As Biden considers a historic VP pick, Joe Lieberman reflects on breaking a different barrier — and how he got caught in his underwear by the TV stakeouts.
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- Joe Lieberman made history on Aug. 8, 2000, when Al Gore formally picked him as his vice presidential running mate. Lieberman was the first Jewish person to ever join a major party ticket.
- In a wide-ranging interview with Insider, Lieberman reflected on that historic day when he was surprised to learn Gore had picked him over fellow Democratic Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards.
- 'I woke my wife up and all hell broke loose,' Lieberman said about learning he'd been picked via the local television news. The night before his aides were telling him they had heard Gore picked Edwards.
- Lieberman predicted a far more partisan response from Republicans if Joe Biden breaks another barrier by picking a Black woman to join the Democratic ticket. 'I think it's gonna be terrible this time,' he said. 'So I suppose the vice presidential candidate, whoever it is, they have to feel that they be ready for that.'
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Joe Lieberman knew his life had changed forever when the TV cameras that had been trained for days on his Connecticut house spied him in his underwear making the morning coffee.
That scene happened 20 years ago on Friday and came soon after the news had broken over the Associated Press wire that Al Gore had chosen Lieberman as his vice presidential running mate. See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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