Fox News' Cameron misrepresented election returns to argue that Lieberman had support among "blue-collar" voters

Summary: Fox News' Carl Cameron claimed that during the Connecticut Democratic Senate primary election, Sen. Joseph Lieberman "has done very well" in "some of the more blue-collar cities, New Haven [and] Bridgeport." In fact, Lieberman lost in New Haven and won narrowly in Bridgeport.

On the August 8 edition of Fox News' On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, while reporting that challenger Ned Lamont was leading incumbent Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman with most of the votes counted in the Connecticut Democratic Senate primary election, Fox News chief political correspondent Carl Cameron stated "Lieberman has done very well" in "some of the more blue-collar cities, New Haven [and] Bridgeport." In fact, according to election results, Lieberman lost in New Haven, with 48.3 percent of the vote to Lamont's 51.7 percent, and had a narrow victory in Bridgeport with 51.7 percent of the vote.

Cameron mischaracterized the election results when he was discussing Lieberman's stated intention to run as an independent to retain his seat in the general election if he lost the Democratic primary.

From the August 8 edition of Fox News' On the Record with Greta Van Susteren:

VAN SUSTEREN: Any moment, the numbers will be in. You will soon hear: Did Senator Lieberman get beaten, or did he pull it off? We expect soon the results in the Connecticut primary race between Senator Joe Lieberman and his anti-war opponent, Ned Lamont. Let's go right to Carl Cameron, who's live at Lieberman's campaign headquarters -- Carl.

CAMERON: Hi, Greta. And, as the precinct reports continue to come in, it looks as though Ned Lamont, the millionaire businessman from Greenwich, is ahead by anywhere between four to five points, and that Joe Lieberman, the three-term incumbent, is trailing, and there aren't that many votes left to be counted across Connecticut. Mr. Lieberman has said for some time now that if he doesn't win tonight, he'll continue to campaign as an independent and run in the fall.

As we begin to sort of take a look at how these precincts, how some of these towns and cities in Connecticut appear to break and what that might tell us about who is voting for Ned Lamont and Joe Lieberman and why, you begin to see that many of the wealthier communities in Connecticut, many of the towns and cities where there's a higher level of education, a lot of college graduates and professionals, those are towns and cities where Ned Lamont seemed to do much stronger than Joe Lieberman.

When you look at some of the more blue-collar cities, New Haven, Bridgeport, down along the Long Island Sound, those are areas where Joe Lieberman has done very well. Mr. Lieberman was trailing in the polls just last week by as much as double digits. And earlier this night, this evening, there were discussions amongst Democrats across the country that suggested that Mr. Lieberman could lose by double digits tonight.

But it looks as though now it's just a few more minutes before all the votes are tallied here. Mr. Lamont is only up by five or six points. And now comes the debate over what this will mean to the national discussion about what was Ned Lamont's primary focus -- anti-Iraq-war rhetoric aimed squarely at Joe Lieberman for his close relationship with President Bush in the minds of more liberal Democrats who thought that that was a huge foul for a Democrat and seek to disqualify him in this primary -- Greta.

—K.D.