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Observing Lieberman: Religious practice in public

A few days before the 1988 election that sent him to the U.S. Senate from Connecticut, Joseph Lieberman heard an encouraging story from one of his friends. According to the account in his book In Praise of Public Life, a supporter overheard his mother and her friends (all Christians) saying they were going to vote for Lieberman (a religiously observant Jew) because he was “a religious man.” The friend realized then that Lieberman’s decision not to campaign on the Jewish sabbath could be a political strength.