Joe Lieberman Gets In Trouble

Sen. Joe Lieberman will be disqualified as a superdelegate at the upcoming Democratic convention after voicing his support for Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain.

The disqualification is due to the "Zell Miller rule", which came about in 2004 after Miller, a Democrat at the time, attacked Sen. John Kerry in a speech at the 2004 Republican National Convention. The rule strips any Democrat that supports another party of their superdelegate rights at the Democratic National Convention.

Lieberman changed his party affiliation from Democratic to Independent (caucusing with Democrats) in 2006 after losing in the Connecticut Democratic primary to Ned Lamont, mainly because of his support for the Iraq war.

A superdelegate is an elected federal official or political party leader who gets a vote in a presidential nominating convention and who may or may not have made a commitment to a candidate.