Breaking: Lieberman On DADT: ‘We Have More Than 60 Votes’

Kerry Eleveld of The Advocate just reported that Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) stated, “I am confident that we have more than 60 votes prepared to take up the Defense authorization with the repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ if only there will be a guarantee of a fair and open amendment process, in other words, whether we’ll take enough time to do it.” She writes that Lieberman named “GOP Sens. Susan Collins and Richard Lugar as ‘Yes’ votes,” and quoted him as saying, “Time is an inexcusable reason not to get this done.”

In, “Lieberman on DADT: We Have 60,” Eleveld adds,

“Earlier in the day, General Carter Ham, co-chair of the Pentagon’s working study, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that upcoming report on repeal is the most thorough he has ever seen on a personnel issue.

“As far as I can tell, this is the most comprehensive assessment of a personnel policy matter that the Department of Defense has conducted,” Ham said.

“Sen. John McCain, who vehemently opposes repeal, tried to undercut its credibility by noting that only about 25% of about 400,000 troops had responded to the survey on repeal that forms a portion of the study.

“But Ham corrected McCain, saying the total was closer to 28%, a little over 115,000 respondents, and called the survey “statistically sound and analytically rigorous.”

Eleveld quotes Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) as perhaps warming to voting “yes.” Others are reporting the “more than sixty” list includes GOP Senator John Ensign.

Editorial note: An earlier version of this post reported that Senator Webb had voted against repeal. He had not. We apologize for the error.