an apartment not far from his Elm Street campaign headquarters.

The two-bedroom, one-bath apartment is located in a low-rise, red-brick complex in downtown Manchester. The apartment rents for around $1,300 per month and is furnished down to the last teacup, an aide said, providing a comfortable home base in New Hampshire for Lieberman’s large family.

“Nothing is more important to me than my family,” the senator said. “We always face things together -- the good and the bad -- and I cherish the fact that four generations of Liebermans will work together as part of this campaign.”

Campaign aide Kristin Carvell said Lieberman, who has homes in Connecticut and Washington, expects to be living in Manchester full time by Jan. 1.

Along with his wife, Hadassah, and their 15-year-old daughter, Hana, Lieberman often is accompanied in the Granite State by his 89-year-old mother, Marcia.

His children from his first marriage -- Matt, 36, and Rebecca, 34 -- also have campaigned in New Hampshire on behalf of their father.

Hadassah Lieberman’s son from her first marriage, Ethan, 28, is another regular on the clan’s campaign circuit. The grown children’s spouses and three Lieberman grandchildren round out the family ensemble.

Several of Lieberman’s uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters also have worked on his New Hampshire campaign and expect to spend time in the Manchester apartment, Carvell said.

But Lieberman is going to need more than a Manchester address and a passel of helpful relatives if he expects to win New Hampshire, said University of New Hampshire political science professor Andy Smith.

He noted that the 2000 Democratic vice presidential candidate had been in single digits in recent polls of likely voters in the party’s primary, far behind the front-runner -- former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

Lieberman “has the fundamental problem of being out of step with the electorate here, being a moderate-to-conservative Democrat” in a state where many Democrats tend to be more liberal, Smith said.

He added: “They’re still not going to like your politics, no matter how many family members you move up here.”

Lieberman’s tactic is not without precedent. Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri moved his mother to Des Moines before that state’s Democratic caucuses in 1988, which he won. Former Democratic Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois also relocated his mother to Iowa in the ’88 campaign.