News and notes from the campaign trail

HARTFORD, Conn. --A group of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan is publicly supporting U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, who lost this month's Democratic primary to Ned Lamont and is now running as an independent candidate.

The national organization calling itself the nonpartisan "Vets for Freedom" ran a full-page ad this week in The Hartford Courant. The ad praised Lieberman, an 18-year-incumbent who has been criticized by many Democrats for supporting the war in Iraq.

"Thank you, Sen. Lieberman," the ad reads. "Iraq and Afghanistan are complicated wars. But you have not let politics influence your position. We are grateful for your integrity, leadership and unwavering commitment to America's troops."

The ad features a photo of Josh Clark, a National Guard member from Willimantic who was wounded in Iraq in 2003. Clark supports Lieberman.

"We're unabashedly 'pro-mission.' We believe in what we fought for and want politicians in Washington to stand by what they sent us out to do," Wade Zirkle, executive director of the organization, told The Stamford Advocate. "(Lieberman's) been so steadfast in support of the mission and abandoned by many in his party because of it."

The group also plans to run radio and television ads for Lieberman.

George Jepsen, the former state Democratic Party chairman and a Lamont adviser, compared the group to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. That organization attacked U.S. Sen. John Kerry's war record during the 2004 presidential race.

"This is a familiar process where the far right uses their money to tear down a Democrat," he told The Advocate. "They did it to John Kerry on his war record two years ago. They're doing it to Ned Lamont on the war in Iraq."

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Sources: The Stamford Advocate, The Hartford Courant