Joe Lieberman

U.S. Sen. John Kerry's office said Tuesday that it is time to move past prior differences of opinion and U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman's efforts this year to help GOP nominee John McCain.

In a caucus meeting Tuesday morning, Democrats voted by secret ballot to allow Lieberman, a Connecticut Independent, to keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Government affairs committee. However, Lieberman will lose his seat on the Environment and Public Works Committee.

In a statement to PolitickerMA.com, Brigid O'Rourke, Kerry's spokeswoman, said the caucus decided to move forward. "The Democratic caucus voted today by secret ballot and the result of that vote was to put aside old differences," she said.

O'Rourke also highlighted President-elect Barack Obama's call for leniency toward Lieberman.

"President-elect Obama asked for forgiveness for Sen. Lieberman, the caucus has made a decision to censure his comments and strip of his membership on the EPW Committee, and it's time to move on," she said.

O'Rourke declined to comment on how Kerry voted. Politico reported, however, that Kerry spoke out in support of Lieberman.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Reflecting on Tuesday night's primetime speakers, Robert Magovern, a member of the Bay State's Republican delegation, applauded former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson and U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman's speeches for two different reasons.

Magovern, a delegate from Agawam, said Thompson's (Tenn.) lengthy speech that detailed presumptive Republican nominee John McCain's (Ariz.) time as a prisoner of war was "the most informative" of the night.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Peter Torkildsen, the chairman of the Massachusetts GOP, said the schedule switch on the first day of the convention went well and that he's looking forward to hearing U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, a former Democrat, speak Tuesday night.

With Hurricane Gustav bearing down on the Gulf Coast, the Republican National Committee shortened the schedule of the convention Monday. Instead of the usual slate primetime speakers, the delegations congregated in the Xcel Center Monday afternoon and First Lady Laura Bush and Cindy McCain addressed convention.

Torkildsen said Bush's speech was "thoughtful and compassionate," he said, and "appropriate given the tenor of the day."

The end is nigh, so says the New York Times. John McCain's vice presidential nominee should know who he is by now, and tomorrow morning we will all know. So for now, let's take a look at Mitt Romney in the news this week.

Former state Democratic Party Chair Phil Johnston has the zinger of the day. In a New York Times article about John Edwards and Joe Lieberman's absence from the DNC Convention in Denver, he weighed in on who was worse.

A member of Massachusetts' delegation to the Republican National Convention said Wednesday that if presumptive Republican nominee John McCain selected a running mate that supports abortion rights, she would still vote for him in St. Paul.

McCain (Ariz.) has come under fire from the conservative wing of the GOP recently over speculation that he may select a running mate that supports abortion rights. Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge (R) and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman (I) are two politicians rumored to be on McCain's list who support abortion rights.

Danielle Fish, a Massachusetts delegate to the Republican National Convention, however, told PolitickerMA.com Wednesday that she would still support McCain at the convention if Ridge or Lieberman, or any other politician that backs abortion rights, was tapped as McCain's running mate.

"It's not a deal breaker," Fish, 38, said.

If either U.S. Senators Joe Biden or John Kerry is Barack Obama's choice for a running mate, it will be the first time in history that a party's vice presidential candidate was also running in a primary for an unrelated office.

If Joe Lieberman and Mitt Romney are, as expected, speakers at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, it will become the first time two former presidential candidates addressed consecutive national political conventions, but of different parties.  Lieberman and Romney spoke at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.  Romney, as Governor of Massachusetts, welcomed the delegates.

Unique Hindsight In Meet the Press DebateSenators Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Kerry (D) debate negative campaigning on Meet the Press: NBC

U.S. Senators John Kerry (D-Boston) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) had a spirited discussion of both issues and politics earlier today on NBC's 'Meet the Press.' Though both are in the same Senate caucus today, they've taken different sides in this campaign, with Lieberman an early supporter of Republican nominee John McCain and Kerry backing Democratic nominee Barack Obama since January.

And with both men having the unique experience of running on a national ticket -- Lieberman as the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee and Kerry as the 2004 presidential nominee -- they each offered their thoughts on the sharp negative turn the race has taken in the last week.

Dredging up John McCain's pledge in April that, "This will be a respectful campaign," moderator Tom Brokaw pressed Lieberman, "Do you think running a campaign ad in which you feature Britney Spears and Paris Hilton with Barack Obama is respectful?"